you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone… but sometimes, you get it back. If you are lucky.
During my time in rehab, one of the things i missed most was the simple, lovely luxury of showering. I lived on the schedule and ebb and flow of the nursing staff, and often a week would go by before I could get the necessary assistance. The shower itself was, honestly, kinda grotty… imagine a YMCA shower used exclusively by ancient, deranged fruitbats and babbling, diaper-soiled fossils. Some of the things I found in there would so haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights, that thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood (Thank you, Keats)
When I got home, my first shower was ill-thought out. I did not have rails, I did not have a shower chair – and I did not comprehend the drastic change in physics my amputation brought about. Getting out of a slippery tub was painful, exhausting, risky, and took entirely too long.
But today I have had to appreciate some of the progrss I have made and the assistance I have gotten. Between the shower rails put in under the direction of Mistress Ardenne of Rapture NYC, the shower chair, and a reasonable learning curve I can finally shower for pleasure again… and I really appreciate that all the more fighting this heat.
Still a little complicated, always risky if I’m not careful when I get up and out… but my God, what a luxury. i’ll probably hose down a third time before bed…
Just because I can.