One day closer to visit. Today I had two callouts scheduled for the same time, my K2 Awareness class and my Psychology class. Still I am waiting to be taken out for my oncology visit that was approved back in April, so I got up and got ready in case they came to get me. I prepare my tea, and grab my binder and head to Education for my K2 Awareness class. Once I get there, I sign in, and let my instructor know I had another class, he checks my homework, assigns me new work, and says I could go. Thank God for this, because I do not like missing my Psychology classes. “Living a Prosocial Lifestyle” is the name of my class, and there are a total of eight of us in that class, and so far we are on week 2.
09:00 move is called and I head to my unit, sit in my room and grab 6 saltine crackers, gouda cheese and pepperoni and i have myself a snack.
I then grab my daily devotionals and Bible and read through them, and once I am done, I organize my things, grab a cup with some coffee and head to the hot water machine.
I head over to check on Mr. Gibson, he doesn’t look too good, so I ask him to try and walk over to the officer with me so medical could see him. I grab the nearest wheelchair and I push him over to medical, thankfully we are the closest unit and it does not take long to get there. We see the Nurse Practitioner and she asks me to take him over to the main doctor. Once there, Mr. Gibson takes a seat on the bench and I return the wheelchair to its owner in our unit, then I head back to medical to help wherever possible. After Mr. Gibson is seen by the doctor and nurse, they ask me to take him back to the unit, and that he will be seen in the afternoon. Luckily they had a spare wheelchair I used to wheel him back to the unit, and when I returned the wheelchair to medical, the nurse thanks me for taking care of him and to please watch him just in case of anything. I tell her it is no issue to me, I am glad to help.
Lunch time, I wheel Mr. Rivero over to the dining room, and told Mr. Gibson I would try and bring his food back for him with a pass that medical provided me. When we get to the dining room, I am told I am not able to take back Mr. Gibson’s food because it is Kosher, that he would have to get it himself.
After lunch, I wheel Mr. Rivero back to the unit, and he allows me to use his wheelchair if I need it, so I head to Mr. Gibson’s room and tell him to sit in the chair so we can head to the dining room, and we head out. Once out of the unit, the officer asks me “What’s going on?”, to which I respond, “Dropped off one, and headed out with the next”, she laughed a little, and said, “alright, no speeding”.
When we returned to the unit, I drop off Mr. Gibson in his room, take the wheelchair to Mr. Rivero’s room, and I head to the chapel for work. The officer sees me again and says to me, “Now where are you going?”, and I respond, “I am the orderly in the Chapel, I am headed to work, would that be okay?”, and nicely she responded allowing me to walk over to the Chapel.
I cleaned up the Chapel, disinfected and wiped down the toilet and sink in the bathroom, and prepared for the afternoon services.
After the 4pm count, I head to the phone and call my dad. Today is the last day to drop off the commissary lists for Monday, so I grab Mr. Rivero’s list and mine, and walk over to commissary on the dinner call, and drop off the slips in the box. On my way back, I find out that Mr. Gibson was taken to the hospital, so I find our unit officer and confirm the information. I let him know that I will take care of Mr. Gibson’s items in his room, and whatever didn’t fit in the locker I would leave in laundry bags for him to take and lock-up somewhere else, he thanked me for the help and I continued on. After leaving everything ready in Mr. Gibson’s room, I head to the Chapel for the evening services. Two guys are waiting for me to watch movies in the entertainment area, I set them up and prepare for the Jewish services.
It’s been a long, tiring day, but I am finally back in the unit, called my mom, showered, and ready to fall asleep. Maybe I’ll have a small snack before bed, I haven’t eaten since 3pm, rushing around doing so much, but with enough water that I have been drinking, I haven’t even been that hungry thankfully.
Time to finish up here, tomorrow is another day.
Today most definitely, I want to thank God for everything he put in my path because today has been a day of building patience. Some ask me, how I keep a smile on my face and my response to that is “there is no reason not to smile, I have a God that loves me and protects me, a family that loves me, and is there for me, and God has allowed me to remain healthy enough to help others while I am here, and that is what keeps me smiling”.
