Seventeen days away from hitting the three-year mark. I have so much going on, I feel there is not enough time in our day to take care of everything.
Guiding and helping Mr. Gibson throughout the day, is already a handful. I start my mornings, making sure I get him over to pill line for his medication then over to the dining room for breakfast. In the afternoon, I ask someone else to help with the lunch run for him, and by dinner time, again making sure he gets his medications then eats something. Last time Mr. Gibson went out to the hospital, I packed all his things and mattress and put all his things in a locked room until he came back. I realized his bed sheets, let’s just say, did not smell right. I took a set of his sheets, and his blanket, and sent them off to laundry, and today when the laundry returned, I went over and changed the sheets for him, and laid out his fresh blanket for him. He was very thankful, which made me feel great. I told him I would be taking his extra set to send to wash as well and will get it back to him once they are clean.
Then there is Mr. Rivero, and though he is almost 89 years old, he is still quite strong, yet has certain health concerns as well that I try and monitor and help with. Today I took him to medical to ask about a cream he has not received, and we were asked to write an electronic request to remind them. So we headed back to the unit, and we did just that. I typed up the two electronic requests in English as he dictated what he wanted in Spanish.
I do my best, to take care of those in need without ever questioning if I myself need anything.
Besides my daily routine with these two, I decided on my day off to pass by the Chapel to greet the Chaplain on duty. Low and behold, I found the Chapel was flooded from all the rain from last night. The drain right outside the main door must have overflown and the water crept into the Chapel. There goes my day off; The Chaplain opens the storage room, I grab a large floor squeegee, and begin pushing the water close to the main door, then out. I setup a large floor fan to dry as much as possible, and reposition most of the chairs that are in standing water. What a disaster this was, my shoes were soaked, my pants were wet, and my shirt was drenched in sweat.
As soon as I finish, I was called over to Dolphin unit to speak to the counselor about a class I am taking, “K2 Awareness”. I was dropped from the class for missing last Friday, but now after speaking with this counselor, he understands it was due to the outside medical trip, and he excused my absence, and is allowing me to take the final test tomorrow, thank goodness. On the next move, I walk around the lake and over to my unit, to take Mr. Rivero to lunch. After lunch, I wheel Mr. Rivero to Education for his callout, then we head back over to the unit, I change into my recreation clothes, and head over to recreation for my 1pm class, but the officer was not here so I was able to head back over to the Chapel and be there for the volunteer Rabbi and the Jews.
The rest of the evening has been easy going, I spoke to dad, and just called mom. Everyone is doing good, I can’t wait for visit this Sunday. My Miami Marlins did excellent today, I am happy for them, yet they need to do the same each and every game. Time to go shower, and lay down and rest before count, then sleep. Tomorrow is an even busier day than today, so I need to be well rested.
May God bless us all. There is so much more to life than this, and when He feels we are ready, we will see the good that came from the bad. Thank you Lord for all you do.
Eduardo L. Valdes
8/29/2024
20:40
