Tag Archives: hospitals

Update on Anthony and Reed

Anthony and me after he was released from the hospital the first time.

Anthony and me after he was released from his first visit to the hospital this month.

Hello and Happy 2016!

The year has started off with both Anthony and me spending way too much time around doctors! I had a scheduled surgery to repair my labrum, the part that connects your bicep to the rotator cuff, on January 7th. It’s been almost three weeks and I am doing ok. I’m still in some pain, especially when I do my exercises but honestly it’s been way better than I thought. The biggest challenge, besides simply not being able to use my dominant arm, is sleeping. I have to sleep sitting up. I rented a recliner from Rent-A-Center (nightmare experience by the way) which has proved to be worth the pain of dealing with them.

Anthony has had much more critical issues. He has been hospitalized twice in the past two weeks. He suffered a stroke in his left parietal lobe. He was released about five days later and was doing ok until earlier this week when his speech worsened and he demonstrated a few other signs that the stroke was potentially progressing. I called 911 for him and he returned to the hospital where he has since been released. He is doing ok, but needs speech and physical therapy to help aid in his recovery. All of this was going on during Snowzilla to make matters more complicated.

Anyway, I continue to be in touch with Anthony daily and always pass along all the warm words of encouragement I receive from you. This has been a particularly hard month for him financially as well as he hasn’t been able to work most of the month due to hospital visits and recovery. If you would like to help him with this month’s rent, you can make a donation here.

 

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One Step Forward One Step Back

JRS-2013-0611-001.jpg

This photo is starting to become an all too familiar image of Anthony.

I’m getting tired of seeing Anthony in a hospital gown. I’m sure I am not as tired as he is though. He’s been in and out of the hospital since we started Anthony & Me. This time he was admitted due to some problems related to his feet, but G.W. Hospital ended up keeping him a few additional days due to his highly elevated blood pressure. Thankfully he was finally released last week.

While he was in the hospital he was supposed to have a meeting with a potential housing provider that we learned about through our superstar outreach worker Elizabeth. They rescheduled for today, but unfortunately the person from the facility either forgot about the meeting or didn’t have it scheduled because she wasn’t there.

Anthony called me from the bus ride home. “The good news is I know exactly where this house is located and it is a great location,” he told me with an enthusiasm in his voice that I hadn’t heard for weeks. But it faded away as quickly as it had returned. “The bad news is the program manager didn’t show up…so now we have to come back later this week or next week” There was a long pause and then I heard him sigh. “It’s like it never ends,” he muttered.

Photo: housing.com/

Photo: housing.com/

I hope to know tomorrow when the meeting is rescheduled.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to meet up with Anthony and take him to my podiatrist. A doctor of mine for several years, he agreed to see Anthony. The doctor doesn’t take Medicaid but he didn’t hesitate to offer to help. What a nice guy. I will let you know how his appointment goes.

 

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Health Matters

Greetings from sunny Miami! I’m here for work for a few days. After the frigid week we had in DC last week this is a welcomed change. You’d be surprised how just the sight of sunglasses, flip flops and swaying palm trees can unfreeze you from winter’s grasp.

I was struck by how many people there were begging around my hotel last night. I tend to think that DC has a large population of panhandlers, but this was at San Francisco or New Orleans levels. I’m not sure if they were homeless, but if they were I can understand that as surviving outdoors in South Florida does seem like a brighter option than Washington and places north.

BP Check up (176/366)

Photo: Mike Chaput

Friday I met up with Anthony and accompanied him on his visit to the Continue reading

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