You spin me right round, baby, right round

We tested Craig's new wheels out at a neighborhood park this afternoon. For many many reasons, we were by far the coolest cats rolling around on a Sunday afternoon.

Craig had a rocky start this morning and by all accounts he was on a pace to stay in bed for the lot of the day. His condition has worsened considerably to which I'll describe in another post. Suffice it to say, Diane, Jill and I were in tears and quite worried that we might be beginning what we don't want to actively begin. But, fear not, in his minutes (sometimes seconds) or long moments of alertness, Craig was hell bent to "get out of the apartment". His destination: to see dinosaurs. (A caveat...it could be that he wanted to see the dinosaurs because we were singing to him his favorite "Tyrannosaurus Rex means tyrant king. He terrorized the countryside and made giant reptiles hide. Boom, Boom, Boom" song. A fav among the family). 

He awoke around 4pm with a burning desire to do something, to get out of the apartment.  The reality is that he's at a point of his process where he has difficulty pulling himself out of sleep, or keeping himself awake even after minutes of being awake, or having enough energy to talk. It's a fatigue we've never known, or that he's never known. We know that the notion of doing something -- any activity -- is HUUUUGE in the realm of a dying process. Today, in the few times he had energy to pull himself out of sleep, he wanted to move. So move we did. When he awoke, he regretted sleeping all day, thereby limiting his chances of seeing the dinosaurs. We reminded him that dino's can wait; they've been extinct for many years now, after all. We'll catch em on the flip side. Better to listen to the body and catch up on much needed rest. Seeing the distress, we recommended a less energy demanding scene, like a park.  So, we decided to go on a "spin" before he lost energy again.

But this wasn't just a "spin" around a park. It was "Wash Park" -- his park to roam around. And, AND! he had his new wheels. We ordered a new wheel chair with leg extenders to keep his legs propped up in order to limit swelling. It'd surely make the other 'wheelers' jealous.  

And jealous, they were.

The five of us drove the short distance to Wash Park. Being able to load our family in one regular sized car wasn't lost on me, and I yearned for the days of car caravans when our sheer numbers -- a.k.a. six -- would require at least two cars. We certainly were missing one key member as we tooled around the park.

The sun seemed softer in the 5 o'clock sun as we moseyed around the calm lake. Bikers, rollerbladers, walkers, joggers, they were all out in abundance perhaps inspired by the Beijing Olympics. It was nice to be among the leisured and the active. Yet, it wasn't long before we met our first "craptastrophe" -- an event bound to happen sooner or later. Our spiffy wheelchair was christened early by the plethora of duck poo. As skipper of the wheelchair ship, I take full responsibility of leading my comrades into pooville. When Jill and Diane took a pit stop to adjust Craig in his seat, I realized my errant ways. His oxygen and morphine lines dangled near the wheel; I reached down to pick them up to tuck them in a safe spot. What I came away with disqualified me as el capitan o' wheelchair for the evening. Duck poo smeared my hand. My pulling and tucking, in fact, wiped clean Craig's oxygen and morphine lines, which evidently had rubbed against the right wheel.  Better take one for the team, I say. That's a true leader. ;)

I personally think it's wheelchair saboteurs (perhaps the same one's who keep up with landscaping?? what, they run outta weed eaters and edgers at the Super Target???). We were running our best split before the unfortunate poo incident.

So, Jill assumed the wheelchair pusher position and I took over as the one-handed photographer. Then, suddenly, we heard "is that the Lawlers?". To be said in a place where not all the Lawlers were a) raised, or b) live, took us by surprise. When the two cyclists stopped, we realized who it was. It was Sara (Sarah? Saraw? I'm just joking, not many spell it like that) from Uni C -- one of the finest nurses on the 11th floor. She helped Craig when he was admitted, and was there for us when Mom passed away. I'll never forget sharing tears with her. Pretty special. When Craig would do his laps around the 11th floor wing, she was ALWAYS there to cheer him on and to ask how we were doing. Pretty damn neat. Just as neat as her pulling a U'ie and coming back to say hello. Evidently, she told her roommate "wait was that the Lawlers?" and pulled around. A lot of folks would peel on by, but not an 11th floor nurse. They're like family.

We moseyed around the lake still ever mindful of Craig's fatigue. At one point, he stated that "I'm tired and falling asleep but every time I wake up you guys are making a wrong turn". Little did he know, they weren't wayward turns but an understanding of his fatigue and slow return to the car instead of finishing the entire "Wash Park" experience. He was in agreement and declared a U'ie to head back. But, not before listening to a bad cover band of Big Head Todd, Marvin Gay and any other mismatch cover band song. We also off-roaded through vibrant, pungent runs of flowers (smelled like the pachyderm arm of the OKC zoo) since their "wheelchair accessible sidewalks" were better kept for field animals (again, how 'bout an edger... anyone? someone!?).

By off-road wheel chairing virtue alone, we were the coolest people tooling around this Sunday afternoon. But what made us heads above those rollerbladders, badminton players, and picnickers was the fact that Craig could have very well stayed indoors this afternoon. He is without a doubt a dying man with literally barely enough energy to talk or to do hand motions. To have a young, dying man out and about with the masses, enjoying the sunshine and spinning the lake was a point of strength I'd think the Lance Armstrongs, Michael Phelps, random healthy Joes on the street would DREAM of having an ounce of.

Forget it fellas, I'm heading home with this guy...

~E