My Thursday Mornings

Wow, am I thankful right now for my health, to be able to walk. For the past 3 Thursday mornings I have been going to the Shepherd Spinal Center at Piedmont Hospital. I am part of the 7-8am Breakfast Club. It is me and about 4 men 70+ years in age who go around feeding the patients breakfast. I have a good time with those men and they love to tease me. One man named Paul has been going there to serve breakfast for about 20 years!! This morning was really great. Last week, I had the pleasure of feeding a 19-year old boy from Greenville, SC. He had the best attitude and manners, just great to be around. He told me that he has a good chance of walking in a year, so that was good to hear. This morning in the waiting room while we were waiting for the food to come out, I was talking about my experience with him last week. Little did I know that his father was in the room! He said that his son had been driving home from work and had gone off the road and flipped his car. He was learning how to give his son a shower this morning so I just got to go in and say "hello" briefly before that process began. I did however get to feed another man this morning from Raleigh. The first time I went in I thought he was asleep, but then one of the men came in with me and woke him up. The patient's name was Andre and I found out his story as I helped him drink 2 boxes of milk, a chocolate shake, and cranberry juice. He must have been about 45 or 50. He said he was just playing around on his 9-year-old daughter's skooter one day, hit a patch of grass, flipped over and broke his neck. That was about a month ago. He has 2 other children and a wife of 16 years. His says his family has been great so far, but he confided in me that he is extremely anxious about the burden he will be on his family in the future and basically said that he is wondering if it would have been better if he had passed away. Wow, what deep thinking for me to do so early in the morning!! I tried my best to offer him encouraging words and told him that I would want my father alive no matter what, particularly if he was still able to talk with me, advise me, and watch me grow up. Andre said he really appreciated what I had to say, and man, did that make me happy. He had been a lawyer for 20 years and hopes to some day get back to work, even if he only has limited use of his arms. I told him that they are able to do so many things this day in age. I hope he is able to go back to work too. I can't imagine. . .