A DAY IN THE LIFE OF PINK FLAMINGO PAUL

POST # 21

I guess that for most of us, our day begins probably sometime after 6am or later depending on our work schedule or our daily routine. However, since my little accident which took place more than a month ago, my day begins much closer to the official start of each new day at 12:01am. So for those of you who have been wondering just how I pass the day lately, I'll try to explain in a bit more detail.
Now even though my pain level has reduced significantly over time to the point where the pain itself doesn't disturb my sleep, what causes me to begin my day so early is primarily because I still am under doctor's orders to keep my leg elevated when I go to bed. In order to accomplish this, I have to lay on my back with my right leg up on a pillow, which is certainly not my normal way to sleep. It's usually lights out by 10pm and I do manage to drift off for a couple of hours give or take, but sooner or later, sleep fails me and I'm left alone with my thoughts, but certainly not alone, as Sadie the dog is stretched out on the floor beside my bed protecting me from all the bad guys, and Bob the cat has found the perfect spot, as close as possible, curled up right next to my head. I have to put in earplugs otherwise I would get no sleep at all, because Bob wins the award for purring, both in loudness and in frequency. While the three of us are encamped in the bedroom, Blueberry the cat is nowhere to be seen, however I have noticed her during the day on the couch just outside my bedroom, and I think that's where she spends the night. She wants to be close to the action, but not too close.
Each night is different from the next, but in general it's little bite sized portions of sleep, followed by more lengthy stretches of being awake. And during the times that I am awake, I read, or pet Bob and Sadie, or often times, I just lay there thinking. It's an activity that I enjoy doing, and it distracts me from the current sleepless situation I find myself in. This makes the time feel more useful and I always have a pen and paper next to the bed, in order to capture any important thoughts that may drift into my head. Experience has taught me that if they aren't written down right then and there, the thoughts go into some sort of black hole in the brain, usually never to be retrieved.
Eventually the night passes, and I am ready to get up anytime after 5am. Of course the earlier the better as far as the animals are concerned, because they have breakfast on their minds.
I dress, by sitting on the edge of the bed, and this has become much easier as the days go by. Then with a strategically placed footstool by the side of the bed, I ease my butt down onto it, and from there to the floor, and with the use of my two hands, my one good leg and my rear end, I proceed to crawl crab like across the floor to the steps, and then one step at a time I descend the 16 stairs to the second level of the house, which is where I will spend most of the remainder of my day. Near the bottom I look down and say good morning to Mr. Bumbles the toad, who usually seems to be relaxing in his water dish, a morning swim as it were.
My wheelchair awaits me at the bottom of the stairs, and I have perfected a simple movement which propels me from the stair, to the wheelchair in one fluid motion. It wasn't that way at the start, but soon enough, one learns how to maximize each movement and in addition to that, you learn where to place various items so that they are easy to grab onto when required.
And now my day really begins. Now, not to go into too much detail, but depending on what my bladder is telling me, I sometimes make a bee line in the wheelchair to the bathroom in order to relieve myself, however if the matter isn't urgent, I wheel straight over to the doors that lead onto the deck, grab the ball throwing device with the ball in it, open the door, lock the wheelchair into place and with a quick flick of the wrist, I send the ball over the railing and down onto the road, with Sadie in rapid pursuit. She needs to get outside to do her business, so this initial throw is the most important one for her in the day.
While Sadie is outside, I push the wheelchair back and to the right, and with the help of a wooden spoon I reach down to push the button on the computer, in order to get it fired up for the day. For the next little while, Sadie and I play chase the ball, which gives me an opportunity to fully wake up and gives her some much needed exercise.
I now take a few minutes to gaze out the windows and marvel at the view that I am blessed with here. It's been a cool start to spring which has produced many mornings with a dusting of snow on the surrounding hills. I actually spend quite a lot of time each day just enjoying the view, and I am constantly thankful that the owners chose me to take care of their place.
I can't get too far into the morning without engaging in the animal feeding routine, as Sadie keeps giving me those "please feed me" looks and Bob and Blueberry are meowing up a storm.
It took me a few tries to get this routine perfected, but now it works very well and the animals are now use to the fact that I have to roll around in order to get breakfast ready for them. Roll to the fridge, extract catfood, and one piece of cheese. Roll backwards to the feeding area. With the use of a spatula, retrieve the two cats dishes from the floor. Proceed to dole out catfood and place back on the floor where Bob and Blueberry get tucked into breakfast. Next, place Sadie's pill in the cheese, and give that to her as an appetizer, followed by her morning scoop of kibble. While the animals are chowing down, roll back to the fridge, place the catfood back in the door, then wash hands, and put the kettle on the boil for coffee. While the water is on the boil, Sadie and I have time to spend playing throw the ball again, and soon after, I have my coffee in hand, as I roll across the room to the computer to check emails etc, while Blueberry, Bob, and Sadie are curled up on the rug and or couch, digesting their food.
During this period, I do my morning exercises which involves 200 stomach crunches and in addition to that and other stretching exercises, I do a bicycling motion in the air in order to at least keep some muscle tone in my bad leg.
Without going into too much more detail, as the readers have probably suffered through enough of that, suffice to say that my day revolves around moving from the computer, to the couch, the kitchen, or out on the deck depending on the weather. I spend ample time with Sadie and the ball, and the cats get plenty of opportunity to jump up on my lap while I am on the couch in order to have a snooze.
The pink flamingo reference in the title comes from the fact that when I am in the kitchen, preparing food, I have to stand on my one good leg, and the other day when I was doing this, I had an image of pink flamingos standing one legged, and I began to chuckle.
The day winds down and I am amazed at how fast it goes by. Boredom is something that I don't suffer from as there always seems to be something to focus my mind upon. I am reminded again about how Thoreau only wanted to work six weeks per year in order to leave ample time for reading, writing, walking, thinking, and observing nature. In my current situation I can accomplish all of these things with the exception of walking. Another Thoreau comment was, "My greatest skill has been to want little." With each passing day, I strive to live up to that maxim.
Before long the day has come to an end. The evening meal for the animals has long since past, and by around 9:30pm or so, I have gotten into my end of the day routine. The wheelchair is parked where it started the day, at the foot of the stairs, and with the same fluid motion that propelled me into it in the morning, I do the same movement in reverse, and bum my way up the stairs, into the bedroom, and up onto the bed where I settle in for the night. Sadie curls up beside me on the floor, and Bob usually arrives a few minutes later to take up his post near my head.
If I'm lucky, I get a few pages read before sleep overtakes me, and with my anti-purr earplugs installed, I switch out the light, count my blessings, and hopefully drift off into sleep for at least a while, until the whole process begins anew in a few hours time.
My days are full, and rewarding and at times I even forget momentarily that I have this thing called a broken leg. This current routine feels now normal to me, and I am happy.

More thoughts to follow in a weeks time.
Until then,

all the best,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer