Gordon Gekko and Steve Make a Comeback

Steve and I hadn't gone out anywhere that didn't involve a medical procedure since March of 2010.  We moved him directly from Swedish Hospital to a fully accessible rental home in Lake Forest Park after his five-month hospitalization ended in July. He barely knows his new community.

Confined to the home, Steve's world has been terribly constricted. His activities are limited to Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and, of course, Home Hemodialysis.

But oh, how Steve has longed to get out to a movie. What was once a weekly ritual now seemed unattainable.

We did have a couple of free tickets, and Steve had been approved for door-to-door service on the Metro Access bus. Could we manage it?

Yesterday, we did it! Steve and I took the Access bus to a neighborhood theater, ate a little lunch at the Jewel Box Cafe, topped that off with too much theater popcorn, and maneuvered into the best seats in the house. We had the whole theater to ourselves as we witnessed Gordon Gekko's comeback in Wallstreet: Money Never Sleeps. We watched the previews - for next time.

We spent the afternoon doing deliciously ordinary things. The kind of extraordinary things we all take for granted - until they're gone, of course.

On the way home, we rode part of the way with a woman we picked up at the Paramount Theater. In her electric wheelchair, she had gone to see Stuart McLean  from the Vinyl Cafe. Steve and I had seen his performance a year or two ago, when Steve was ambulatory. The woman described the show a little, and then turned back to read the Kindle book she'd attached to her mobile chair. She was doing allright.

We got back home about an hour-and-a-half after leaving the movie theater. But Steve was feeling well, and it was nice to see the city in the calm October dusk. It really was a perfect date. We felt included in the world. We felt participatory in our own lives.

Take care.
Linda Gromko, MD