Monday, February 13, 2006
THE LAST HALF OF 2004......
The summer months went by slowly for Rocky. He had been used to being on the road driving all over the country and his job driving for Medicaid patients was a stop-gap for his old trucking days. He couldn’t drive at all now until his 6-month checkup in October. It was exasperating for him to sit in the passenger seat at the mercy of his wife driving.
For 17 ½ years I worked as a Driver Examiner giving driving tests…..and now I was the “student”……. “You’re too close to that car….don’t tailgate him…. you’d better hurry up and pass him before the curve coming up, you’re too close on the right….better get over, how fast are you going, don’t park there….it’s too close to that car, you don’t need windshield wipers…it isn’t raining that hard, you’re going to wear the brakes out……”
I was praying Dr. Ferguson would let him go back to driving when we went in for the next checkup. In fact, I fudged on the doctor’s orders and let him drive the last month before we went to see him. Rocky had already called the man who started up a business in our area to see if he could get a job driving……..Ron, the owner, was delighted to have him since he knew many of the patients and the territory he would be driving in. It all depended on a release from Dr. Ferguson.
Finally the day came in October. Rocky checked out very well and when the idea of driving patients was presented, Dr. Ferguson thought it over before he answered him. I stepped up to the plate and confessed that I’d been letting him drive the past month and he had done very well…….finally after several heartbeats he told Rocky he would release him to drive IF he would continue taking the medication twice a day to prevent another seizure. Rocky would have agreed to have his right arm cut off if he could drive again.
And so….it was decided. Rocky was back home at the wheel….I was over on my side of the van and he was able to drive his patients once more. Life was back to normal except for a scar on the right side of Rocky’s head that looked like an upside down horseshoe. His tongue had healed by then but would always have a rough and ragged area where it was injured. All in all he was satisfied with the whole affair.
We went to George’s for Thanksgiving…. and Christmas was here with George, Becky, Jonathan and Aimee. The year closed out quietly…. and considering the bad things that could have happened, we felt very fortunate to come through an ordeal that might have had a tragic ending.
Like all things, the end of something is always the beginning of something else…..a new year was on the horizon full of hope and new life……
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
For 17 ½ years I worked as a Driver Examiner giving driving tests…..and now I was the “student”……. “You’re too close to that car….don’t tailgate him…. you’d better hurry up and pass him before the curve coming up, you’re too close on the right….better get over, how fast are you going, don’t park there….it’s too close to that car, you don’t need windshield wipers…it isn’t raining that hard, you’re going to wear the brakes out……”
I was praying Dr. Ferguson would let him go back to driving when we went in for the next checkup. In fact, I fudged on the doctor’s orders and let him drive the last month before we went to see him. Rocky had already called the man who started up a business in our area to see if he could get a job driving……..Ron, the owner, was delighted to have him since he knew many of the patients and the territory he would be driving in. It all depended on a release from Dr. Ferguson.
Finally the day came in October. Rocky checked out very well and when the idea of driving patients was presented, Dr. Ferguson thought it over before he answered him. I stepped up to the plate and confessed that I’d been letting him drive the past month and he had done very well…….finally after several heartbeats he told Rocky he would release him to drive IF he would continue taking the medication twice a day to prevent another seizure. Rocky would have agreed to have his right arm cut off if he could drive again.
And so….it was decided. Rocky was back home at the wheel….I was over on my side of the van and he was able to drive his patients once more. Life was back to normal except for a scar on the right side of Rocky’s head that looked like an upside down horseshoe. His tongue had healed by then but would always have a rough and ragged area where it was injured. All in all he was satisfied with the whole affair.
We went to George’s for Thanksgiving…. and Christmas was here with George, Becky, Jonathan and Aimee. The year closed out quietly…. and considering the bad things that could have happened, we felt very fortunate to come through an ordeal that might have had a tragic ending.
Like all things, the end of something is always the beginning of something else…..a new year was on the horizon full of hope and new life……
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
