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- Aug 16, 2011
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Report on Steve:
When I got to Francis House there were 3 other people in the room. I was happy to see them. Two were his first cousin and her husband from perhaps Pennsylvania? The other was a woman who checks in on him 3 times a day - a neighbor? She calls herself his friend - and she told him she was going to his house today to pick up some tax things, which made him groan. The three of them gave me privacy so I could read to Steve.
Steve was weak. I only stayed with him about 15 minutes. I was told that he was very agitated when he arrived so they were giving him anti-anxiety drugs and it made him sleepy. He apparently sleeps, then wakes up, then sleeps. I am hoping that he can adjust to the meds so he can have more alert time. With his tiredness, it is hard to say how much time he may have left. And of course, no one really knows that.
I probably was able to read him about 25 messages. He listened but he had his back to me. A couple of them made him chuckle. Can’t remember which ones, sorry. After about 15 minutes he said he had to sleep. I asked if I could come back tomorrow and read to him some more and he said yes. Francis House is only 1 1/2 miles from my place. I touched his arm and told him it was an honor to meet him.
He said two things to me while I was reading. One was he made a suggestion that maybe we could have a health thread so people could post there if they were struggling with an illness. I think this must have come from his place of loneliness that he was going through this but didn’t feel he could tell the board. I think that is not a bad idea. I do know many people want to keep their health issues private but probably some would like to share, like Ithaca Matt. I am wondering if our Covid thread could be turned into a Covid/health thread? I don’t know who makes these decisions. The admins?
He also told me there would be no ceremony. I said, “Well, ceremonies are usually for the living but I am sure your wishes will be respected.”
When I first entered the room and we were introducing ourselves, Steve’s friend said, “And guess who called him yesterday? JIM BOEHEIM! We were all so excited because we were in the room. The receptionist was so excited she could barely get the words out. JIM BOEHEIM!” I was very pleased.
I am going to copy this to the basketball board because I am sure some of them don’t come to the OT board. I will go back tomorrow to read to him some more.
Thank you for doing that.