“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…”

I love the Mission: Impossible movies. But I always wondered what if the person is like “Nah, I’m good”? I mean, what happens then? I guess there’d be no movie. 🙂

For Mike, there was no choice. But there has been acceptance.

Acceptance of his current situation.

Acceptance of the fact that more time is needed to continue healing.

Acceptance of the hard work that lies ahead of him.

His mission: TO WALK BY FALL.

***

He had a good week with therapy. Jaycee started with 90-minute sessions of private therapy Monday and Tuesday. She had him walking outside with his friend Wade (who just happened to drop by for a visit) following behind with the wheelchair. Mike was so tired but the good kind of tired. He worked hard and he felt it in his bones.

On Wednesday, the Eddy called us and said we cannot have private therapy as well as the home therapists that insurance pays for. We need to choose one or the other.

We were never informed of this rule. I explained to the woman from the Eddy that we are very happy with their services; it’s just that Mike needs more therapy. Two hours a week for physical therapy at this stage is not enough. This is the critical window for recovery. She said she understood but they need to know that his progress is because of them, not someone else.

Beauracracy strikes again.

We were told Mike is finally approved for outpatient rehab at Sunnyview and we will be allowed to have private therapy at home when he goes to outpatient. They still have to get him on the schedule but it should start in a few weeks, if not sooner.

So Mike and I made the decision to do what’s best for him and that is to go with private therapy. This coming week will be the last week with home therapy from the Eddy. They’ve already scheduled their appointments and it gives Mike a chance to say thank you and goodbye.

August 4th, he will begin private therapy with Jaycee. She will be working with him for the whole month of August. She is confident that with consistency and more hours of therapy per week, he will be able to see some meaningful and lasting progress.

***

Mike and I had a fun date night Saturday. He took me to see Fantastic 4. (We wanted to see the new Mission: Impossible movie but it’s already out of the theater.) We successfully navigated the movie theater. Surprisingly, the mall was not at all handicapped-accessible. The doors to the mall were regular doors. The doors to the theater were regular doors.

When we went upstairs to the area for wheelchairs to access, the theater and bathroom doors also were just regular doors. I was just astounded by this. Mike and I were talking about how eye-opening it is. He has a lot more respect and sympathy for the disabled community after this experience. And so do I.

I will say there were a few people offering help and being very nice to us at the movies. But there were those that just looked at us struggle with the doors. There were those who cut in line as if we weren’t there at all or just didn’t matter.

I told Mike I think he is so brave. I admire how well he’s handling this whole situation. I don’t know that I’d be okay with being out in public with these limitations. But life is for living. And Mike wants to enjoy life even if it’s in a wheelchair.

I can’t help but think wouldn’t it be something if everyone could experience being disabled just for a day? It would change so many mindsets. And I bet there would be a lot more handicapped-accessible doors.

***

Today, I woke up and just didn’t want to do anything. It was raining pretty hard and I wanted to go back to sleep. Between getting my house ready to sell, working and just life in general being turned upside-down, I feel exhausted and drained. But almost as if Mike could read my mind, he whispered, “Babe, we gotta get up. We can’t be late for church.”

How awesome is it that he is now the one inspiring me to go to church?

Mission: Possible with God.

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