Monday, January 31, 2011 - Saying goodbye to all the helpful and encouraging staff at Bethesda Naval Hospital was hard and emotional. But, it is even harder to keep doing it over and over again. The scheduled med-evac to California was cancelled again! Hopefully tomorrow. After the successful trip yesterday, Daniel thought it might be an opportunity to go out of the hospital and grab a bite to eat and watch a movie.
It was a bitterly cold day, with some rain and snow. We headed off to the DC Metro to go from the hospital into Bethesda proper. We got on the metro and arrived at the Bethesda station where we found that the elevator was not working. The longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere was not going to be any help to a wheelchair-bound person. We were told to go back to the station we came from and take the bus to here. After making the trip back (made more difficult by our metro passes not working properly and security guards who were in too much of a rush to finish their shift or have their donut break to hold the elevator for Daniel) we located the bus, waited, got on, and realized that we were told the wrong bus number. Fortunately we found out before it went anywhere.
With no possibility of making the movie, completely frustrated, cold, and hungry we bailed on the adventure and got McDonald's and went back to the room. Daniel napped the rest of the afternoon. The reality of wheel-chair life hit home - hard!
Neil, Daniel, I used to be annoyed by the ADA stuff until I helped some disabled folks get around and then I realized how very wheel Chair unfriendly our country really is. Sorry, for the misadventure and having to wait again. If the military has taught you anything it's how to hurry up and wait, Daniel.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are in CA, I can give you some tips of good places to go. Grace and peace to you both.
Love in Christ, Colin