FINR revisited

12:15pm

Last Thursday, a client called to see if I could immediately serve 2 Subpoenas in Hardee county. She told me that the individuals were aware the Subpoenas were coming and were testifying on behalf of the firms client. When she asked if I knew where the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation was, I said "Yea....I've been there a few times" and told her I went every day for 3 months while Taylor was there.

Taylor has often talked about going back to FINR to visit with those who cared for him and made him work hard in rehabilitation, but wasn't able to go when we tried one time last year. He said he almost feels some sort of guilt by having recovered so well when others didn't. He said he has "terrible memories" at FINR. Even though the staff was great and that is where he was able to physically recover, it was a very tough 3 month fight.

When Taylor got to FINR, he had to be transported in an ambulance. He had lost 40 pound in the hospital and was down to a gaunt 118 pounds. He had a catheter, feeding tube and trach. He wasn't able to walk, talk, eat or even sit up on his own. He was dealing with his hearing loss and didn't yet have glasses for his double vision. He had to be lifted out of bed by a crane type of device with a sling he sat in. It was not a good time for him.

Last week when I traveled to FINR I stayed for a couple of hours visiting with those that worked with and cared for Taylor. I told Taylor I was going and he said "Be sure and tell Donna, Tina, Anita, Lilliana, Sara, Kim, Amy....just tell everybody I said "hi". There really are some wonderful people that work at a job that has to be very difficult at times.

Before I left, one of the Administrators asked me to speak to a Mother of an 18 year old who had recently come to FINR. He was "car surfing" when he fell to the ground from the roof of a moving vehicle. His name is Tyler - very close to Taylor - and the staff there had mentioned previously that he reminded them of Taylor. Watching the physical therapists working with Tyler reminded me so much of the first week Taylor was there - unable to sit up on his own and having to be strapped in a wheel chair so we wouldn't fall out. I remember how excited I was when Taylor, unable to use his right arm or leg, would propel himself down the hall in his wheelchair, using his left foot to pull himself along. Tyler's mom told me her son was in a coma when he came to FINR, and the hospital Doctors told her he would probably have to live in a nursing home the rest of his life. Then, in the past couple of weeks he awakened and called his mother's name. So, to see him following directions as the staff had him try walking with a chest-high walking support device was really, really exciting to watch. It's hard to tell, and it's anyone's guess, how much Tyler will get back but by the looks of things and the improvement he's already had he'll definitely only get better.

As I looked around the room at all of the new faces and realized that there were so many other patients that had come and gone in the 2 years since Taylor was there, I felt an overwhelming sadness. It's just heartbreaking to see people who were fine one minute, and their lives and the lives of their families forever changed.

Not that I really needed one, but it was a reminder for me of the things that matter and the things that don't. There are a few people I'd like to be able to take to FINR so they would realize how trivial some of their "problems" really are compared to others.