June 7, 2005

HealthSouth Rehab Hospital of Valley View

Las Vegas, NV

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After Joe's 3rd Artie Johnson comedy act (he swears he knows what the problem is now) in the parking lot of Sears where we assembled for the ride into HealthSouth, we picked him up (along with a lot of silverware that he had collected yesterday from our Henderson visit) and finally arrived at the facility in Valley View, Las Vegas.

This was Chris's last ride into a visitation and he is accompanied by his pinky friend, Mandi (with one ......) 

Here Bill puts his bike away.

Mandi is deep in thought as the world goes by.

Chris is trying to do whatever Mandi is doing.

Joe is looking for a supply of bandaids to put on his wounds.

While Janette, Trisha, and Gloria, our support drivers, tend to their visitation chores (working the crowd, getting out the posters, making sure we have pens and supplying Chris with rubber bands to shoot us with, etc.).

We were met by Gill Silbernagel, the Chief Executive Office of the facility.  His welcome was warm and gracious.  However, he told us to be sure to use the plastic spoons and forks as the Henderson facility has come up short on their silverware following our visit there yesterday. 

We were also met by the great folks from the Southern Nevada Amputee Support Group.  Butch, Paul, Barbara, and others stayed with us the entire visitation.   They also kept an eye on Joe as he continued to try to slip the good silverware into his hollow leg.  We figure that Joe has been talking with Harpoon Harry too much and is trying his luck at plundering!!

Here, Barbara (far right), and Rob (middle), are conspiring to rob Paul of his  favorite blue balloon.  You can't trust those Hanger guys.

Thanks to Jan Churchill, the District Representative for the Honorable Shelley Berkley who came on his behalf to wish us well. 

Our favorite activity is to talk to patients while they are in pain and torture... physical therapy.  They all have such great stories to share and it's always fun to listen to them.  Our particular thanks to patients in PT, Thomas, Mary, Lorrie, Al, Lydia, Manual and PTs and Assistant PTs

Thanks to Gil Silbernagel, Cindy Luviarz, DMO, for their efforts to make us feel welcome and to be the perfect hosts.  Our thanks to the staff and patients of HealthSouth and to the members of the SNASG who take time from their active lives, to come and support us. 

Today, we said goodbye to our good friend Chris Rhoades and his mother, Gloria.  Chris and Mandi became good friends during his short stay with us and he and Gloria will be missed a lot.  Chris is such a great inspiration to everyone he meets and we hope that he will be back to ride again.  His smile can light up a room and his "never give up" attitude is contagious to all. 

The only thing we won't miss is the rubber bands flying past our ears and digging into our backs and legs!

Stay in touch, buddy! 

After dropping Chris and his mother off at the airport, we had the "western" version of a "Foggy Mountain Breakdown".  Here, Bill goes legs up to find out what the problem is.  After burying himself in the engine for 35 minutes, Joe notices that the radiator cap is off!  There was more bad luck, however, and 2 hours, 2 batteries and 1 Walmart later, we're looking for a shop to work on alternators.  Needless to say, we invested a lot of money in grease remover today! 

Trisha always did say that Bill has 2 left feet!

Tomorrow, we venture into the big city of Wilkieup.  Our journal entry tomorrow will be delayed a day due to a lack of phone lines or internet capabilities at the resort/trading post/restaurant at which we will be residing.

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