Melinda Coppola

twenty four may | from the inside out

Melinda Coppola

twenty four may | from the inside out

I’m on the couch, somewhere in between sitting and reclining. My right leg is extended out in front of me, clad in a cast to the knee and elevated on an ottoman with a large sofa cushion on top. My left foot is resting on a stool. This is a position I’ve spent most of my daylight hours in over the past ten days. At night it’s bed, elevating the right leg on that same big couch cushion, sometimes with another pillow on top. The only change in this scenario is that today my left knee is bolstered by an ace bandage and receiving regular ice packs in hopes of reducing some of the painful strain that has developed there. I guess it’s hard to be the only supporting leg, the one that enables me to slowly lift and lower and hop a bit to my next resting place–– bed, toilet, couch again.

I am ten days out from a planned surgery to alleviate long-term foot pain from the effects of an old injury. It was just over a year ago that I’d received a proper diagnosis: a ruptured ligament, probably from almost a decade ago. Since ligaments connect bones together (and provide a sort of shock absorption,) over time the bones in the top of my foot, which should be flat, moved. The surgeon described the odd arrangements as “ Bone tips coming out of the joints. A ski jump, and everything coming up from the joint looked like a volcano. The cartilage was almost non-existent, tattered”. All of this was exacerbated by time and lots of use. Probably over use.

It hurt. It hurt a lot and for a long time. Nothing helped much or for long. Still, I taught Yoga and Yogabilities™ and walked and ran up and down to the basement doing laundry and did everything I do as long as I could.

Why, after learning that there is a surgery available for cases like mine, with an 85% success rate…why did I wait? I am a caregiver to someone with special needs. Someone to whom I am the solid ground, the steady horizon, the predictable and understanding presence that enables all the pieces of her days and nights to work together.

I know what you might be thinking, especially if you don’t happen to be, say, a parent of someone with special needs. Hmm, Melinda sounds like she has delusions of great self-importance. Maybe she thinks the world can’t spin without her direct push.

And I get why you might think this, I really do. I’m not mad at you in the least. It’s not quite like that, though. I don’t think I can do most things better than others, or that I’m imbued with any gifts more amazing than yours. I am, however, the one who knows Bink best.

I know her intractable fear of beads with holes, and her pure delight in the deep male voices she calls Oreo. I know her requirements for space between things; rising and mint tea, her morning desire for a short video in response to a question. I know when I am to respond verbally, when in text, and when to not respond at all. I know what to look for after the clothes are on; a twisted bra strap, pants or a shirt on backwards.

I know how important the food talk is. What will supper be? What day will she eat that treat someone gave her yesterday? She is tired of the big pot of soup we made together just yesterday and says “ Don’t force me to eat it.” I know how to patiently answer a question for the fiftieth time, or the five hundredth, and when to push a bit more flexibility, and when that will mean disaster.

I know how the world alternately perceives her as less than, and also as someone who should be capable of more. I know how to keep her hydrated and clean and warm enough and I know the exact time of year her hands will chap because she doesn’t dry them thoroughly.

I know how to translate her idiosyncratic language for others and how to help her advocate for what she needs and when to step in and when to let things be. I know she really needs to get out somewhere every afternoon, and that this is no more rigid or unacceptable than your need to, say, have your morning coffee.

(Can you imagine, by the way, being entirely dependent on others to bring you that coffee, just the way you like it? Can you imagine being told that you shouldn’t need it every day, that you should be more flexible about this? That perhaps tomorrow you will not have your coffee at all because you should be able to get used to not having everything you want all the time? I digress, and for that I’m only slightly sorry.)

I know her by heart. She is my heart. And this forced semi-invalid state I’m in, this inability to directly help her with the tasks of daily living and with keeping the pantry stocked and cooking her what she wants and driving her to her program and ensuring her supply of soft pink shirts will not run out ….well, it’s really hard.

I have Superguy, who is going above and beyond. We have some help from caregivers. I am incredibly grateful for this and for the fact that this is a temporary thing. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel thankful for access to good healthcare, something most of the world’s people do not have. And I know Bink will be ok, and that she and Superguy and I will likely grow from this in ways I can’t imagine. I know this journey is rich with lessons.

It’s still damned hard.

 

–Melinda Coppola

 

 

3 Responses

  1. I bet it’s hard. And everything you described is about her, nothing about yourself. When I was laid up after surgery all I could think of is what I couldn’t do for myself. That is what struck me while reading this piece.

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