by Serena St. John

Created on: May 07, 2008

What Was I Thinking?

We had been home from the spinal cord rehab facility almost 5 weeks. The house modifications that were supposed to be finished had barely been started. The rehab discharge team let us go home because the handicapped-accessible bathroom was finished and the bed re-located to the living room (which made it livable). The builders had one third of the 900 square foot house boarded-off in preparation for more modifications but the so-called 'train was stuck at the station' on this six month old project.

Plastic sheeting, boarding, equipment and furniture squeezed into every available space, clutter, supplies, my husband, myself and our dog...it was chaos. Promises by those responsible that work would resume Monday, then the next Monday, then the next Monday started to fall on our deaf ears as they were just not materializing. No matter who you contacted that individual would refer you to someone else and the accountability just kept whirling around along with the hot, humid air.

With the official summer kick-off, temperatures in the house soared to the high 90's quickly. In years past we utilized a small portable air conditioner to cool down our 10x12 foot bedroom while we slept at night. Daytime was spent at work. The small-sized a/c unit was okay for the small bedroom but inappropriate for the larger size of the living room. Fans circulated the blistering air, useless in this situation.

Due to the nature and high level of my husband's spinal cord injury, he was always in danger of autonomic hyperreflexia. In layman's terms, that meant his spinal cord control centers were on "off". He could develop a very high blood pressure and stroke out under a variety of body-stressing circumstances. One of those stressors was an extreme temperature (hot or cold). It was critical that his body temperature be kept cool in this heat. That was only going to happen in this environment with the careful application of ice-packs to his body.

No one had done a thing on the home modifications in 9 weeks. Multiple phone calls to the project manager/architect were going unanswered. We were not even worth false promises anymore. The outside temperatures were unbearable as was the humidity. Forget the interior of the house. No cars to be able to drive anywhere; no place of comfort anywhere; it was stifling emotionally and physically as well. Ice packs....that, my friends, was our day.

Right after the injury, I dropped to a 32 hour work week (which still qualified

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