A Day In The Life With Joel (Part II)

I thought I'd give readers a rundown on what a typical day with Joel is like, from morning to night. I figured I'd keep it to just a school day. On the weekends or in the summer, just add in changing movies/books every 15 minutes, a few extra diaper changes and the feeding of lunch and it's pretty much the same.

7:40am - slurp back a cup of coffee and let the dogs out to pee
7:45am - sort of wake Joel up and roll him over so he can have a few more minutes of sleep
- pack Joel's lunch...typically, it's either macaroni or Alphagetti (the kid loves his pasta!), an apple sauce, cottage cheese mixed with raspberry jam, a banana, a piece of bread and butter, sometimes a can of mixed fruit and some cookies
7:55am - get Joel's breakfast and anti-seizure medicine ready
8:00-8:10am - wake Joel up and change his diaper
- get him dressed in his school clothes
- put his leg splints and boots on
- pick him up and set him in his wheelchair (Joel is over 70lbs now! Yay! for him, but Boo! for our backs!)
- comb his hair
- wheel him out to the kitchen for breakfast
8:10-8:15am - feed breakfast and brush teeth
8:15am - in living room waiting for the bus (while waiting, we'll either practice his spelling words or watch the dogs fight...the latter is more entertaining)
8:20am - load Joel onto the school bus

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3:30pm - get Joel off the school bus
3:35-4:00pm - unload Joel out of his wheelchair at the front door and carry him into his bedroom since the wheels on the chair are covered in snow
- change diaper and change into relaxing clothes
- give anti-seizure meds and another glass of milk
- pick the first of many movies that will be watched
4:00-suppertime - this time is spent between changing movies in his personal DVD player; setting up the PS2 and whatever game he wants: putting away the PS2 and picking out his book to read: putting away the book and getting the TV remote out so he can watch TV; putting away the TV remote and getting the ghetto blaster out and picking a CD to listen to; putting away the ghetto to get out the personal DVD player so he can watch another movie all while trying to get supper ready and administering more drinks and changing diapers as needed
5:30pm - feed supper...where we eat supper changes from day to day. If Mike is at work, I feed Joel in his bedroom (saves one less strain on the back from putting him into his wheelchair) and if Colby's not home, I'll eat in Joel's room too. If Colby is home, he and I eat at the table and I feed Joel in his room. If Mike is home, but it's a casual make-it-yourself supper, Joel eats in his room. If I've slaved away over a meal, we all eat at the table. I never wanted to be one of those families who never eats together, but sometimes it's just sooooooooo much easier this way
6:00pm-8:00pm - much of the same as after school unless it's bath night. Both Mike and I need to be home to bath Joel. One person can get him unchanged and into his bath chair in the tub by ourselves (as well as the actual bathing part), but it takes two people to get him out of the tub.
8:00-8:30pm - bedtime snack and bedtime medicine along with another diaper change and putting on pajamas and brushing the teeth
8:30pm - lights out...Joel likes to have the radio on at night....he loves 750 CJVR or whatever that oldies station is

And that's pretty much it. Caring for Joel may look like a lot, but it's actually pretty easy. He is such a happy kid and he is so easy to entertain. Some of the best parts of my day are making him giggle until he farts, which of course, gets me giggling (but I'm not left with the same end result if you know what I mean). The only strain on us is the physical toll our backs are taking. We need to get a lift put into his bedroom and into our van. One of these days, Mike or I or both of us will blow our backs out (we have in the past, just not at the same time) and that will not be pretty. There are days when my back feels a millimeter away from snapping....it's only a matter of time.