Company!

Well family and friends, it has been quite busy the last several days at the Waltmire household.

On Thursday Ted had his first meeting with the Marion Joy outpatient team. They affirmed that his goals regarding full recovery and being back to work early September are quite reasonable and he begins 3 days per week Physical and Occupational Therapy next Wednesday. Monday begins his series of doctor appointments - first with his new GP followed up by a meeting with the Neurologist from Central DuPage Hospital. From there - we'll see what other doctors need to be involved in his long term recovery and overall health care.

Friday was another adventure for Ted and Rick as they first ran (well, not literally) a couple of banking errands and got Ted his low maintenance summer buzz cut. He was pleased with his ability to make it from the car into the bank and into the barber shop without the use of the wheel chair. After that it was off to Wrigley Field (yes - again!) for a 1:20 first pitch.

Since the Cubs Express Bus does not run for weekday games until June, Ted and Rick had to find another way to get to the game. Thanks to very helpful CTA employees and courteous passengers they managed to successfully get to the ball game via the Blue Line (from Forest Park) to the Red Line (transfer at Jackson) and off at Addison right by the friendly confines. We are now MUCH more familiar with which stations have elevators (look for the wheelchair symbol on the route map in the train!). Michelle was able to take the afternoon off and meet the boys at the ballpark. We got a third ticket and off we went to the wheelchair accessible seats right behind home plate. Luckily we brought our jackets since the temperature at our seats was about 10 degrees cooler than that in the lower part of the park. The wind blowing in chilled both us and the Cubs - at least for the first seven innings. In the seventh the wind calmed down and the Cubs heated up. While they left a LOT of men on base they had just enough offense to win (Cubs 2, Dodgers 1). We had a grand time singing "Go Cubs Go". Leaving the park via the elevator we learned that the exit point is right by the entrance to the players parking lot and that you can line up and try to get autographs as the players exit the field to go to their cars. By the time we got there most of the "Big Time" players were gone but Rick did get a great picture of Ryan Theriot's back as he (Ryan, not Rick) was signing autographs. Outside the ballpark Rick also got several pictures of the players in their various very expensive cars leaving the park. I never realized how tall Derrick Lee is until I saw him standing beside his car. No wonder he can make some of those spectacular long reach catches and still keep his foot on the bag.

After all that excitement you would think our day on Friday would have ended and we would head for home but it was early on a beautiful Friday afternoon so we headed back to the Red Line (it took a bit more persuasion for people to be courteous when the train was so full but we made it) and downtown to the Bergoff Restaurant. (Yes - it closed. It is now open with a shorter menu and new waiters) Ted was able to get his Sauerbraten, creamed spinach and mashed potato fix. Rick and Michelle each had delicious fish (not the German specialties but quite good!)

Saturday brought more morning errands followed by the "Welcome Home, The Mighty Ted" party. Ted was bubbling with joy the entire time. He loved showing people how well he is able to walk, talking about his progress negotiating the stairs (he is much faster and more confident now though he still needs someone to watch him for a mis-step) and the level of control he has over his left arm. The fingers have still not decided to join us but we know they won't be far behind. Thanks to all of you who sent your good wishes to Ted but could not join us. We look forward to seeing you at our future gatherings and to all of you who took the time out of your busy lives to come by. (And to any of you who did not get the invitation - our apologies - we tried to get the email out to as many of you as possible but did think of others who were missed. We will have other parties and be sure you are invited!) Thanks especially to Steve Ziedler and Mr. Z's grocery store in Lombard for our beautiful party trays and the cake. Everyone loved the food and could not have been more complementary about all the yummies!

So... Sunday brings church followed by our normal "go out for lunch" and perhaps a run to our "yuppie grocery store" (Sorry Steve) looking for some seafood to grill.

As I said at the start, quite a weekend!