Saturday with the Angels

Saturdays always look different for me. I don't see patients so usually I spend the day tinkering around the clinic trying to make myself useful...fixing wheelchairs, running errands in town, hanging out with patients. The cast of characters in the clinic is always fluctuating depending on who is hurt or sick. I introduced Angel #1 (Akon) a few weeks ago. He's the kid who broke his jaw during my first week here when he fell off a balcony. We're hoping he's going to be cleared to eat real food on Monday. Dan and I are planning to take him out for some tacos to celebrate.

There is a second Angel who's been in the clinic this week with a sprained wrist. He's a little younger than Akon, just the right age that he thinks I'm really cool. He's like a little brother following me around, asking me what I'm doing and always offering to help. He makes my plate at lunch or if I'm carrying a box he grabs one end to help me...only using his good arm of course.

Today I had to wash the towels from the PT room, so me and the Angels formed a 3-man system. Akon washed half the towels on his side of the water tank. I took the other side with Angel #2 as my assistant. Because I am still learning the ways of hand washing, he coached me through each step: first wet the towel, then sprinkle with powdered soap, throw some more water on the towel, with your hands flat rub each section of the towel on the stone, flip and repeat, then pour water one section at a time to rinse out the soap, wring it dry. When we finished each towel Angel #2 would run up the stairs to hang it out to dry...again only using his good arm.

As a treat for their hard work I let them play Wii this afternoon. After so many weeks in the clinic, Akon has become an all star at almost every game, so today he was mentoring Angel # 2 on the tricks of each game. He's quite the protege.