Lotto Winner

It was early in the evening when Barbara answered the phone. It was one of her mother’s elderly friends calling Barbara to ask for help. The woman said her middle aged son had fractured his leg and couldn’t walk. He had been sent home from the hospital to live with her and her elderly husband. She said she was not able to take care of him because he couldn’t even walk. How would she be able to get him in and out of the bathroom? She sounded desperate. She was also concerned about the cost of care if she hired someone else to take care of him.

Barbara did not hesitate. She told her mother’s friend not to worry. She told her, “My husband will be right over to get your son, and we will take care of him in our board and care home at half the normal charge. When he is strong enough to walk, you can take him back home. He should be strong enough for you to handle in a couple of weeks. And don’t worry about the charges. I will have my husband give him physical therapy free. John will drive over to your home and bring him here right now. He should be there in half an hour.”

I found a used walker in our tool shed and put it in the back of our station wagon. Soon I was ringing the door bell. I recognized the elderly woman as someone I had seen before. She led me into the living room of her modest condominium duplex. She thanked me for coming promptly and introduced me to her son who was in a wheelchair wearing a cast on his foot and lower leg. There was writing on the chalky cast. I looked at the obese fifty year old man. He must have been popular in the hospital to have so many signatures on his plaster-of-paris cast. He was apparently in pain, frightened, and unhappy. He said, “They brought me home today in an ambulance. I can’t walk. How do you expect to get me in a car? You’re not big enough to lift me. I don’t see how you are going to be able to do it.”

I brought in the walker and adjusted it to the appropriate height. I demonstrated how to stand and hop on one leg using the walker. Then I said, “Grasp the handles of your wheelchair and lean far forward. Try to rest the heel of your cast on the floor in front of you. Put your other foot back close to your chair. When you stand, your foot will be directly under your body weight. Try to make your good foot the center of gravity while pushing your upper body past the center. Use both hands on the wheelchair armrests to push yourself to a standing position.”

I stood at his side to assist him. I put one hand under his arm to assist the heavy man to stand leaning most of his weight on the strong leg toward me. I had placed the walker in front of him. I said, “Keep your broken leg out in front of you. Put both hands on the walker and try to lean all your weight on the walker. Keep your cast out in front of you while you lift your foot up and down off the floor. See, you are doing it. Congratulations! Soon you will be able to walk using the walker. Now, lean forward holding the cast out in front of you. That’s right. You did that very well. Now I can take you to our Twin Peaks Retirement Home. You will feel young there because the other clients are elderly. Also, the food is delicious. After we get there you can use the phone to call your mother and tell her you arrived safely.”

I carried his suitcase and walker outside and put them in the station-wagon. I pushed him in the wheelchair to the car. I showed him how to stand, pivot away from the seat, lean forward, and sit on the front seat of the car. I asked him to scoot back in the seat and lean back . I supported his cast as he stood, and I helped him lift his broken leg into the car. After helping him sit up straight, I clasped his seat buckle, folded the wheelchair and put it in the car.

While I drove the car he complained, “Everything has been going wrong since I came in to some money. The first thing I did was buy a new Mercedes Benz. It’s a big cream colored new car, not like my good old klunker. The trouble is, everybody sees me in my new car, and they know I don’t belong in a car like that. They keep looking at me. I don’t like it. I had to quit my job that I liked. My friends knew about my coming into some big money. They said I shouldn’t work any more because, I didn’t need to make any more money. But, what am I supposed to do with myself. I don’t play golf or anything like what affluent people do. I’m too young to retire for good. Maybe a month’s vacation would be all right. But, don’t make me stop working forever! I liked my job. I had retired from my old job that was not fun. I was happy with my new business selling stuff at the swap meet. I’d been doing it for several years. Anyway, because of the money, I lost my job and all my friends. People started asking me for donations. I had to get a lawyer and an accountant, and I don’t like it. I’m accustomed to handling all my own affairs. I’m used to doing my own tax accounting and filling out my own tax forms. Why do I need these extra people in my life?

“Then I decided to buy a nice new house for my parents. I looked around and found one where they hadn’t even landscaped it yet. I walked around to the back yard, tripped on some wire, and broke my leg. They took me to the hospital and put on this heavy cast. It hurt like hell. It still hurts most of the time. I can’t walk or do hardly anything to take care of myself.”

The man paused and looked out the window as we drove toward my small rest home. Soon he began to complain again, “And what am I going to do with the money? I can’t invest it in the stock market. The stock market is already too high, and it is liable to fall any time. Oh, well. My leg will heal eventually. And I will just have to get used to the money like rich people do. Maybe I will start taking cruises or something. I might even find me a woman to help me spend it. Still, I wish I had my old life back. I wish I hadn’t won the eighteen million dollar lottery! It has really messed up my life!”