Taking Things for Granted

Ah, the things we take for granted. So typical. You hurt your hand (or arm or leg or foot or back or whatever) and realize how desperately you need it. You have a vision problem and suddenly know how precious are your eyes. When Zack became paralyzed, after the horrible shock of it (and before he started to regain small movements) the first of many deficits was the inability to scratch an itch, rub a nose or eye, to even move a finger toward any kind of independence. He certainly was nowhere near using a phone or TV remote. At that point, such things were of much less concern than whether his diaphragm muscles might fail at any moment and require intubation and breathing assistance. (We heard of numerous cases in which patients remained in ICU up to a year on respirators).

I remember those first days when Zack was in ICU. I saw people moving around, going about their lives. I would drive home hurriedly from the hospital to feed animals or pick up things we needed. I remember thinking that all those people I saw