Jeff, the man of my dreams (although, at that point, I hadn’t told him how I felt about him), was waiting for me at my spot near the fireplace when I got off the elevator and turned the corner into the dining room in the main building of Side By Side Assisted Living. Lesley, my private duty aide, parked me right next to him. He had a big impish grin on his face, but when he saw I’d been crying, his grin melted away and he looked concerned.
Jeff with his impish grin
“What happened Becca?” He asked me.
“I’m not allowed to say,” I told him, “But I’m not allowed to have any men in my apartment anymore.”
“Who said that?” he asked me. “Your parents? They shelter you way too much, you know I-”
For the two days after I spoke with John, a very tall big man who walked with a serpent cane, all I could think about was meeting Jeff officially. John had informed me that he was really good at fixing computers and was in charge of the internet and computer system at Side By Side Assisted Living the place where I now lived despite the fact that I was only 24 years old. John had noticed the internet was down in my apartment and offered to fix it. We had a long conversation where he somehow picked up from me that I had a major crush on Jeff.
“Jeff and I go way back,” Jonh told me. “He’s amazing with computers himself. How about I bring him with me when I come over to fix your internet, and then the three of us can just hang out?” he suggested.
My nerves were humming so loud that I could feel them vibrating from inside of me, or maybe that was just my heart that was still always beating too fast no matter what medication I took or how much IV fluid got infused into me.
After six months of living in a nursing home that I not-so-lovingly referred to as Hell-Crest Commons I was going to visit Side By Side Assisted Living and meet with one of the Nurse Managers there, whose name was Chrissy. Tanya the social worker had also arranged for my weekly scheduled visit with my mom to be that day as well. I had no idea what to even begin to expect.
Side By Side was just a few minutes from the nursing home and it was a big main building that was actually two houses combing together and then a bunch of other houses in … Find Out What Happens Next
My future was looking brighter than it had looked in a very long time. After six long months, I was getting ready to leave Hell-Crest Commons, the nursing home I’d been imprisoned in.
Side By Side, where my mom, Anna (the contact my friend Laura’s social worker friend had given me) and I were interviewing with Chrissy (the nurse manager)seemed like it would be the perfect fit for me. Especially because Anna was getting me the special PCA (personal care aides) services that MassHealth (Medicaid) provided to help take care of me and help me function and be more independent without needing to rely on my parents for everything.
My mom was discussing rent and pricing with Chrissy and Anna. Chrissy was saying that normally the apartment was $1000 a month, but because I didn’t eat anything she would bring it down to $900 a month. That didn’t seem quite … Find Out What Happens Next
My life hung in the balance as I waited for 24 hours to hear back from my mom about whether my dad was going to give the final yes or no verdict about whether or not I could be discharged to Side By Side Assisted Living and have some sort of future.
I needed my parents to pay for private duty CNA care, three hours a day for the next 2 to 4 weeks so that I could go the assisted living. Otherwise, Side by Side was completely off the table because I needed someone to be able to carry me up and down the four steps leading into my apartment in addition to helping me with all of my care. If my dad said no to this, I was going to end up in a homeless shelter. Because I am 100% dependent on IV fluids, tube feeds, oxygen … Find Out What Happens Next
