Day 1
Kansas. I was supposed to be here in January, but Mother Nature decided to have a blizzard instead. Now, if you know anything about Leader Dog, we don’t cancel training for cold weather. We’re based in Michigan, for pity’s sake, it gets pretty cold there. The Kansas Department of Transportation, or whatever they’re called, decided to close interstates and other important things like that. So, I’m headed to see two clients a couple of weeks later than expected, but on the way regardless.
I’m flying on the other airline and by pure happenstance, I got a first-class seat from Denver to Kansas City. I don’t know how it happened, but I didn’t argue. First class is pretty groovy, honestly. More room, a more comfortable seat, and they trust you with liquids BEFORE the plane takes off. You also get better snacks. I could easily get used to this, but I’ll be in steerage on the way back, where they don’t have enough lifeboats and all that.
I’m going to Topeka first, which is the capital of Kansas, in case you didn’t know. It’s also the location of the historic Brown vs. Board of Education court case, and the home of the Evel Knievel Museum. If you don’t at least recognize Evel’s name, I’m not sure if we can be friends…
Day 2
I’m here to see Kirk, who originally applied for a guide dog, but it was decided that he needed more orientation and mobility (O&M) before going any further. My friend Kate, guide dog mobility instructor (GDMI) extraordinaire, had been out to see him earlier and I got him on my list afterwards. I don’t know if I’ve met a GDMI who’s not extraordinaire, but I’m a bit biased. Kate is now the manager of Field Services at Leader, which makes her even more extraordinaire than she already was.
I met Kirk at his apartment, and we quickly set off to ride the bus. He’s eager to show me the routes he uses to get around the city. He’s already had O&M from the state of Kansas and his skills aren’t bad at all. I asked Kirk about the tennis ball he has on the end of his cane, and he said he started using it as a replacement tip because it was durable and inexpensive. I’ve seen people use golf balls, but I’ve never seen anyone use a tennis ball. It works great for Kirk and that’s all that really matters.
Kirk gets us to the first bus stop, and he calls the bus line to find out at what time the bus will be there. After his call, we realize that we’ll have to cross the street to catch an earlier bus, and it’s obvious to me that Kirk really understands the bus system, which is great for me because I don’t understand it at all. That’s one thing about offering O&M in people’s home areas that takes a lot of work. I don’t know the area, except for what I’ve studied on maps and Google Earth, so I have to trust the client to at least get us started.
One drawback to the tennis ball I noticed after boarding the bus is that it retains water. With all the ice and snow melting, the tennis ball has been through a lot of puddles and, therefore, leaves a soggy trail. I don’t need to be Buffalo Bill (famous for his hunting skills, obviously, but was also a renowned tracker and scout for the U.S. Cavalry. More on him later…) to follow him if he gets lost!
Day 3
I have a first-floor room in the hotel which hasn’t happened in a long time. It’s also set up for hearing impaired access. I didn’t get to pick my room this time and I asked the clerk about the hearing-impaired part because I didn’t want to have this room if someone else really needed it. I was told that since I was from Leader Dogs for the Blind, they assumed I needed a hearing-impaired equipped room. This is something that happens all the time, assuming you have a hearing impairment if you’re blind, but I’m neither, and just because I have the word “blind” in my email doesn’t mean I am blind. Anyway, the biggest drawback to being on the first floor is that I never feel comfortable opening my shades to let actual sunlight in, AND everyone who parks in the parking lot anywhere near me shines their headlights into my room. First-world problems, I know.
Kirk has a doctor’s appointment today, and that’s no big deal because mobility specialists can make a lesson out of almost anything. O&M is everything, and everything is O&M. This bus lesson requires a transfer at the downtown station, and we got to work on that a bit as well. So far, Kirk is a well-known traveler on the bus as all the drivers seem to know him well. A lot of the passengers, too. One, I found out later, is one of Kirk’s exes, and she seems to be on every bus he’s on. Maybe it was public transportation romance? I don’t ask any more questions about that because I’m better off not knowing.
The bus drops us off and we’ve got about five blocks to travel to the medical building where the doctor is located. This is really good practice, and Kirk’s never done it completely by himself. He finds out at the appointment that he has to return some medical equipment in order to get new equipment, so tomorrow’s lesson plan is already writing itself. Leaving this appointment, we travel a couple of blocks over to Kirk’s regular doctor’s office, and practice that several times.
Repetition is a huge advantage of Leader’s O&M program. Consecutive days training gives us the opportunity to repeat lessons multiple times, if necessary. Being an old high school football “star”, I recognize the benefit of repetition until you get it right. (I was homecoming king at Coahoma High School in the fall of 1985, a big fish in a really shallow pond. Every year, they gave the king a really groovy, full-sized helmet with your number on it, but my year — and my year only — I got a 4×4 plaque with a tiny plastic gold helmet on it. They went back to the full-sized helmet the very next year. Go figure…) Anyway, Kirk and I practiced this route in-between the bus stop and the doctor’s office several times and he’s beginning to get a real feel for it. If he does this well tomorrow, maybe I’ll get him a tiny, gold plastic helmet to celebrate.
Day 4
Kirk and I make it across bus transfers, two different buses, evil parking lots and a really messy route altogether, in order to get to the organization to which he is supposed to return his medical equipment, only to find out that he didn’t need to return it at all. Insurance issues, computer issues, and in my humble opinion, a lack of understanding caused us to make an unnecessary trip.
Kirk is totally blind, something his healthcare provider yesterday did not consider when asking him to return this equipment. It was nowhere near a bus stop and way off the beaten path. To someone who drives, not a big deal. Kirk had to carry this equipment with him on several buses, across streets and many evil parking lots to return a device that he didn’t have to return. Not to say that we didn’t make a good lesson out of it and got a lot of useful practice, but a little consideration for Kirk’s situation would have been pleasant.
We returned to the stop from which we practiced his route to the doctor’s office yesterday and repeated the route several more times. On his last trip, I was able to back up and shut up the entire time as I watched him complete the route completely on his own. It was fun to watch, and I really wish I had the groovy, full-sized helmet to offer him as a reward.
My work here in Topeka is done, and Kirk has a lot of homework to do, but he’s got a lot of good practice in the last three days. Something which he should be really proud of.
Day 5
Travel day, going from Topeka to Colby, Kansas, which is about a four-hour drive further west. I start my trip with a stop at Vuelve a la Vida, a Mexican food restaurant I found the day before. (David Linares, another GDMI extraordinaire, told me that “Vuelve a la vida” means literally: “get back to your life”.) It’s got a hand-written menu and is located in what appears to be an old gas station. All good signs that the food is gonna be great. In Texas, you know the tamales are going to be good if you buy them out a cooler in the trunk of someone’s car in the parking lot of an abandoned building. Looks more like an illegal drug transaction. The breakfast burritos are fantastic, and enormous, so I’ve got breakfast and lunch as I “get back to my life”.
On my way, I stop in Muscotah to see the world’s largest baseball. I figured, secretly, you’d want to know. Muscotah is the hometown of Joe Tinker who played shortstop for my Chicago Cubs in the early 1900’s. He was made more famous with his two infield mates Johnny Evers and Frank Chance, about whom was written “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon”. Franklin Pierce Adams, a New York Giants fan, wrote the poem about his sadness watching my Cubs turn double play after double play against his Giants. Tinker to Evers to Chance 6-4-3 on your baseball scorecard, shortstop to 2nd base to 1st. The actual baseball in Muscotah was made from the town’s old water tower. Pretty cool and a must-see for any baseball fan.
My next stop was in Cawker City where I found the world’s largest ball of twine. Am I on a roll or what? The ball was started by a farmer a long, long time ago when he started collecting loose twine around his place with plans to burn it. Soon, he had enough twine to make a ball as big as a barn door and decided to keep going. It does make one wonder why he had enough loose twine laying around to make a ball as big as a barn door, but it’s history now. The ball now sits on the main drag through Cawker City, and the local stores will even donate twine to curious passers-by to add to the circumference, so that underhanded fella from Minnesota doesn’t steal their Guinness Book of World Record again. The diameter was over 40 feet in 1988, the last posted statistic, but I can tell you from personal investigation that it’s much larger now.
Day 6
I’m in Colby to visit Karen who has a cane, but was not given the opportunity to learn how to use it effectively. She has retinitis pigmentosa, which attacks your peripheral vision and night vision, AND glaucoma, which, among other things, attacks your central vision. It’s coming at her from all angles!
She’s always had trouble with the night vision and her sister Max told me that when they were kids, playing outside at night, she would always keep Karen close by her side. Karen lives at home with her husband, Dick, who’s a Navy man. Having worked at the Veterans Affairs (VA) in another life, I always relish talking to veterans and hearing their stories. And if you know veterans, they don’t readily talk about their service, especially if they were in the thick of things. Dick was on a warship during Vietnam, so he was in the thick of things, for sure. One of Dick’s brothers was in the Air Force, stationed at Korat Air Force base in Thailand during Vietnam, the same base as my Uncle Terry, who was an Air Force air traffic controller. More than likely, Terry and Dick’s brother talked to each other, at least during flights.
I show Karen how to use the cane in about five minutes. I tell everyone that what I do is not rocket science. Most of it is common sense, really. Anyway, Karen is motivated to learn, which makes my job easier.
Motivated and now enabled with some basic skills, it’s time for lunch at the Bee Hive, a local watering joint that Karen and Dick frequent so frequently that they have a booth they call theirs. We get there and some non-regulars have their seat, a fact that everyone else in the place apologizes for, but we find another booth by the window and are met by Max, her grandson Caden and Meg, Karen’s friend. It’s always great to meet the family and friends, and they ask me all about Karen and how she’s doing.
Karen volunteers to take a walk around the building with them so she can show off her new skills. Caden and I eat our cheeseburgers while they’re gone. Caden is in high school, but they’re out today. He doesn’t know why they’re out, nor does he care, so he got to escort his grandmother to lunch and get a good cheeseburger.
I had tater tots with mine, but they were tater tots surrounding cheese, surrounding bacon. Woo! Karen and her entourage make it back and the entourage is full of praise and wonder at how good she’s getting around. The cane can actually make a big difference pretty quickly, especially in someone who’s as motivated as Karen.
Day 7
Day 7Karen and I walked to Max’s house, which is about seven blocks away from Karen’s. There are no sidewalks, so we follow the curb all the way there. Now, when there are no sidewalk and you’re forced to walk in the street, you should always be on the left side, facing oncoming traffic. If there is a sidewalk you should be on it, whether it’s on the desired side of your street or not. Anyway, walking on the left allows vehicles to see your cane and/or dog from further away and allows them to make adjustments to you. If you’re on the right, they can see you from just as far away, but they probably won’t see your cane. And they can see your dog behind, if you have one, but they won’t be able to see that it’s in harness and therefore guiding you. Walk on the left. Even if it’s just a short distance. It’s the same story I heard from Mom and Dad about seatbelts. They didn’t care how long or short my trip was, my safety harness was to be securely fastened every time.
Borrowing Dad’s truck one night to go to a wedding in town, he told my friend Brian and I that his truck wouldn’t even start if the seatbelts weren’t fastened. (Brian is the Barbara Mandrell fan from the last blog, if you’re a consistent reader. He was my quarterback and I was his center all the way from Jr. High to High School, and he’s still my best friend. Never fumbled a snap. Not once.) Anyway, Dad’s truck, in fact, did not start until we belted up, and Brian got a grease stain on his tuxedo for it! All that to say, maybe the left isn’t the most convenient side on which to walk, but that’s where you should be.
After lunch, Karen and I go to her church to work on stairs. I’ve showed her a technique that will work for her whether she’s got three steps to traverse or 300, and she’s got steps at all three entrances to her house, plus stairs down to the basement, so feeling confident in her stair technique in a real bonus.
On the way to the church, Karen talked about how big the staircase was to get into the front of the church, but after going up the first time, she asked “Is that it?” She was so uneasy about going up and down the stairs with her limited vision, she had envisioned many more stairs than there actually were. She was delighted at how easy she could get to and out of the church with no assistance.
After I dropped off Karen, I drove over to Oakley, Kansas to see the Buffalo Bill statue. It’s magnificent and really detailed. While Bill killed a lot of buffalo while supporting the railroad workers for the transcontinental railroad and the army, he was actually a big reason the buffalo survive today. He was quite the conservationist in his later years. If you’re ever near Oakley, Kansas, you should stop and see the statue. In case you were wondering, Oakley is not named for Annie Oakley (which was a stage name), but she did haunt these parts and was a big part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Adventure.
Day 8
Sunday. Karen went to church and practiced her stairs again and I picked her up afterwards. We went to Dillon’s, the local grocery store to work on indoor skills. Dillons is one of the much larger Kroger family, and my Nacogdoches Kroger card works just fine here, in case you were curious. Anyway, we talked about the different ways to get around in a store. with or without the cart, while using the cane. Hanging on the cart from behind while another shopper pulls from in front, or pulling from the front while using your cane. Karen will probably not be shopping without her husband or sister, but she knows that she can if she needs to. We went to Walmart after that to practice in an even busier setting, and to get more practice negotiating the evil parking lot. There’s a retired gentleman that parks at Walmart every day just to see what’s going on in town and folks stop by to talk and even get in with him for a bit while their wives shop. We stopped and talked to him, too. I felt like a local.
Karen and I went to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) tonight to play Bingo. Everyone there knew Karen and was happy to see her. She uses a magnifier to locate her targets and it’s pretty impressive to see how quickly she works. It’s great practice for her, and great fun for me. I won $10, although I spent $14 to get all set up. I felt like I came out ahead. The other reason we went out tonight is so that when Bingo was finished, it would be dark outside.
Karen does not travel at night because of her poor vision, but I want her to know that the cane skills she’s using in the daytime also work at night. There are no new skills for night travel, but it’s a confidence issue. If you stop going out at night, you won’t be confident going out at night. Same as the grocery store, I want Karen to know that she can travel safely at night if she needs to. Same as the stairs at church, she is surprised that she can do it so easily when she trusts her techniques.
Day 9
On the last day of training Karen and I head to the Bee Hive from her home. She’s decided that this is one of the routes she wants to get really good at, and one she can film for her upcoming guide dog application.
Past the Bee, we go on to Karen’s optometrist, where her niece works. It was great speaking to the doctor, as I was able to share with him about all Leader’s services. He’s already thinking about one of his patients in particular that would benefit. On the way back, Karen again is surprised at how quickly she’s made this trip. One of the fringe benefits of confidence in your cane skills is speed. Not running a race speed, but increased pace. Consistent pace helps you walk a straighter line, helps you keep your balance, and almost always increases your chances of being lined up properly for the next street crossing. I preach pace to my clients for that very reason.
We got back to Karen’s house just in time for lunch at the Bee. Monday is chili day and we finally get to sit in our booth. A hot bowl of chili always hits the spot on a chilly day. I’m headed to Denver right after lunch so I can fly out tomorrow, hopefully before the forecasted 60 mph winds and winter storm hits. If there’s another blog, you’ll know I made it.