the mysterious motorized wheelchair

last week, i wrote about a patient with the "missing" voice. this week, C continues to amuse me. his voice has returned, somewhat. now instead of a whisper, he has a mean bark - especially when calling food service to swear about his meals being delivered cold and with the wrong condiments.

his most recent and best antic so far has to do with a mysterious motorized wheelchair. on sunday, C was zipping down the halls, rocking out to heavy metal. we teased him about fining him for speeding. but eventually, all of us nurses wondered where this fancy wheelchair came from. when the physical therapist showed up, we asked her if physical therapy indeed gave him the chair. when she said NO, there was sleuthing to be done.

turns out, just asking C point blank got us the answer. C stole the wheelchair from the complete other end of the hospital, near the rehabilitation unit (our hospital is HUGE - he travelled a long way to get this prized possessions). he had seen the chair in the halls near rehab the previous day when PT brought him there to workout. he even asked if he could use the motorized wheelchair - but PT said NO. the patient has muscular dystrophy; he can walk - albeit slowly and with a strange gait. but apparently, he wanted to zip around. so in the middle of the night on saturday, he wheeled himself in a regular wheelchair to rehab to confiscate the cadillac of wheelchairs - the motorized wheels!

PT forced C to hand over the chair. poor C with his little bark seemed deflated. but the heavy metal continues. C adds a little spice to our oncology unit. and i enjoy his spirit!