The Great Escape

Scripture Memory

When I was in college, I memorized the entire book of Philippians in the Bible. A scripture came back to me from that well of memorization that helped me change my attitude. I had been battling the May 16, 2023 surgery dysphagia
and seemed to be losing. In the third chapter of that book, the author Paul, who is in prison for preaching Jesus, finds repose in the thought of his future resurrection. Jesus promises all who believe in Him a resurrection. My Parkinson’s-ridden body will become brand new in heaven. Just before July 4 in 2023, and in my second rehab facility I was starting to think of this Bible chapter. Paul says, “I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it [his resurrection body] yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” As an English teacher most of my life, that verse has an abundance of action words. It was time for me to take some action. I realized that my broken body gave me limitations, but I needed to press forward. I needed to escape my prison of doom. 

First Escape

So my first escape came about 6 weeks into rehabbing. Chris and I thought that after two and a half months in acute hospital care, it was time to be free. We set out from the front lobby of the rehab facility on one Friday afternoon in a hospital wheelchair, crossed a busy six lane street, and enjoyed a beer and an iced tea on the patio of a place called the Sin Bin (yes that's the actual name). We enjoyed a bit of freedom together drinking in a late afternoon early July sunset. We got in trouble for that brief moment of freedom. We weren't supposed to leave the premises and ended up being reported and scolded. But I didn’t care. After six weeks of not really seeing much improvement, that little hour of freedom I felt like Steve McQueen in the Great Escape.

Second Escape

Later on, that summer, in our last acute care facility I finally took that verse in Philippians to heart, “[Eileen] press on toward that upward call.” I needed to be free from rehab hospitals. I needed to go home. I had improved by this time in walking with a walker, in chewing-swallowing-speaking somewhat and I was ready for a more normal home environment. My first week at this facility was fantastic. But the second week was awful, only because of me. My heart decided it was time to press on in Christ and go home. The staff told my husband that for whatever reason I was not trying to get better. I wasn’t putting in the needed effort in any of my rehab therapies. I had given up on my part of the rehab; I just needed to go home.

At Home 

I fled from that final rehab hospital in September of 2023 and came home. I have not returned to any longer-term therapy since, just outpatient. Don’t get me wrong, rehab hospitals are wonderful blessings, but I knew my time was done and I needed to reach forward. That Bible verse says the upward call comes with a prize. I knew the prize wasn’t in continued rehab, so I pressed on. I still haven’t attained the prize yet, but there have been little sur-prises along the way.