Neil awoke early, still in bed thinking about all that had gone on for the past year. And then part of that time he had no memory of as he was unconscious. He had decided some time ago that he was glad he was, or he would have been in a lot of pain. He was a military man in the sand box and had no memory of the explosion under his hummer that killed the other 2 men and 1 female that were with him. He smiled to himself not at all unhappy with what had happened to him though. His right leg and pelvis, (a hemipelvectomy), right kidney and a lot of other stuff in that area were gone. His left leg, the hip socket and spleen were also gone. He had other injuries to his torso that were now healed. He was now out of the hospital and into his new apartment for one month today. He had finally been fitted a couple of days ago, with his new "bucket" that fit over the bottom part of what was left of his body to be able to sit comfortably in his wheelchair. He only had a little bone left to sit on.
Neil finally decided to get up and get the day started. He really had not been out of the house since he got his bucket and decided to venture out and maybe even have dinner out tonight. He got into his wheelchair and into the bathroom to get his shower and then get dressed. It took him a little over an hour to do so as he was still learning how to take care of himself. He had a care giver provided by the VA, but it was time for him to do things by himself. Sitting on the john, for instance, was quite a problem, even with the special seat that had been made. He managed to get into the bucket and then in his wheelchair. It was beginning to get a little easier.
Neil got some things done around the apartment, went to the store and then decided to go out to eat for dinner. He knew of a family restaurant near the VA that usually had people in wheelchairs so he would not seem out of place. He managed to go to the bathroom and then changed into a multi colored t-shirt. It was all he had on as it was long enough to cover his bucket. He strapped himself in his wheelchair by fastening a belt over his right shoulder, down across his chest to the left side back support connector. This way he had both hands free and not have to hold himself up. He called an Uber friend that the VA used because he drove a wheelchair accessible van. He was close and knew just the place Neil was talking about. He helped him in the door when they got there and Neil was shown to a table quickly.
The lady that seated him gave him a menu and they chatted for a couple of minutes. Neil looked at the menu and happened to look up as two women came in. They were both small, about 5'4", and one was using one underarm crutch on her left side, as her right leg and arm were totally gone. She had short shorts and a t-shirt on and there was no stump protruding from the leg of the shorts. It looked like the shoulder joint was gone the way the t-shirt sloped, and the sleeve was folded inside the opening. The other woman appeared to be normal and had her hand on the waist of the amputee woman. Neil was only sitting a short distance away and they had a side view of him and his wheelchair. The amputee met Neil's eyes and he smiled and made a gesture asking if they wanted to join him. The amputee said something to the other woman and she eagerly nodded her head yes. The amputee walked very smoothly to the table and Neil now noticed she even had a hi-heel on.
Neil moved his chair back from the table and they could now see he had no legs at all. He introduced himself and apologized for not standing. The one girl put her hand on the chair and pulled the chair out from the table and sat down. The amputee moved to the other side of Neil and sat also. This put her amputations right next to him. Neil noticed the strength she had in her leg as she slowly let herself down on to the chair and did not just plop down. The amputee said her name was Lil and that was Penny. Penny gave a big smile and stuck her hand out. It finally hit Neil she was blind as she held her hand in front of her and was looking straight ahead. He immediately reached over and took it and she now turned towards him. She did not have dark glasses or a red and white staff and her eyes looked mostly normal. A big smile lit up her face.
Lil said you must be new around here, I don't think I have seen you before. Neil said he was, had just been out of the hospital a month. She said congratulations and glad you are doing OK now. Penny spoke up and asked where he was when he got hurt. He told her and she said oh wow, that was the same area where Lil was. Lil nodded her head in agreement. She asked how long ago and he said almost a year ago and Lil said hers was over 3 years ago. He now noticed that both girls had nipples poking their t-shirts out. He thought they might both be 38 b's and seemed to be braless.
He asked Penny if she was in the military also and she said no, they would not take her because she could not see and she and Lil laughed. I work at the VA and that's where we met a couple of years ago. Lil said they now lived together and Penny helped her do some things she needed help with.
Neil started to ask Penny about her blindness but noticed that quite a few people had come into the restaurant and several were sitting close to them. He leaned forward a bit and suggested to Lil and Penny that since there were people close by they come to his place after dinner and they could talk in private about their various injuries. He added they could ask him any questions they liked, nothing was too personal. Penny thought that sounded great and added he could ask them anything also. They had a great dinner and had plenty of other things to talk about. He had even cut Penny's food up for her.
After they got to his apartment and he had shown them around, the girls sat on the couch and he sat in front of them. Lil asked if he was OK sitting for as long as he had and Neil said he was OK for a little while longer. Neil asked Penny how she became blind. Penny said she was in the eye doctor's office and she could see fine when she went in and was blind when she came out. She laughed a little then said he stuck a needle in her eye, removed a little fluid from it then injected some medicine into the retina then some other medicine into the vitreous fluid and that eye went totally blind about 5 minutes later. He repeated the same procedure on the other eye and she left the office about 2 hours later completely blind. She could not distinguish any light from darkness at all. The second injection made the vitreous fluid completely opaque and the eye ball very firm.