Ok.. So up until I was on C3, I was on Ontario Works to pay the bills.. Or attempt to anyway.. Once I was being moved to C3, the Social Worker and I decided that getting onto ODSP might be the smarter move for me.
So we applied before I moved to C3, and was approved. Since I was living in the hospital, I didn't get the shelter amount but that's neither here nor there. I honestly thought it was going to the hospital anyway, so I wouldn't miss it.
So for those who are unaware, the ward I was moving into, C3, was for long-term stays. People waiting to get into Long Term Care or Nursing Homes, people like me who were trying to get into assisted living places, and those who don't fit in anywhere else. There was a lot of dementia on the floor.
For someone who has all their mental faculties it was a hard transition. I felt completely out of place but I also knew that it was the best thing for me until I got to a better housing situation. There were some incredible nurses on the floor. Some of them became good friends. I had some good roommates.. I had some bad roommates. We had food/drink scavengers, wanderers, and people so far out of their mind confused they had no clue what day it was nevermind where they were.
In order to keep myself relatively sane, I was able to get my baseball cards brought to me in the hospital and keep them in the activity room. The Recreational Therapist was also incredible. I ended up helping her out while I was in the hospital, for socialization and for getting away from the crazy on the floor.
Now I mentioned a few things that went on already.. The first night I was on the floor, we had a scavenger come into our room three times to drink whatever fluid we had leftover. I had dementia patients try to kick me out of my own room.. I had one that was a little too.... Friendly.... Had another wanderer who was rather hot-headed repeatedly slam the door to my room and try to slam the sliding door for the bathroom... While I was in there.. Then there were the yellers.. Ohhh the yellers...
I ended up starting to nickname some of the other patients.. We had a person that sounded like a goat when they yelled.. So they were the Goat. Aggressive door slammer also liked swearing, so he was Swear Bear.. Another liked bellowing "HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOO" repeatedly all day.. So he became Foghorn.
I think the worst part was being in isolation for COVID contact for a month straight. Two stretches of 10 days for contact with a positive case, the third because I tested positive. During that time, I had a roommate that ended up passing. That was difficult for me to deal with because while I didn't know the person, who wants to be 10 feet from someone when they die? The fact the nurses were just going about their business to prep the body made things worse. I couldn't leave because of isolation..
I spent Christmas and my Birthday in the ward. Christmas was nice because I got some things I needed like shirts, underwear, gloves, and some other things.
The most stressful time was the prep for moving when I finally found out I was moving to where I currently live. Having to organize a moving van from my old place to my new place, needing them to pack my crap up.. Changing contact information and ensuring ODSP knew. Getting other ducks in a row, plus figuring out just what the Hell I needed for the new place. Between the Hospital staff donating things and Century Transportation staff, I had a fair bit of the things I needed covered.
The next post will be about the move and up to current day..
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