Under the Doctor's Care [10]

Fifty

I made sure Christopher had everything he needed. He was quiet but seemed happy enough once he was snuggled up in a blanket, a cup of coffee in one hand and the remote in the other. I took a few minutes to put a load of laundry in the wash and then went into my bedroom to call Kevin. Luckily he answered.

"Hey Greg, can I call you back in 10 minutes?"

"Very well." I hung up and tried to decide what to do with my free time. Since Chris wasn't in the den, it was a good time to clean up the toys. I was finished by the time my phone finally rang. "It's been 14 minutes."

There was a pause. "You're right. What's up?"

"If I had known it was going to be 14 minutes, I might have changed my plans or called someone else. What if it had been a time sensitive issue? You shouldn't give people a time frame you don't intend on sticking to."

Another pause so long that I looked at my phone to make sure we hadn't been disconnected. "I apologize. I forgot who I was talking to. What do you need, Gregory?"

It was Saturday and I was taking up his time. I needed his help and pissing him off probably wasn't the best way to start. "I hoped that we could discuss how to better handle Chris's drops. They are apparently worse than I realized and are at best, difficult and at worst, debilitating."

"That was half the problem before, wasn't it? If he hasn't figured out how to do them on his own yet, and I don't mean it's his fault just that he's had time to work through this the best he can. So if he can't handle them on his own, something's gotta change. Has he offered you up any suggestions?"

"Today he wanted to stay in the den and hideaway here instead of locking himself in his room at home and sleeping until tomorrow. He said I could ignore him. He was also quite clear that he enjoyed talking to me in the mornings during our daily checking in."

"Right, right. I remember you starting those a while ago. I'm glad it's helping. Since it is, maybe you can go further with those. Do you actually speak to him every day or just text?"

"I'm usually at work so I just text. I guess if he asked me to call him I would find time, but he doesn't. Sometimes we play in the evening and we talk then."

"My gut reaction is to schedule a time to talk everyday but I know his job makes that pretty much impossible. And you've got time zones to deal with in addition to that. Hold on, Ollie has a suggestion."

It was worth waiting to hear what Ollie had to say. He knew Christopher very well and I knew they talked about all sorts of things. Perhaps Christopher had mentioned something to him that would be of use.

Kevin wasn't gone long. "Greg, Chris doesn't really feel like he can text you anytime he needs to or wants to. How can we fix that?"

Well he can't really. "I don't exactly want him texting me at two in the morning or interrupting me when I am with a patient because he can't decide which loaf of bread to buy." I didn't actually think he would text me over such a trivial problem but the point was valid.

"I get that. I don't think he would do either of those but what if you set up communication on two different apps? You could set one to notifications that he would use I guess for your morning texts and if something was truly urgent or important? And then you could give him another way to just let you you know about his day or ask questions as they came to him."

I really didn't know if that would be useful. However, I had asked for suggestions and I would give it a try if he thought it would help. "I'm going to try it. Thank you for your help." I considered asking him his thoughts about my mother moving out of the house but I could do that another time.

"Hate to break it to you but I highly doubt that'll be enough. Is he still seeing Amanda?"

"Yes and he's taking his medication."

"Make sure he lets her know what's going on. I tell ya Greg, and I'm not saying this lightly but that whole 'hide in the Den cause he doesn't want to be away from you' sounds like he needs and wants to be a live-in."

It would mean there would be food in the fridge when he got home from travelling. "I guess we would have room in my mother's house but I don't think I can do that."

He made a rather unpleasant sounding noise. "No, not WITH your mother, Greg."

"Oh shut up, I know that. She's moving into an assisted living community. That doesn't mean I want to live with Chris. He'd always be there."

"He's gone for work as much as he's here, isn't he?"

"True but that doesn't mean it's a good idea."

"I think you should consider it."

"There's no reason to waste time thinking about it Kevin, I'm not capable of living with someone. He would hate it."

"Okay, one, who says you're not capable? If it's anybody but you, don't listen. Didn't we just have this talk? You're more capable than I thought and yadda yadda. And two, he wouldn't hate it if you do it right. I'm willing to help if you get to that step. Maybe we could have you two up for dinner and hash things out. Ollie and I live together, you know."

Did he think I was senile? "I'm aware."

"It's really, really nice Greg. With the right guidelines, proper expectations and the perfect house, it could work."

"Goodbye"

He chuckled. "Done with this for now Gregory? All right. Goodbye."