The Alarming Shower

So here I am in California sleeping in an abandoned hospital that is just totally spooky! When I am in different time zones I always try to keep my body on the same schedule, like I am back at home. It does seem to help with the time change. Needless to say, I wake up at the same time except there it is much earlier. I awoke at 4am California time so that I could shower and get over to the hospital before my boy awoke. They do not have accommodations there for parents to sleep. I go outside, greet the morning (hey wait it is still night), go back to my room and prepare my things for my shower. It is still pitch black outside and my room isn't much lighter even with the light on. Now this bathroom is not like your bathroom at home, or at a hotel. This bathroom was used for kids in wheelchairs that need adaptive seating when bathing. That being said the shower is the whole bathroom. There is no curtain, wall, or anything else to offer any sense of privacy. Ok, that is awkward but I just want to shower and get the heck out of this run down place. I take my soap, shampoo, conditioner, and towel into the bathroom with me. I decide I will keep my flip flops on! On this trip I have not brought my own towel but I did remember to grab some hospital towels while visiting my son the night before, they will have to do. I proceed to take my shower, and expecting only cold water am very relieved that it actually is nice and hot. I tell myself that I am going to try to forget that I am all out in the open and just enjoy this shower and allow it to totally wake me up and refresh me. Sounded good in theory.......then it happens....I have my hair totally covered with shampoo when I hear a God awful noise that I am praying isn't what I think it is - the fire alarm! I stop the water and look around and there are red lights flashing everywhere, you have got to be kidding me!!!!! Now there are still oxygen tanks stored in this facility so I decide I had better get out of there like right now! I grab my towel and my phone and run out of the bathroom, out my bedroom door, through the hospital corridor (lights and sirens going), finally out of the building. I have wrapped myself in my towel only to discover that it doesn't quite fit! Oh hell, these towels are for the kids in the hospital not some fairly overweight 5ft something tall adult. I try to calm myself down, after all, I have escaped from the building and if the fire gets to that oxygen, well, I am much safer out here. When I don't see any flames I do debate going in to throw on some clothes but I decide it is not worth the risk. After about 3 minutes of standing in the parking lot, lights and sirens louder than you have ever heard in your life I notice that no one is coming. No one! What the heck am I supposed to do stand here pretty much naked waiting for Jesus? Now I have my cellphone with me so I call over to the hospital, although I can see it I am certainly not walking over there with only half of a towel! I tell them that the fire alarm is going off and they state that yes, they can hear it (hello! do you think you might want to investigate, I dunno? Just a thought)I remind myself over and over that I am a Christian and that I need to keep my composure even if I am half naked over here. I kindly ask them if they can either call the fire department (which I thought these alarms did automatically) or please come check the building and turn the alarm off. They say they are on their way. Now here I am outside in the parking lot, shampoo still in my hair and now also my eyes, standing in a towel that would maybe fit around my 5 year old son and they send three young guys out to investigate. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!! I am humiliated but what can ya do, I know that I have to be sure there is no fire before going back in the building. The guys go in to check out the building when a car races into the parking lot, great let me just greet them while I am naked and soaking freaking wet. It is the director of the property, not the nursing home itself but the property. He asks me if I am ok and tells me that he knew the alarm went off. I should not have asked him, but for some reason I did, how did you know the alarm went off, weren't you at home? Once again I should not have asked him! He explains (and not even gently explains) that at home he was watching the surveillance videos and he saw me come running out of the building. Now I must admit I was very embarrassed but figured what can you do, until he told me that he knew there must have been a problem because I came running down the hall naked....that's right - I hadn't put my towel on yet! Now lets think - you can afford video surveillance but you are having me stay in an abandoned hospital, what the hell kind of sense does that make?

I'm Sleeping Where??

So normally when I visit Alexander I get to stay in the guest apartment. Now my first time there I was a little discouraged because the walls were dirty, there was no heat or air, the shower was as soon as you open the front door and it wasn't in a bathroom, just right there in the entrance way! Ok, weird, but I have never been to California, maybe their designs are just different than ours. I should not have complained!!!
The next trip when I arrive in California I am curious when they tell me that I am sleeping at the "16 bed"? Now please keep in mind, I am not a flyer. I get massive stomach aches a week before I even know I have to fly, yet alone when I am on the plane. Going from Ohio to California requires basically two three and a half hour flights - yay for me.
One of the social workers at Alexanders facility explains to me that the 16 bed is the old hospital that they used before they built the new one. Ok, can't be that bad I am thinking, maybe they transformed it into apartments or something. Either case my stomach hurts and I just want to go to this 16 bed so that I can put down my luggage and use the bathroom. She gives me the key to the hospital and then another key to my room. I should have known there was trouble when I have to get a key to a hospital! Now if I can find and figure out how to upload the photos I will, but when I tell you this was an abandoned old hospital I mean just that, an abandoned old hospital. First off the main doors didn't lock, so I am not sure why she gave me a key. Second there were old hosp beds in the hallway, complete with old equip, tons of dust, and just spookiness, need I say more? I go into my room which thank you Jesus has a lock on it, and immediately went to the bathroom. It was filthy and honestly, I could wait no more! I proceed to use the restroom (and please remember I have a horrible stomach ache and have had one since I left home), finish my business and YES, you guessed it - no toilet paper! Oh my goodness, are you kidding me? There were also no paper towels. So here I am sitting with nothing and this time I have traveled alone so it isn't like I can yell for someone to help me! Not going to tell you how I managed to clean myself after this, but I am sure you can come up with some cleaver ideas! If this is how my trip is starting, what the heck is next?.......

Wow has it been a while!

Ok, as you can see it has been a long time since I blogged. I will try to bring this up to date now that my precious Alexander is home!! We had many many obstacles that stood in our way of bringing this child home. The biggest was that no one in LA county had ever placed a medically fragile child out of state. The next was that our agency had never received an out of state child. Our agency handled it like a pro, LA not so much. Too much confusion, no one knew what the other person was doing. It honestly would take me years of writing to tell you about all the red tape! Anyone that is either going through the situation/about to start the process/or just wants to know more about it is welcome to email me djohnson135@yahoo.com and I will explain and help all that I can.
I could sit here and write about all the trying times that led me to tears and all the delays (and boy were there many), or I could write about all the long flights (I hate to fly), but I will not write about the sad or trying times. You see all of that is behind us and our precious boy is home and thriving. In an effort to bring you all up to date, and to focus on the craziness of it all, I will tell you some of the more humorous events that happened along this crazy journey.