Elaine Marie Kolb

QUOTA E. Chancy

He was hired because of a court decree
The atmosphere was bad
Some used that fact against him
As just one of the weapons they had.

He heard them babble about him
He felt their frigid stares
He tried to put it out of his mind
Yet, he could not help but care.

They scrutinized his daily chores
Just hoping they could find
Another stone to throw at him
Another ax to grind.

The flaw they wanted was always there
For it was apparently true
That working at par with all the rest
Was something he just couldn’t do.

They dismissed as “special favors”
What he needed to compete
By denying him an even deal
They completed his defeat.

How fair would it be, he asked himself
If he quit and went away
Those insecure would be reassured
But he would have no pay.

So, he trudged to work, in spite of himself
He dragged in every day
But, before he left that last afternoon
A critic heard him say—

“When the deck is stacked against us
And the fight is hard and long
With rules designed to bog us down
More than the worker is wrong.

“The law is not reality
At best, it is a guide
At worst, it is a maze of traps
Confining those inside.

“Why do you waste your precious time
By finding fault with me
Justice lives by what we do
Not in a court decree.

“And some of us are outlaws
Since we simply don’t fit in
It seems that being ‘different’
Is the all-time-greatest-sin.”

So the worker left the workplace
Searching for another way
To find a place to live and work
With dignity–for pay.

It was a bold experiment
A failure in some eyes
Yet, that’s the price that might be paid
By anyone who tries.

While some will win and some will lose
It’s a low-down, dirty shame
That some still hardly have a chance
To get to play the game.

Note: written by Ed Chancy after being fired
from a teaching position where he was not provided
“reasonable accommodations”.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Fifteen years ago, today, my partner, Patti Deak, was dying. We both knew it would be soon. At any time.

Back then, I was hoping that Patti would NOT die while I was doing her trach care. Before she came home to our apartment for those precious few days, I had to accept that it might happen that way.

In December 1998, Patti developed double-pneumonia. BOTH lungs collapsed TWO times. Decision time. Die or go on a ventilator… Patti decided she wanted to live, as long as she had a fighting chance to come back home with me & our two cats. We had been together for over 11 years. This was NOT our first life or death struggle. It was our last one, together.

Trach care is tricky business. They poke a hole into your windpipe & insert a plug. You are connected by tubes to a ventilator, which breathes for you. NOT breathing is a short-term condition,,, if you’re gonna live.

Ventilators make a distinctive, repetitive “whoosh…whoosh…” sound, when all is going well. At any point, sticky, gooey mucus can bubbble-up, gurgling, reducing air-flow, blocking the tubes… Urgent to perform trach care, as calmly & quickly as possible, after grabbing needed supplies & creating a sterile field work space.

…to be continued…