EMPANADAS AND FINE ART IN REGO PARK

Saturday was a lovely Spring-like day here in New York -- a perfect day for a jaunt out to Rego Park.

A heads-up about Saturday/Sunday travel out to Queens: the subway lines are almost always altered for weekend construction work. (But you already knew that.) Yesterday both the E and the R were affected. My advice is to check on-line for subway disruptions before you head out.

In my case I got on the E train, which was running on the F track in some sort of Super Express configuration. It shortened my trip by about 15 minutes, which was a nice surprise.

When I got off the Q23 bus I made a quick stop at an empanada shop on the corner of Van Doren Street. The place is tiny, but there were tons of people packed in, all speaking Spanish and enjoying lunch. The empanadas are really good and super cheap, so, if you needed any more incentive to make the trip out to Queens, now you have it.

When I got to Suzie's room she was watching TV, as usual, with her father.

"Hey Suzie how are you doing?" I asked.

"Well," she said, definitively.

Suzie's dad pulled out an envelope with a card in it.

"Did you send this?" he asked.

"No," I said, opening up the card. "Suzie this is from Doug Loftus, one of our co-workers from MJM."

"Oh," she said. "Doug Loftus."

I don't know if she remembers Doug, of course, or if she was just repeating what I had said. Suzie and I had worked together with Doug on a pharmaceutical meeting every spring for the last 3 or 4 years, but I've been trying to avoid talking about the past with her. I'm not sure what it achieves. She looked at the card and smiled.

"You want to work on some pictures?" I asked.

"Oh yes," Suzie answered.

The fabulous Miss Kay Hayward made the trek out to Park Terrace this week with another fine art sticker book in tow. The Matisee sticker book Kevin Corstange had brought a few weeks ago was a big hit with Suzie and successfully completing each picture gave her, I think, a good feeling of accomplishment.

The newest addition to the Suzie Moon Fine Art Sticker Book Library is an Alexander Calder book. It's filled with bright colors, odd patterns and geometric shapes and Suzie seemed really engaged by it. We moved over to the common room on her floor, commandeered a table and began working.

Our first project was a funky picture called Gouache. As with her Matisse book, this one provides a finished picture on the left page with a page featuring a partially raw "canvas" on the right. This particular "canvas" page featured a twisty snake at the bottom.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the snake.

Suzie looked at me blankly, so I began making an "ssssss" sound and sticking my tongue out at her.

"Ssssss........snake," I said.

"Snake," Suzie repeated.

"And what's your name?" I asked. Again, a blank look, so I began making a "suuuuu" sound.

"Suzie!" she said. "Suzie Moon."

Yes, she needed some prompting, but I was glad that she was able to say her name. Kay had reported after her visit that Suzie didn't respond to her name, which surprised me. I've heard her say it many times, and seen her respond to it just as often. There are so many reasons why Suzie may not respond at a given time: fatigue, medication, distraction. It's hard to get a benchmark with her. Her capabilities seem to vary wildly from visit to visit.

For example, when Suzie and I did a picture in the Matisse book, following her lengthy visit with Kevin, I was floored by her sharpness. Yesterday she took a bit of reminding, about how we were duplicating a picture, not placing stickers over the existing art. As time progressed, though, she seemed to re-get the hang of it.

That's the one consistent thing I've noticed, visit to visit. The longer I stay, interact with her, talk to her, prod her, whatever -- the sharper she gets. It's like warming up for a race. It takes a while to get loose but, once you're loose you're loose.

All the while we worked on the picture, I continued to drill her on the snake, her name, and mine. I also threw in a few repetitions of "shut the fuck up" and "awesome dude!" with high five's and thumbs up.

My goal was to get Suzie to multi-task as much as possible and to make sure that we got plenty of talking done during our little art class. By the time we finished our first picture she was able to answer me on cue: snake, Suzie and Will (or William, as she said more than once).

The right side started out with only the snake and the center swirl.

After Suzie and I signed our artwork, I asked her if she was tired and she told me yes. Then I asked if she wanted to go back to her room.

"Oh no," she replied.

"Do you want to do another picture?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, and began flipping through the book. Suzie was much quicker and sharper on our second picture, although her dexterity with stickers is still limited by by her ability only to use her left hand. Even so, she did a great job.

Calder's "Untitled" - the right side started w/ only the orange and yellow

I wrote the day and date under the picture. Before I added the year I asked Suzie what year it was.

"2006?" she said. I shook my head and pointed my thumb upward. "2007? 2008? 2009."

Interestingly, this happens every time I ask her the year. For some reason, she starts with 2006, and seems surprised when she realizes that it's actually 2009.

"Wow," she said.

"I know, 2009. It's crazy, right?" I replied.

"Crazy," she said.

I took her back to her room, said we showed her father the pictures.

"Suzie did this?" he asked, and she smiled a beautiful big smile. This was followed by high fives all around.

"Every time you come, after, Suzie is very tired," Mr. Moon said to me. "Very good. Very good. Thank you."

And then I headed out, fighting the urge to grab one more of those empanadas for the road.

Subway to 111th Street

I'm not a big fan of city buses, so I take the E (or F) express to Roosevelt Blvd (72nd) and if I'm in the back of the train it's an easy transfer (escalators) to the 7 train to 111th Street. From there it's a very pleasant 20 blocks down 111th Street, most of it along the park. It's not a bad little jaunt at all. kevin

Publish Post

Getting to Park Terrace by Subway.

It is easier than is seems.

I am bad with directions so I downloaded a compass for my iPhone, which was very helpful.

The first time I went the Q23 bus driver did not know the names of the streets where he stopped, so I have listed them below.

I would just rather walk from the subway than deal with the crowded slow bus. It is only about a mile, but the walk is past ethnic food shops where you can stop for a pastry and a coffee.

So here are my directions.

You can take the E,F,V,R, G (I took the F which was the 4th stop after Manhattan.)

Get off at 71 - Queens - Forest Hills

Exit near intersection of Queens Blvd and 71st Ave

The bus stop is in front of the Chase Bank.

Take the Q23 Bus from Queens Blvd station heading to East Elmhurst
Q23 Bus Stops
Pass 108th St 0.6
Pass Jewel Av 0.7
Pass 69 Av 0.7
Pass 68 Av 0.8
Pass 67 Av 0.8
Pass 66 Av 0.7
Pass 65 Av 0.7
Pass 63 Dr 0.8
Pass 62 Dr 0.8
Pass Horace Harding Exp 0.8
Get off at Waldron St

Get off at Waldron St

Walk along Horace Harding eastbound 1 block to
Saultell Avenue.

Make a left, go two blocks to Van Doren Street and make a right.

Part Terrace is on the right side. .
59-20 Van Doren Street
Rego Park, New York 11368

Visit with Suzie - Feb 22nd

Suzie's new room number is 211. I definitely agree that Suzie's new room is better. She's liking it more as well. There is a mirror over the sink in her room. Mr Moon said that Suzie likes sitting across from the mirror so that she can see herself. From her room, she has a direct view of the nurses' station. Suzie seems very focused on the clock above the nurses' station.

When I got there today, Suzie was chewing away at a piece of gum. According to Mr. Moon, the Korean doctor recommended gum chewing as a form of therapy. It gets Suzie to exercise her mouth and tongue and can help with speech. Makes sense. Mr. Moon also clarified on the situation with Suzie going home on the weekends. Suzie has a evaluation at The Rusk Institute on March 25th. At that time, the doctors will determine if she is capable of returning home on the weekends. Once that is done, Suzie's therapists at Park Terrace need to meet and discuss if they feel the same way. If all parties agree, then she can start going home to Stuyvesant Town on the weekends.

I quizzed Suzie on some photos cards. In the beginning, I held up two cards and gave her a word. She had to tell me which card represents the word I gave her. She got it right every time. Later, in a couple of instances, she was able to tell me herself what she saw in some of the photo cards. I was impressed. Her speech definitely seems a lot better than the last time I saw her.

My son woke up from his nap and joined us after this. We enjoyed some chocolates with Suzie and then my son had a meltdown so it was time to go!

SATURDAY IN THE PARK WITH SUZIE

As Kevin reported, Suzie's got new digs at Park Terrace. And the change is definitely for the better.

Once again, Suzie has the window side of a shared room, which affords her a more open living space and a larger area for hanging out with guests. And even better: this time, the bathroom is on Suzie's side of the room. Yes, it's a small bathroom with just a toilet, and it appears to be shared with the adjoining room, but it's on Suzie's side, close enough for her to get to easily. There's also a sink and a mirror on her side of the room.

All of this, I think, could really help to slowly ease Suzie into some degree of self sufficiency.

When I got to Suzie's room on Saturday at about 3:30 PM, she was sitting on her chair with her legs up on the bed. Her dad was napping under his ever-present Korean newspaper.

"Hi," Suzie said with a big smile, when I walked in past the curtain that separates her bed from her roommate's.

"Hey Suzie," I said. "What's my name."

She paused and looked at me inquisitively for about 30 seconds. "Oliver?" she asked.

"Good guess, but no. It starts with W," I said, pulling out a pad and a pen and writing my name in caps. "W then I then L then L."

And then we sounded it out.

"Will!" she said, remembering ( I hope.)

This is something that I wonder about all the time. Does Suzie remember me? I don't mean from visit to visit. I mean, I wonder what -- if anything -- she remembers from her old life. When she was in her early stages of recovery she said certain things to me that made me feel like she remembered her life before. One of the first things she asked me when they took out her breathing tube was, "Are you gambling?" Suzie had witnessed me develop an unhealthy gambling habit on a corporate job in Vegas, and I assumed that she remembered.

But now I'm not sure she does. To some degree, I feel like it's a new relationship with a new person. Looking at it that way helps me to focus on the future, on what she has the potential to be, rather than on the past, on what she has lost.

To that point, I've tried to stop saying sentences that begin with, "Do you remember when..." Yes, it's good to remind her of her life and of people who care about her, but that kind of conversation feels regressive - like what you do with someone whose life is over, someone who has nothing left to look forward to.

Suzie is not what she once was, nor is she likely to ever be. She is what she is now and, with our help, she will be as much as she can be.

That's, in part, why I'm very happy with the room change. Suzie is right in the thick of things now, opposite the nurse's station and in full earshot of the very active elevator bank. Just in the first few minutes of my visit I noticed a general sense of cacophony in that area, and I think that's good for her. It keeps her thinking, wondering, stimulated. It's not passive stimulation, like the TV (which was, once again, tuned to the Spanish channel when I arrived yesterday). It's challenging for her, I think.

Suzie is very easily distracted. She fixates on things and often needs to be "called back" from her distraction, or turned so she can't see what is/was distracting her.

A good example: yesterday we went to the common room on the first floor to work with the Matisse sticker art book. The room was crowded, and very loud. A young resident was yelling at his visitors (parents, I think) to "get me out of here." The conversation grew louder and more desperate, and Suzie completely lost all focus on what we were trying to do.

We moved back up to the group room on the second floor, where things were crowded, but a bit quieter. Suzie did good work on the picture, but not anywhere near the flawlessless of her efforts last weekend. I think she was a bit overwhelmed by everything, and by her routine being mixed up by the room change. I think that's good, though.

After a little while we went back to the room and Suzie's father told me that a Korean doctor had been by to examine Suzie, give her a massage, and to assist with therapy. Mr. Moon seemed very optimistic and asked Suzie to "Count."

"One two!" Suzie said, as she stood up from her chair with her father's assistance.

"Count," Mr. Moon said again.

Suzie then counted from one to ten, while standing with her left arm on her dad's shoulder. Then she sat down. She repeated this 5 times, and seeing her get up and down each time was very encouraging.

At that point, Suzie's new roommate came back into the room. She was wheeled in by a nurse, who pulled the curtain and transferred her from her chair to the bed. Just like before, this process was accompanied by loud crying. While the woman is far better off that the previous roommate, it seems that Suzie will still have to deal with the emotional ramifications of listening to someone weep from the other side of the curtain.

Suzie's dad brought in her dinner tray. Suzie started eating and I said my goodbyes.

"After you leave last time, Suzie talk more," her father said, shaking my hand. "Thank you very much."

A friendly reminder: Park Terrace is located at 59-20 Van Doren St. and can be reached via the R/E/F/G trains to 71st St. Forest Hills, and then a quick Q23 bus ride to Van Doren. For more information call (718) 592-9200

ROOM MOVE!

I was at the Park on Wednesday, just for a brief hello because I won't be in town this weekend, but I was there long enough to discover that Suzie has changed rooms. It's on the same floor, directly across for the nurse's station (I believe the number is either 211 or 217). There's more room for visitors and for Suzie to move around, and although I didn't get a chance to meet her roommate, I have a feeling it's someone who's more mobile than Joan is. The area around the nurse's station is a huge social area anyway, and I think it will be great for Suzie.

Will, great photo of the Matisse. She and I did the easiest one in the book before you arrived and she wasn't sure she could do the one you and she did - it seemed "too hard" she said. Apparently not. Wow. I'm very impressed.

For anyone who's considering picking some activities, Dinosaur Hill on 9th Street in the E. Village (just east of Veselka) has some great, unique things like those sticker books - lots of science and art things.

k

A perfect Visit!

Hi Everyone,

It has been awhile since I have written on here but after my visit today i couldn't wait to blog. I walked into park at about 2:45 (note to all between 2:30-3:30 Suzie likes to go downstairs to listen to this preacher.) I think she mainly likes all the singing but i knew when i walked in exactly where she was, and exactly were i needed to go. To the back of the room I waited for 40 mins without her even knowing I was there. She smiled and sang for 40mins she really seems to be touched by whatever they are talking about. At 3:30 I ran over and said hello and i got a huge hello from Ms.Moon. We decide to go find dad since i was breaking her out of the last room he left her in. We found him (welllll actually Suzie pulled at my arm and said "dad". so she found him.) Once walking back to Suzies room I could see that the smile on Suzies face was about to go away so I quickly ran in her room and grabbed whatever i could. "Suzie i said, we are not staying in this room lets go somewhere" she took a deep breath and said "yeaaaaa" so off we went down stairs to the first floor with lots of stuff to work on.

We started to color paint. Suzie after about 5 minutes had it down pat. At one point I tried to help her spell her name and she soooooo did not need my help. She did it all on her own and shoved some chocolate from the boys in her mouth. We then decide to play this concentration game that Kevin brought.. Soooooo Janine could not figure out how this damn game worked and Suzie many times laughed at me and would then say "okay this is how u do it" it was nice to see smarty pants knew so much more then me. The more I got frustrated the more Suzie laughed and tried to talk. I finally begged for another game and she laughed so loud and then agreed to help a sister out.

We then started doing the puzzles. Normally I set them up ahead of time but I was a bit slow today so Suzie was just getting them together faster then i could. A few times I clearly gave her the wrong piece and Suzie being suzie smiled and then looked in the box to find the correct piece.. Even when i thought a piece did not fit she would say "no" and then show me how it fit. Through these activities Suzie smiled and tried to talk. When we got to the puzzle cards we went over words and objects. I went through them once, maybe twice and then she got it. At the end of my visit Mr. Moon ask if Suzie could show me some of the work she has been doing. He went over to her pulled her out of the chair and said "Suzie count to 10" on her own with one arm on dad she held her self up and counted to ten. Then he sat her down for a breather and then stood her back up and said "20 this time" and she did it. Mr. moon said she needs to start moving her body because she is in the chair way to much. He also said that Suzie is getting a MRI on her right arm to see how it is doing. She does have feeling so lets see what they MRI shows. Suzie is also now wheeling herself around in her chair with one arm. It was great to watch. She laughed at me, laughed just in general and really wanted to learn today. She never shut down for one second and kept trying till she got the answer right. "that's the Suzie we know" i said "keep it up your doing great.." and gave her a kiss goodbye. I looked at her smiling then headed out the door thinking what a great visit!