A day at the races...

When I came for today's visit there was no Frank. As a matter of fact, there was hardly a person at the ward. I wend to the kitchen to find Franks mother and together we went out. The weather was nice, sunny and not to much wind so it was busy outside on the terasses and in the park around Kalorama. When we two walked out Frank just came in with Marleen, Walter and Mathieu, and Arvid joined us too. All of us were going to the physics area to do some exercises with a baloon. For three quarters of an hour we had fun tossing the baloon to Frank and he bumping it away to one of us. We had great fun!

In the end Frank indicated to go back to his room, just showing us more of Kalorama, but in the end we managed to get to his room. I had picked up a game of Munchkin at Moenen en Marieke, another longtime friend of Frank. To kill the time until the nurce would find the time to get Frank into his bed we started a game, with all the usual remarks and mocking that goes with it. It was a good thing that most people were outside! Otherwise they might have wondered why the five patients were in one room and had one visitor in a weelchair with them. When the nurse came she convinced Frank to stay in his weelchair until dinner time which he accepted. And the game continued.

Munchkin is a game where each player starts at level 1 and the first one to get up to level 10 wins. Each turn each player one by one draw a card. That card can give you an item (with positive of negative effects) or force you to a fight it. If you win then you go one level up. You can get help up to a maximum of one other player while all the others might help the attacker. Not too dificult a game, it needs some strategy to pick the right fights or help and some luck in drawing cards. The comments on the cards (and made by the players) gives this game its unique feeling. And Frank is a master in it.

At some point in time dinner came up and most of us had to go home. Frank was at level 8, the highest at the moment, and declared the true Victor of this game.

At that time his room mate came back and both of them where prepared to get some rest. Not a bad day. All in all Frank was in his weelchair for at least more than two hours (the walk in the garden not accounted for). It was not just sitting and looking around, no he was both physicaly and mentaly active all the time. Not a bad day indeed!