Bill W

Chapter 41 – Making Adjustments Ma, Pa, and I returned to the hospital to spend time with Devin that evening and we stayed as long as the staff would allow. When we left there, we returned to the house and prepared to get some sleep. When Ma went to use the bathroom, I spoke to Pa. “Would you mind if I added your cell number to my phone, because I had to wait until they brought me Devin’s phone before I could call you. I don’t know what I would have done if his phone had been dam

The word vehemently has multiple origins: Latin, vehement, which comes from vehemēns and vēmēns (violent, forceful). - Middle French (borrowed from Old French) The word vehement was first used in the 15th century and originally mean an intense natural phenomena, such as pain, heat, and wind. Today it is more commonly used to describe intense emotions or beliefs. Example, The lawyer vehemently objected to the judges ruling.

Thank you. I'm glad you are enjoying this series.

Who spilled the jar of leeches? There's an old-time doctor that's looking for it, because they work for him.

Was that one trickk-or-treater for every year???

Same here. I bought candy but no one showed up, so guess who gets to eat all of the goodies. 😜

Hmmm... suddenly an elementary school word of the day - suggest/suggestion.

The word logophobia comes from the Greek word logos (word, thought, speech, principle) and phobos (fear). The earliest known use of the word logophobia was in the 1920s, in a text by Charles Kay Ogden and Ivor Armstrong Richards.

Maybe more questions to be answered then you might imagine.

Attributes of sociopathy are: a disrespect for social norms or laws, compulsive lies for personal gain, inability to make long term plans, aggressive or aggravated behavior, and the inability to feel guilt or remorse for their actions. A list of most notorious sociopaths would include John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Joey Buttafuoco, Jeffrey MacDonald, and Jeffrey Dahmer. The most famous female sociopaths would include Diane Downs and Deidra Hunt.

Sociopath is from the Latin socius (a companion) and pathos (suffering). A sociopath may inherited the genes linked to sociopathy, or it may have developed from life situations and experiences. In the late 1920s American psychologist George E. Partridge narrowed the definition of psychopathy to antisocial personality and suggest that a more appropriate name would be sociopahy.

No, unfortunately I've been to busy to read much lately, between Secrets and my health concerns. Hell, I haven't even had a chance to get to Deep Dive 2 or 3 yet!

Sorry, I've got a lot more to do to keep ahead of you guys on this story, without worrying about who Lee is maiming or killing off in his stories. 😜

What a vicious author you are.

Yes, Devin was lucky with his injuries, because that tree limb could have struck him directly on the head and possibly fractured his skull, or it might have done considerably more damage to his shoulder and arm, possibly even causing Devin to lose the arm or merely lose control of his arm. Yes, I think we all agree that Devin has to keep from transitioning until he's healed.

First of all, the guy Mac chats with at the dog park is Preston and his dog's name is Bailey, and I'm sure Mac will think of some excuse to explain the situation to Preston, so it won't be a big problem. And that idea could also cause Mac's grades to slip while trying to help Devin maintain his grades. Yes, a medical proxy or a Living Will are a good thing to have on file in case of an emergency. You never know when you might be injured and unable to make those decisions for yourself, such as in a major accident or being in a coma. Without it, the doctors would only be able to stabilize the condition, but not actually treat it. The doctor would have no ability to do more than that without the fear of losing his license to practice medicine. The same is true about telling a non-family member about a patient's condition, because what if you have an ornery family member who who has the doctor charged for telling someone who isn't related. Yes, Devin and Mac signed up for their courses at the end of the previous semester, so their schedules are locked in. The biggest problem about your suggestion that maybe Mac could accompany/walk Devin to his classes is as follows. There are two major reasons reasons. If Devin was to slip and fall due to an icy patch it could set his recovery back and possibly even cause him to go in for another operation. The same might be true if someone bumped into Devin and the were heading to class, because even if they were walking side-by-side, it wouldn't stop someone to attempt to run between them and expect them to move out of the way.

Yes, we're all worried about how this is going to affect Devin's transitioning ability, and you're correct, it is a good thing that something more serious didn't happen to him. We don't know if Devin's ability can help him in any way yet, so we'll just have to wait and find out. I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter.

You forget that when they transition, the changes made during transitioning are undone once they transition back, and if that's the case, transitioning would have no lasting impact or advantage in this case. The biggest question is if the screws and plates will later hinder him or possibly make it impossible to transition into certain forms with those items still there. Will he have to have another opteration later to remove them, once the bones are healed? Yes, unfortunately you might be correct. This may force Devin to limit what he can do. He may be able to transitions his arms to give them more strength or his legs to be a faster runner, but the question is will he be able to transition into differ non-human forms again?

Yes, you'd think that holding off on the transitioning might be a no brainer, at least for the time being, but we also know how impatient a young person can be when he's told he can't do something. Hopefully, Devin can resist the urge for now.

Yes, Mac was going crazy until Pa got him acknowledged as Devin's medical proxy. We have no idea if Gramps, Pops, or Pa has ever had a broken bone, so we have no idea if his ability will help Devin or if he'll have trouble shifting in the future. Only time will tell, so keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Yes, that law has created a lot of problems for gay couples and those that are only engaged. Maybe some day they'll change the law and get it right this time. Yes, you'll find out about how this is going to affect Devin's academic standing in the next chapter, once Mac has had a chance to contact Devin's professors. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Chapter 40 – How Will it Turn Out? I tailgated behind the ambulance all the way to the hospital and drew more than a few nasty stares and hand gestures from the other drivers as I passed by. I also heard a few people blast their horns at me along the way, but I didn’t let any of that bother me. I was worried about Devin and wanted to stay close to him, but as I pulled in behind the ambulance as the EMTs were getting ready to unload Devin’s gurney, I received a very gruff order. “

Ah, a word I know well and am very familiar with. It comes from the Latin word frustrare (disappoint) and frustratio (a deception). The word frustration came into use in English in the mid 16th century.

The adjective lackadaisical, “lacking interest or determination; listless; lazy; indolent,” comes from the interjection, adjective, and noun lackadaisy. Lackadaisy as an interjection expresses dismay, sorrow or disapproval; as an adjective it means “given to crying lackadaisy; and as a noun, “a person given to crying lackadaisy.” Lackadaisy is a variant of the archaic interjection lackaday, a shortened variant of alack the day. Middle English has the interjection alacke (also alagge), possibly related to the noun lak, lack(e) “a lack, fault, shortcoming,” and alack the day may have originally meant “shame on the day (for turning out like this),” like alas the day. Lackadaisical weakened in meaning from a person who cried lackadaisy to someone who complained about trivialities, then still further to someone who was sentimental, and finally to someone who was just lazy. Lackadaisical entered English in the second half of the 18th century.