Out after a year in a nursing home

Until recently, I hadn't posted anything on this website in more than 15 months; I know some of you assumed I was dead. Sometimes I almost wished I could be dead during my year in nursing home captivity. Now I'm home but still very much disabled. I can't get out of bed without help. Typing on a keyboard is almost as difficult as walking. I have symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, but I'm told that's not what I have. I'm thankful to be able to watch the world go by, even if I can't participate much.

How did I get this way?

On August 31, 2023, I fell down at home and couldn't move. I suffered only bruises, but I was red from head to toe on my right side. I was in pain for months. Soft tissue injuries can be like that. My wife Carrie had been in the east visiting friends and family for 11 days. Thankfully, she flew home that night, saw me on the floor and dialed 911. I had access to my cellphone but I couldn't use it. I was in an acute hospital for two weeks, then in a nursing home for a year. I was released not because I was healed but because my insurance ran out. I had been warehoused, not rehabilitated.

It has taken me 10 times as long to type this note as it would have taken before my fall. My replies will have to be brief if I can reply at all. But I can at least go on car rides and smell the flowers or the surf. I'm free--up to a point. Updating this website is difficult--but not impossible.

Note: this is from Wayne E. Overbeck, not my friend Wayne W. Overbeck. We discovered each other a few years ago and met in Santa Cruz, his hometown. We had fun in many ways. I took photos of Wayne and his wife Peggy. I billed them as photos by Wayne Overbeck but not selfies--to confuse my friends and his. Some of our mutual friends began calling us "radio Wayne" and "car Wayne" to distinguish us and reflect our hobbies.

Now I'm very thankful to be at home even it I'm not okay. But see below.

-Wayne Overbeck