After speech the other day, my mother-in-love picked me up and took me to my son’s track meet where my husband met me.
It’s always interesting when people come and talk to us. My husband can talk about work seemlessly and when I go to talk, all I can talk about is my injury and recovery. I have nothing else to talk about. This is my life.
People are extra nice and nodding along like they have a personal experience, but I know that I need to hurry and finish what I’m saying!
Slightly on topic still…my husband helped design my inpatient rehab center! Sheltering Arms. I bet when he designed it, he never thought his wife would be a patient there.
Now back to my original talk, all I can really speak about is my injury. There are times I switch the talk about my kids or about my husband. But when people ask specifically about ME….injury, recovery, and God are the topics I have.
I can’t talk about work…I medically can’t work.
I can’t talk about the bald eagle I saw driving….i medically can’t drive.
I can’t talk about school and funeral directing…because without the driving I can’t do those things.
I can’t talk about the amazing trail hike or the exhausting run I had…I can’t hike without someone with me and without a walking stick and I can’t quite run yet. In PT we are still working on me walking.
So I stand there in awe of my surroundings and let others do the talking. I love listening these days!
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Music therapy was a lovely eye opener! The assessment of myself at the very start was, I wasn’t feeling worthy, I didn’t feel like i had little purpose and my life really didn’t mean a whole much.
After 12 weeks…I feel worthy, hopeful, my life DOES have meaning and I have a grand purpose in life!
We did a little lyric analysis on “Miracle Child” and she exclaimed that song was about me!
My 12 weeks are over… BUT… I have been asked to do another 12 weeks! Of course I said YES!
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I had a lovely little interview with sweet man who heard so much about me and he was in awe and wanted to speak WITH me. He asked me questions and I was able to speak on my injury and recovery.
It was fantastic and lovely.
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A wonderfully quiet man picked me up to take me to therapy! I am so grateful for his service and I am blessed it’s offered where I am - but goodness, the ride was PAINFULLY quiet! I kept trying to ask questions and he answered them! Buuuut that was it…he answered and then it was quiet again. It was an uncomfortable hour long drive!
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PT was an absolute challenge!
At the start she asked me if I went down my hill to see my piggy yet in the past week. NOPE!
I learned that my therapist was in the Army for 9 years, as an officer, and worked with medics. She has a little regret on not making it a career - as she said, she would have been retired 7 years ago!
We worked on walking A LOT. Normal walking heel to toe and not my flat foot approach. Walking as slooooow as I can and walking as FAST as I can!
She then hooked a resistance band to my safety belt and I had to pull her! Holy smoly! She’s lucky she’s a little lady.
I then had to climb the stairs as fast as I could WHILE PULLING HER! When I got to the top a sweet elderly man said I climbed those stairs faster than he does!
Still working on my balance, I went down the stairs as sloooow as I could.
And when I say stairs, these aren't your typical quick flight of stairs. There’s AT LEAST 50 steps! We did the stairs a few times and then went to a hallway where I could work on turning. You see, I turn so slow and I shuffle! If I turn quickly, I lose balance and get lightheaded. I’ve learned that’s a lovely gift from the cerebellar stroke.
We worked on that a bit and then we worked on walking heel to toe a few times. I have learned that I step on the outside of my foot, which is why I lose balance. So we worked on completing my step on my entire foot instead of the outside. We worked on walking backwards as well; again, to test my balance. After doing that a couple of times, she had me count down from 100 by 7s as I walked backwards! I reassured her that I took AP math and had straight As!! She chuckled.
She then worked with me on my balance and we did a few exercises. She told me to do them as I’m washing dishes or brushing my teeth. Which I definitely plan on doing!!
She lastly had me stand on one foot while I lift my other foot up and make a 90 degree angle with my leg. If all of that makes sense! I told her the old me would be yelling at me! I used to be a cheerleader and could stand on one leg and hold my heel up at an angle in my other hand with no problems! I think that’s called a heel stretch!
I got quite the workout today and I have homework to do!
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