Good things happened today:
I didn’t pinch my legs at all today during transfers. SUCCESS! I am less afraid of falling and that is making me safer. I am able to transfer on the board without touching my feet to the floor at all. This is big. While the physical therapist assured me it is alright to put my feet on the floor when I sit, that sort of thing, I know that putting weight on my feet engages my pelvis. That is exactly what I don’t want to be doing right now.
My back and arms feel good — like they’ve been through a great workout. They are getting stronger. This makes me feel like I am healing. Plus my incision is terribly itchy. All good things.
I finished reading Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen. Joe Drape is coming to campus in a few weeks and the book is part of this fall’s community reading initiative. It was a great story, deftly written. I’m looking forward to the all-campus discussion about the book.
I got to watch my son enjoy his toys this evening. He likes to sit in his walker and spin the ball. The noise it makes lights up his face. He spins the mirror to catch a glimpse of himself. He is so full of joy. I know part of that is simply because he is 7 months old and doesn’t know any different. But I know that he knows joy because of the home and life my husband and I have built for him. That fills my heart.
Bad things happened today:
I slept a ton. Because I’m stuck in either the bed or the chair I feel pretty useless. I remind myself that I have to rest to get better, but it’s tough. One of the reasons my husband and I are so good together is we both enjoy hard work. We both enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes with getting something done. And often times, the tougher the better.
I had to call out in pain when I woke up from a four-hour nap this afternoon. My pain medication had worn off and my muscles were stiff from being still for so long. But I had to get up and use the commode. When I am still I feel very little pain, even when my medicine is basically inactive. But when I move, those muscles that were mangled around are INTENSE! It’s not like sore after a workout-muscles. It’s like shredded, mutilated muscles. Because they are.
But it was one more day on the road to health. My husband and two good friends made two trips and got tons of stuff from the old place to this one. We’re getting there.
Thanks to our family, friends and ability to count on each other, we will get there.
Separated at Birth 