Approaching Normal, One Step at a Time

Geoff and I look back at last fall and are amazed at the progress I've made.  Frankly, I didn't realize how sick I was -- well maybe once I was admitted to hospital in November.  I was more than a little scared I wouldn't make it out of there.  Today is a different story.

I'm driving again, in the minivan.  The low seats of the old Civic are too hard on my lower back.  It is great to be able to head out when I want to and do some shopping.  It's also nice for Lena that I can take her to Brownies.  I'm feeling like I'm doing my Mom job again.

I'm walking much better too.  Most mornings, I take Lena to her bus stop a few houses away.  The other day, I even forgot to bring my cane with me.  Lena noticed; I didn't.  I generally don't use the cane in the house, except for the first few steps in the morning, when I'm always pretty stiff.  I need the cane when I go out, for extra support.  When I walk a long ways or have to stand, my lower back gets pretty sore.  The cane helps a lot.  If I go grocery shopping, I lay the cane in the shopping cart and use the cart to support myself.  For a shopping trip to the mall, I'm still best to use the walker, at least in part because it can hold coats and packages for me.  I now have the strength to get the walker in and out of the minivan.  I couldn't have done that a couple of months ago.

Hair is growing again.  My eyelashes, which disappeared very suddenly earlier in the year, came back just as quickly.  My eyebrows are still thin in spots.  I've been using eyeliner to fill them in some days.  On top, I actually had to head back to the hairdresser's before Easter to trim things up, particularly around the hairline, where I was worried the longer strands would be visible under my wigs.  The haircut helped a lot.  I think it will grow in much better, having had the trim.  Unfortunately, the hair isn't growing in evenly.  It's quite thin in the front at this point.  I hope that changes pretty soon.

Being able to stand a little longer has allowed me to make supper here and there, to take the load off Geoff.  I'm finding that I'm a little rusty.  My stew the other night was a huge disappointment.  I'm sure I'll get better with a bit of practice.  I come from a long line of very good cooks -- on the Italian side anyway.

I've got a ways to go to get back to normal.  The doctor wouldn't even talk about when I can go back to work.. And they've told me that because of the fractures in my spine, I'll never be as agile as I used to be, not that "agile" is a word that was ever used to describe me.  But day by day, step by step, I'm getting better.  And your support and good wishes, soups and cookies, hats and blankets, have helped me make this progress.  Thank you.