healing

Yesterday marked one month since I broke my arm. 

Progress is being made. I'm typing this with 2 hands and I don't even have to put the keyboard in my lap. I can carry small items with my left hand although I'm not supposed to carry any real weight yet. I can get dressed without tears, although still not without some slight pain.

I have a couple more physical therapy sessions left where we're focusing on range of motion, I still can't lift my arm very high nor stretch it across. After we get all the motion back (please God let me get all the motion back!) then we're supposed to work on strengthening it in December. By the end of the year my insurance runs out as far as therapy sessions so hopefully all is back to normal by then.

I wish I could say this has been a growing experience or that I can see the reason this all happened but I can't. I wish I could find it funny. I do like to tell the story of how it happened and laugh at myself for being clumsy but I don't find any humor in the pain and isolation that followed. I certainly don't find humor in the medical debt, that has the potential to ruin my life.

Maybe with time and distance, I'll be in a better place about all of it.

For now, I'm just focusing on doing my exercises, going to therapy and trying to get things back to some sort of normal. There is still constant pain as my muscles get stretched out. I am still exhausted just going about my daily routine. I still have to nap when I get home from work but at least I am now able to work a full week without having to take time off to recuperate. That's what weekends are for.

Weekends are also for little treats. I haven't been eating very well since I got out of the hospital - no real food in the house and no money for groceries, but I decided to give myself a little break last Saturday and visited Steak N Shake. It's a local chain restaurant that Taz and I both loved because it's cheap and filling. Taz was never one for spending money on himself when things were tight (although he LOVED restaurants - both fancy or casual - when we had money) but he would always spring for Steak N Shake and sometimes I could even talk him into getting himself a milkshake. As for me, I always get a Nutella milkshake especially now because Taz is the one that introduced me to Nutella. 

That meal up there was delicious and it was lovely to finally feel full. I really miss eating out, it was a big part of our weekend routine.

And the other good news is that we're FINALLY getting cooler weather so I can stop using the air conditioner (and reduce that bill) and it's BOOT WEATHER! I love boots and I live for the time when it's cool enough in Florida to wear them. It seems like such a silly thing and I never really thought about it in California (where it was boot weather year 'round) but it's a big milestone every year when we have that first chilly-ish day and it's safe to wear boots without sweating in them. Not only am I breaking out the boots but I'm also throwing caution to the wind and wearing sweaters and long sleeves! Don't get me wrong, I love summer but by November, I'm ready for a change.

It's the little things.