Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and other appointments

This week, like so many other weeks, was packed with appointments. I’ve been able to do more weights in physical therapy. After the accident, I had a 1-2 pound limit with my wrists and couldn’t put any weight at all on my feet/legs. As my body began to heal, that slowly increased. This week, I was able to lift between 30 and 70 pounds, depending on what part of the body I was using to lift. I still need to be careful, but I’ve been able to lift a little more each week. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like I’m really seeing any progress at all, and then suddenly, I’ll be able to do more than what I could before.

My left wrist is still pretty limited with movement, but it has come a long ways from where it was. I still have a hard time with tasks like driving, moving laundry over and carrying items such as a plate from one place to another with this hand, but am able to do it some. This may be a permeant thing, where I have to learn to adapt in other ways, but we keep working it and massaging it.

I started going back to our chiropractor, and also get massage therapy so that should continue to help loosen everything. Between all of my appointments though, my weeks are packed and I end up exhausted by the weekend.

Daily Stops:

After my appointments, I’ve really been working on stopping somewhere I enjoy, such as a nature center or preserve, to increase my walking endurance and allow me to spend more time in the great outdoors. It means my days are longer, but it is helping me to get back to normal more and hopefully build my endurance so I can go a full day without needing to rest as much.

Some of my adventures from this past week include a pottery class at the local nature center with my niece, a couple of different hikes on nature trails and a visit with my family. I’ll include more on that in the next section, but here are some photos from my hikes:

Family Camping Trip

Last year, my family did a camping trip. We had so much fun, we decided to try to make it an annual thing. This year, with my injuries, Ben and I weren’t able to stay overnight, but we went for a daytrip. We took a walk down memory lane through the cemetery where my great-grandpa used to be the caretaker, and to the house where my dad was born. We celebrated several birthdays and enjoyed most of the day together. A few photos from our trip:

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The house where my Dad was born:

My great-uncle and great-aunt lived here. He was a farmer, with sheep, goats and cattle. He was married to my grandma’s sister. My grandma went to her sister’s house to have the baby, so my dad was born on his farm. This is the house he was born in. We went there as children, and got to spend time with the animals.

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Quotes, Scripture and songs from this week:

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This was a week full of walks down memory lane and making new memories! I keep getting a little stronger and able to do more, but healing can take a long time. I am so very thankful to have some beautiful places in Northern Michigan to visit as I continue to make progress.

-Cindy