Even at a Limp, Life is Good. . .

The therapists at MJ called my walk a two step. Isn’t that nice? It sounds like a dance but in reality it isn’t even close. What should I expect though, I never did know how to dance even when I had two good legs.

When you need to walk with a walker, you find creative ways to get things done. For example, I can get a cup of coffee from the kitchen counter to the family room so I can sip it while watching the Today Show. It takes me awhile but I can be fairly independent. I can totally shower, dress myself, and make oatmeal for two for breakfast or sandwiches for lunch. It will be a long time however--at least six weeks--until I am able to make dinner. :-) I can get in and out of our high bed with no problem. I can get in and out of the car and negotiate a few steps. I walked on an uphill slant today and a downhill slant with no problem. The surgeon told me that I could probably drive the car, if I could figure out how to get the walker in and out of the car. I am sure, that I can do that! However, I did promise Bob that I would not try it this week. I am hoping to shed my walker next Friday. The x-ray on the 5th will show if my bones are beginning to knit together. If so, I will get to start walking with just a cane. It is hard to predict and may be several more weeks before that happens but sometimes it happens in as little as four weeks.

I am not doing physical therapy at home because that would mean that I had to stay at home and could not go out. I will start PT next week at a facility about a mile from our home. I have been doing my MJ exercises faithfully and my range of motion improves every day. I have been “out” several times—to get my hair cut, to eat out, to a friend’s birthday party and for blood tests. The weather has been gorgeous and I am so glad that I do not have to stay indoors!

What amazes me is that bones do repair themselves! I am used to skin healing but bones seem so different. I am so glad that when you break a bone, you don’t have to just live with it. Today, I am rejoicing in these happy verses from Psalm 139: 13-16 in The Message.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life
were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.