The funny thing about recovery is that when you are going day to day, you don’t always see the progress that you are making. It is even hard for my parents, since they see me everyday. Therefore it is good when I get periodic check ins with my various friends and they see the progress i’ve been making. I had a wonderful opportunity on Friday, and getting out to see a movie, and out to dinner with friends.
Friday was a really busy day, starting off with my first water therapy. Let’s just say I am digging into my water sign pisces-fish nature and enjoying things that I CAN do in the water that are still pretty impossible for me on land. It is a far trek for me to get to water therapy, but it is only about once a week and it is so worth it.
I haven’t seen Jackie for almost a month, and she and her crew were instrumental in helping pack up my house (which is currently in storage). We caught up over lunch and made a short trek to Barnes and Noble. I have learned to take advantage of my outings where I can to get upcoming things like birthday cards, Mother’s Day cards and the like, so I took advantage while I was NOT out with my Mom to take care of a couple upcoming events. Then Jackie and I saw the latest Harry Potter installment, and it was pretty good. It gave me the opportunity to practice my wheelchair skills which I will need to be more active in the community.
Then, Will, Jen, Brian and John came in to my parents house and we went out for Thai Food. They haven’t seen me maneuver recently, and they were impressed at the skills I have made, even though I am still moving slow. Updated them on all the things going on, and what May is like, and what their summer plans are looking like. Shared house details, because they haven’t heard about it yet and we watched a movie downstairs. All and all a busy day where I had to “be on” for about eight hours. It was tiring, but I was able to be up and about even though watching a movie isn’t the most demanding of activities.
This week ahead is more of the usual therapy and less of the tests and doctor’s appointments. The big thing this week is my formal driving assessment has finally arrived. I will go for a 90 minute session on Wednesday, where I guess I will have my various reaction times tested, a vision assessment, cognitive and physical skills tests as well. There is a driving simulator that will help determine exactly what I need to get my driving independence back.
My Mom shared with me she is ready for me to get my driving skills back, but she is more worried about the wackos out there rather than me, while I learn and adjust to what I will need to use to drive. Most likely I am going to end up with hand controls, as I know my reaction time through the legs is not normal. I am worried about the wackos too, but I plan on taking many short drives to my mudpit when I want so that I can get used to driving about before I have to do any really long distances. All I can do is continue to drive as defensively as I can, as asking my parents to get me to school by 6:30am everyday is untenable for the long term.
More Later-
Bratschetech Baroque 