It’s almost been a full six weeks since I fell and broke my ankle. Things are definitely looking brighter as I can do – and WANT to do – a whole lot more than I could those early days. But it also comes with a ton of frustration and anger because actually following through on those intentions is a lot of work. I miss everything I used to take for granted and complain about. I hate how many limitations I have. It’s such an emotional rollercoaster every single day. It’s gotten old.
Monday was a pretty high pain day. I think I overdid it from our date night Friday, Easter festivities on Saturday, and actual Easter on Sunday. Just so much moving around and never really being in very comfortable positions. All I managed to do was write an Easter blog post and rest up. I also decided that we NEEDED to book some sort of anniversary getaway, even for a single night. I didn’t want this to be the first year we didn’t celebrate. All my medical bills are forcing us out of actual vacation possibilities for the year, but I needed SOMETHING to look forward to or I would just be angry and resentful for the entire month of May. So! We were able to find a good Groupon and booked a night away on our actual anniversary. It’s not much, but we’ll make the most of it. It gives me something to look forward to.
Tuesday was Jack and Rory’s 13th birthday! We picked them out as tiny babies a year before we got married. They’ve been around for basically our entire adult lives. Such cutie pies.
The weather was awful on Tuesday. I don’t think spring is ever going to show up this year. It was gloomy and filled with rain that turned into snow. I felt super unmotivated, but finally forced myself to work on dolls for awhile. I made a curry for dinner. Every meal I make feels like a massive accomplishment these days. And in the evening I vacuumed. Which was a huge deal. The floor was driving me insane and sweeping is impossible from my balance on the scooter. So I laid on the floor with the dustbuster and rolled and crawled and stretched myself all over the family room and kitchen, sucking up every tiny crumb and pet hair. It was quite a workout. And took me forever. And my knees and ankle hurt like crazy. But it got done.
There was a late start on Wednesday because of the snowstorm. And then I had my next physical therapy appointment. We were only there about twenty minutes and all she did was massage my incisions and stretch my foot around. We’re supposed to do that every day now so the scar tissue doesn’t form all the way down to the bone.
On Wednesday night Greg went to see Les Miserables with his parents and my mom came to help me out with the boys. We made a delicious brie and raspberry pizza for dinner. Then we just hung out for the rest of the night.
Thursday was kind of a bummer because it’s the day I was supposed to be taking my trip to DC. I’m hopefully still going to be able to go in October, but the disappointment is still there. I was so looking forward to this trip and waiting another six months feels like forever. My only consolation is that the weather ended up being crummy there too this week, so most of our plans would have had to have been altered. Hopefully in October it’ll be much nicer! Hopefully in October I can walk with ease!
Something that did cheer me up on Thursday was meeting a few friends for a coffee date. Laura picked me up and we met some others and had a good time. I was literally terrified of leaving the house without Greg helping me in and out, but I made it! I even used crutches the entire time without any incidents. It felt so good to do something normal. It felt great to see friends too. I’ve been so out of the loop these last six weeks. Friendship things are always a struggle, but even more so now that I never see anyone. It’s a pretty lonely life when you’re stuck at home all the time.
On Thursday I also spent a lot of time sewing and started another instagram reading challenge to read 25 hours in 5 days. It definitely seemed doable, though we’re almost three full days in and I only have about 11 hours. I’ve barely read at all today. Too many distractions with everyone around.
Friday was an interesting day. I photographed my finished leprechauns (FINALLY) and sold them all within an hour. I was giddy with the joy of accomplishment. I also had zero desire to do anything the rest of the day except watch tv. So I watched all the episodes of the new show Rise (loved it!), and ate a big bowl of popcorn. It’s very unlike me to watch tv without multitasking sewing, so it felt like quite the indulgence. I didn’t even try to take a nap. The day actually felt super long and I had so much happy mental energy. It was a good day.
With the exception of a morning meltdown when I was trying to make the bed. Do you know how hard it is to make the bed when you’re on crutches?? Pretty much impossible. It’s funny the things I miss the most in my life right now. I definitely miss things like walking Annie and DRIVING anywhere I want to go. I miss grocery shopping on my own and running errands with no advanced planning. But I really miss things like cooking. Chopping vegetables and meat without feeling pain in my knee. I miss making my bed the way I want to make it. I miss standing up in the shower with water that flows over my whole body at all times, instead of just the hand sprayer that only gets one spot at a time. Showers are pretty cold that way. I miss doing laundry. I miss being able to pick out my own clothes without spending ten minutes hobbling around on my crutches and trying to figure out how to carry things when I don’t have any free hands. I miss bringing my phone and my kindle with me up and down the stairs in my actual hands instead of needing to set them up the stairs, three steps at a time, while I very slowly hoist myself up behind them. I miss going into my basement and actually seeing what food we have available down there. I miss sweeping. I miss cleaning a kitchen counter. I miss putting things away. This kind of life really sucks. And I hope it’s over soon.
And that brings us to today. It’s my half birthday! Also supposed to be celebrated in DC. 😛 It was fairly uneventful. I wrote my book post this morning! Finally! And we went to Pick ‘n Save to get some groceries. I took a nap that left me with a horrendous headache. I made tacos. I made chocolate chip cookie bars. And now I am writing this.
(Shepard’s injuries above the result of a snowball fight that lasted all of three seconds because the snow was actually ice. He screamed so hard and loud right after walking out the door that I was sure he fell down the steps and broke something.)
And that’s my week! It was actually a pretty good week filled with a lot of personal accomplishments. I’m just feeling a little melancholy tonight. Kid problems, friend problems, physical limitation problems. I really hope this next week brings some good news and I can start moving forward on learning how to walk again. I’m over this nonsense!
