It has been quite a week! I’ve made so many strides toward full recovery and it’s been awesome! It’s also been a very pain filled week, but at least that pain is the result of getting better. My days of laying around in frustration and self pity are over!
Monday was my only plan free day, so I tried to get as much work done as possible. Annie got to go to the dog park with Harris again. The weather finally started warming up and we could open some windows! The cats are just as desperate for fresh air coming in as Annie. They shared the window for about five seconds and then Jack full on attacked Annie for getting too close.
Monday afternoon I took a two hour nap! It was crazy, but I woke up feeling SO rested. Sleep, especially at night, has been pretty rough the last few weeks. I don’t feel like it’s pain related, but it’s sure different from how it used to be. Greg wakes me up unintentionally every night when he comes to bed, and then it takes me forever to fall back to sleep. Then I usually wake up for good around four and have to try and lay in bed as long as my bladder will let me, because it’s basically guaranteed I’m going to at least wake Greg and Shepard up the minute I start making my way out of my room. I’ve taken to just crawling in the mornings since it makes less noise, but those dang creaky wooden floor boards always give me away!
On Tuesday, I finished up another batch of dolls to be released on my big sale day. More from my own pattern – I just love them so much! I should really start making more patterns ASAP. It’s pretty validating to create dolls ENTIRELY from my own inspirations, not even using another person’s pattern.
Tuesday I also had a physical therapy session filled with a lot of tough love. First my therapist questioned me on why I wasn’t driving yet because I really should be. I told her that I was waiting until I was FWB (full weight bearing) like the doctor said. She said that I basically was and I need to get out there and drive. Then we did all the usual stuff, pushing me to exhaustion. When she realized I was still using my knee scooter for a good portion of the day, she said I absolutely need to hide it away and never rely on it again. I also walked – FWB – for the first time while I was there! Only back and forth between the hand rails for maybe 60 feet. But I did it! It hurt like heck, but I did it. I really never thought this day would come. I left that day feeling proud of myself, but also very wary about the days ahead. But I was determined to follow her rules and stopped with the scooter cold turkey (at home) the rest of the day.
I did still use the scooter on Wednesday for the shopping day with my mom. There was no way I was ready at that point to walk through one store on my crutches, let alone three. But after that trip out, I haven’t used my scooter since! For the last three days, I’ve actually only used one crutch! And I’ve gone without crutches basically every time I’m in the kitchen or walking around my sewing room gathering supplies. I have a massive limp when I go without, which is wreaking havoc on my hip and back. But I’m getting pretty proficient with just the one! I haven’t tried leaving the house with only one crutch yet, but I think I could do it. That push from my therapist was really what I needed to force myself into a quicker recovery. It kind of amazes me how much progress I’ve made in just the last five days.
Back to the shopping day – it was so fun! We went to Hobby Lobby, Marshall’s, HyVee, and Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. There were some random things I needed to get at each place and of course it’s been the first time at any of those stores in months. I’m very grateful to my mom for driving me around and lugging my scooter in and out of the car so many times!
Wednesday was a big night – I DROVE!!!!! It was one of our at home date nights. I really wanted to celebrate my doll making anniversary, but I was still too full from lunch. So I asked Greg to supervise me trying to drive again. We went to the school parking lot and I drove around a bunch of times. It was okay! A bit sore to switch pedals at first, but it got better. Once I was comfortable in the parking lot, I drove to the hospital, back home to get Annie, and then we drove to the dog park. I was quite proud of myself! It’s such a HUGE relief not to need to rely on anyone to take me to PT anymore. I can’t stand being a burden to people and asking for help like that. I think it’ll still be at least a few weeks before I can actually run errands and stuff on my own, but at least I now have this freedom, which is amazing. The only annoying thing is that I have to wear a shoe while I’m driving and put my boot back on to get out of the car. There aren’t going to be any quick running in and out of places for at least 2.5 more weeks when I hopefully get the okay to ditch the boot.
Case in point, it was raining on Thursday and the boys expected me to drive them to school since I can drive again. I said nope, here are some umbrellas! Way too much work, plus my boot would have been soaked, which is not good. If all goes well, by their last week or two of school I might finally be able to walk with them again.
Thursday was a really fun day! It was my five year anniversary of doll making, and I was bound and determined to make the day as special as possible for myself. I know some people might dismiss my career of choice as just a bizarre hobby with no real value. But I work extremely hard at it and am very proud of how far I’ve come in the last five years. No, it will never bring me the full time income that an actual job-job would. But it gives me so much freedom. It’s allowed me to find purpose in my life, while still being able to stay home with the boys. It lets me be creative every day, something I desperately need to be happy. And it’s fun! It’s so fun. 🙂 I deserved a day of celebration!
To start the day off, I drew the giveaway winners and then created a 15% off coupon for that day only. I listed the 14 new dolls I’d been saving up and waited to see what would happen. I sold almost every single new doll that day! It was awesome! There’s nothing quite like the ca-ching my phone makes every time I make a sale! I had a PT appointment at 11 and drove myself there for the first time. Then I celebrated my anniversary and my ability to drive, by picking up lunch at Burger King on my way home. That’s when I had my first real predicament – trying to figure out how to get my cup of root beer up the stairs and into the house when I still need two crutches to get up stairs! But I managed. 🙂 I just relaxed the rest of the day, started packing up all the orders which took forever, and then had a nice dinner followed by this little cake I picked up the day before. It was a really great day!
Friday was my catch up day. I basically spent the entire day at my computer working on all kinds of odds and ends. I needed to order more shippings supplies, including more business cards. Which then turned into hours redesigning my logo, business cards, etc. I had a Craft Night scheduled, but I ended up cancelling. I was just so physically beat and did not feel like sewing all night. It turned out to be a good night to cancel because we had yet another basement emergency. This time the back room was flooded. We never get water in the back room. Greg thinks it was the result of the gutters being full, so all the rain we got last week was coming down right next to the house and flooded the room. He spent hours and hours and hours Friday night and Saturday working on getting it cleaned up. Not fun for anybody.
Saturday was more of the same. There were a few things I wanted to do, but when the driver of the house is preoccupied with a bunch of his own projects, I have to go with the flow. I worked on my next batch of dolls and read a lot. Nothing terribly exciting.
It was such a beautiful day, so after dinner we took the cats outside for the first time in almost two years! Annie was out first and was going CRAZY, so we had to put her back in for awhile. The cats were having the time of their lives! Rory was pretty content to just lounge in the grass, though when nobody was looking he slipped his harness. Fortunately our neighbor was there and she grabbed him before he ran away. He had to go back in after that. Meanwhile, Jack walked Greg around the entire yard! He was loving his adventure. 🙂 We all sat out on the porch with the neighbors and kids running around for the rest of the evening. Small town living at its best!
And that was the week! I’m feeling pretty great about my walking progress. I’m so excited about being able to drive again. The second place I’d really love to be able to drive to is the dog park. But Annie is so crazy excited when we get there, I don’t think I’m stable enough to hold on to her yet. 🙁 Maybe next week.
Sunday Intentions
Looking ahead to this next week – things are starting to get busy! I have PT on Monday and Thursday. There’s a school carnival on Friday. I have a coffee date on Friday. It’s teacher appreciation week. I donated money instead of contributing food this year, but I still need to make the boys’ teachers some thank you dolls. I need to get Mother’s Day gifts organized too. Greg’s birthday is the day after, but I’m pretty set with him, just need to wrap a few more things. Every week this month gets progressively busier, so I really need to focus on getting better and better with walking. I hate that I broke my ankle, but I really broke it with like the most perfect timing. I was out for the two months of the year that seem to be the least busy. I’m starting to walk again just as life becomes exciting and crazy again.
My highest priority for the week is my own physical progress. My absolute favorite thing to do on Mother’s Day weekend is go to the farmer’s market and stock up on fun treats for breakfast. I don’t trust myself to go alone yet, mostly because I’m not going to be able to carry anything. But I think we’re all going to go – family farmer’s market trip for the first time ever. I want to really build up my stamina this week so I can make it around the square without feeling like I’m dying. That’s my biggest goal.
Otherwise, just work! I really want to get this current batch I’m working on done asap, so I can get back to dolls that will bring me in more money! I got a lot of new facebook likes last week and want to maintain that level of attention. Must stay focused!
And that’s about it! It looks like another beautiful day today, so I’m hoping we can get out of the house for a bit, bearing no future house disasters. Have a great week!
