Well it’s been about two weeks since my last post which, all in all, is a good thing (at least it means that I’ve been occupied with work, social life and some modified exercise). It’s been a soul searching few weeks…life lessons that most, I hope I’ll make permanent and other experiences I hope I’ll quickly forget. Either way, I’m grateful to be getting better sleep, have less pain and now slowly begin to move again. Right now, I’d like to recognize some people that have helped me–physically or emotionally along this path. There are too many to name so if you’re reading this and are saying “hey I totally helped you Sue, you totally did!!”
The first is a gentleman that lives down the road from my boyfriend’s mom’s house in Gates, Oregon. He was injured falling off a roof and shattering his heal. A far worse injury and much lengthier recovery, Dave is unfaltering in his positivity. He is kind and compassionate, and perhaps it helps that this man and his significant other are longtime friends of my dad and have known me since I was a little tyke running around the coffee shop. Encouraging words from Dave seem just a bit more reassuring. It’s soothing to my anxious heart these days.
Christina from work. It makes sense to a large degree. She’s a nurse and has taken the summer off to “take it easy” with us at TCKC. Her support has been, without a doubt, the only way I was able to make it through work the first week. I’ve felt like a lazy bum hanging in my office trying to stay off my feet, knee elevated. Even though it’s a very real injury with very real pain, it’s challenging for me to take the rest. To allow others to do the work for me. Without her I can’t imagine how I’d have gotten through my workdays.
Angela. A friend I’ve actually spent very little time with in the last month, however her sharing with me her experience with again, a much worse knee injury helped at such a crucial time. Angela gave me permission to be angry. To acknowledge that even though there are so many people with much worse situations, it was okay to take a few moments to be bummed and feel hopeless. Not forever, of course, but for a little while.
Denny, my physical therapist. Honestly, my first appointment I was unsure he’d be as good as everyone raved (and just about everyone I know locally knows and raves about him). Now I see why. He’s helped my knee physically and been an incredible source of emotional encouragement. He knows his stuff and it’s helped me keep my faith that this will be a distant memory sooner, than later.
Finally Sam’s mom, Perry who just went through knee surgery…twice! The first time this last December so she that she would be rehabbed and ready to hit the summer full on, only to have worse pain and eventually go through knee replacement surgery in June. It’s been a long road for her but has been progressing well. We text almost daily, sharing and encouraging each other through the experience. It helps. Also it helps that she’s just plain awesome and an inspiration to me, in general.
Now, I’ve been given the go ahead by Denny to get on a very stable paddleboard on flat water. He wants me to work my stability and balance…and probably just knows how therapeutic being on the water is for me. I’ll start with the moving flat water right outside the shop. My goal is to be back on “frisky ripples” by end of August (maybe Mehama to Stayton?). I think it’s a good goal. A reasonable one. And after this experience, if not by end of August, maybe by September. I’m okay with that. Look how I’ve “grown”…hahaha.
Thanks for listening…see you on the frisky ripples.
Frisky Ripples 