Walking is hard

Days til brace off - hopefully 10 days

Everyone went in different directions this weekend.  My dad went home to Kentucky.  He tried very hard to bring me with him, as did my mom, but I decided it would be better to gain some independence, confidence, and comfort at my apartment.  Happy Father’s Day, dad!  

Rebecca went up to Wisconsin with Stephen and Leah to stay with an extremely athletic family.  Basically the whole family does triathlons, including the kids.  There was lots of running, biking, tubing, boating, playing of other sports, etc.  I wanted to go but was afraid it would get me too down to be around all that activity without being able to participate.  

So I chilled at the apartment.  Ben was nice enough to come over yesterday and helped me train with the KAFOs while Sam went shopping at Target.  She’s about to pop - 4 days now til due date.  

Ben is a quiet motivator.  He is in ridiculous shape and doesn’t yell in your face or anything.  He just kind of says, “I think you can do more.” And that’s all it takes for me.  So yesterday we went back and forth in the hall of my apartment building until I hit 1000 ft, beating my previous PR by 160 ft.  Today he came and helped again and I made it 1200 ft.  It was really hard, I have to admit.  But glad to be hitting new highs.  Once I got the KAFOs off I stood up a few times with the walker.  It’s much harder than it sounds.

Ben and Sam were cool enough to take me to our friend Brandon’s graduation party down south, too.  They had an actual home with bags in the backyard and all that.  Pretty nice day, too.  And it turned out Brandon’s mom read my blog with her women’s group every week.  That was an unexpected surprise.  And when I hear that kind of thing, it doesn’t go to my head or anything that much.  It just makes me feel good that this stupid accident might have some sort of purpose.  As I told Riccardi last week, if showing that I still believe in Christ/God through my suffering helps other people and progresses God’s plan, then maybe there really is a reason for all this.  

Ben dropped off Sam at home who was yearning for PJs and a bed.  We then went up on a whim to check out this recliner I saw on Craigslist.  At that point the only two places for me in the apartment were either in my wheelchair or in bed.  The chair was leather, a little worn, and priced at $45!  Haha… so anyway Ben went in and tested it out.  It was more worn than expected (some dog scratches or something) but it laid almost flat when reclined, which sounded pretty awesome to me.  I told him I’d take it off his hands for free if he wanted, and he said sure.  Ha!  So now I have an old, beat-up leather recliner in my living room.  Not too bad of a deal.

Louise joined up and we tried watching the Blackhawks game at my place (me sporting the “new” chair) only to find it was only on NBC Sports.  SO STUPID!  Come on, it’s the Stanley Cup Finals! Gimme a break.  We had some thai, watched the end of Fast and Furious 5, and called it a night.

Today - well, I already mentioned the workout - Riccardi had PK and Christine come pick me up to go to church.  They are cool folks and live close so it was a good connection.  Good church service.  Jason spoke, which was cool since he is the pastor at the Rogers Park campus, much closer to me.  I’ll have to check it out.  As usual, I teared up at most of the verses in the songs.  

Today is also the year anniversary of when I proposed to Rebecca and she said yes.  I’ll have to find some way to repay her for how helpful she’s been since my accident.  

Help - I’m trying to think of ways that I can use what’s happened to me (other than this blog) to help others.  I’m already planning on being a mentor to patients at RIC.  Any other ideas?  You can respond by clicking on “Thoughts…” at the top of the blog.

Have a great Father’s Day!
Chip