It’s been a week since my last post. I’ll try to keep this from turning into a novel, but a lot has happened.
I believe it was Tuesday last week where I left off.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Wednesday morning I did some tough training on the treadmill followed by some stretching and strengthening on the mat. That seems to be the standard now so I won’t bore you with the details.
That night I had small group at my place. We are working through Acts. Per usual, good conversation and reflection on the word.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
I had my second appointment at the RIC gym. They assessed my strengths and goals in the first session. So in this meeting, theycame up with a training program for me and walked me through it. Lots of arm work but also some good leg strengthening and cardio.
My dad and I were lucky enough to meet up with the Halls for lunch at D4, close to RIC. Jim and Connie were the ones that really, really made it easy for my parents to stick around in Chicago when I was hurt. Let’s just say they have a LOT of Marriott points. On top of that, Connie rounded up about 90 other people to also donate points. So my parents were able to stay in a nice hotel suite room for something close to 2 months. Crazy!
After meeting with the Halls I headed back to the gym to try out that workout plan. Not bad. Nice to vary it up a bit.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Rebecca and I got up early to head to Alma, Michigan, with Leah, Stephen, and Chris. It was my first time out of town since the injury. My parents were texting and emailing prayers and thoughts since they were so anxious (unnecessarily so…).
On the way there we had a lunch pitstop at Founder’s Brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Great sandwiches and… beer.
The dark beer was good. The light beer was not.
We got to Alma in time for dinner with the sisters. Oh, right, so yeah, Rebecca’s sister Beth, now known as Sister Mary Benedicta, is a “sister” (they prefer “sister” to “nun”… fun fact). Alma is the home of the Sisters of Mercy, who are an amazing bunch of women. Seriously, they are perpetually smiling, laughing, and just enjoying every aspect life has to offer.
After dinner Rebecca walked with me outside on the sidewalk. It was uneven, went up and down, and also there was a small step into the house where we stayed. It was a great challenge, but nothing compared to what I did the next day. I probably walked over 1000 ft that night… no idea, really.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
We headed out to Midforest, Michigan, where Mother Mary Quentin’s family had a fair amount of land, complete with a small house on the lake, ATVs (like 6), and huge floats on the lake (trampoline, log…???).
I can’t even describe how hilarious and fun it was to participate in all of this. It seems not so long ago that I was barely able to do anything in the hospital.
After a bite for lunch, the girls went kayaking while the guys got on the ATVs for a good 2 hours. We went everywhere! I had a bit of a hard time getting on the thing but after that it wasn’t so bad. I stayed on just fine.
Here’s my favorite pic of the day:
That’s at the top of “blueberry hill”, where the sisters picked some tiny blueberries for us to eat on the spot. Pretty nice view of the area from up there, too. I seriously can’t believe this even happened! Hahaha I love that picture…
We got back from ATVing and the girls were anxious to try it out. They went for a while and I strategized about how to get into the lake. One of the sisters suggested I go to the end of the dock and kind of climb down into the lake. I opted for walking slowly down the sand bank with my walker. It seemed to work alright. I “swam” (meaning backstroke with a noodle underneath) out to the inflatable trampoline and log. There was a large floating mat which I climbed onto. It wasn’t that comfortable but every time I got into the water these tiny fish kept nibbling at me!
The mat gave me a good view of what became a contest for everyone else to see how far they could run down the log. Unassisted, I think Stephen won. Assisted (Stephen holding the end steady), Chris almost ran the whole way. I wish I had a pic of Stephen taking 4 steps and then landing on his crotch before bouncing into the water. Pretty hilarious.
I swam back and was handed my walker to get out of the water. I had to get up on my knees, then was happily able to kick my right leg forward so that I could stand. From there it was a short walk to my wheelchair just past the water where an entourage of people got me back to dry land. Pretty great and fun. Again, wish I had a pic of that!
Dinner, then back to Alma. Mother Mary Quentin (she is AWESOME) told me about her nephew that had an accident when he was 21 and is now a quadriplegic. I didn’t get to meet him but he sounds incredible. Apparently he now runs a therapy center for others with disabilities. I also learned later that he barely moved at all for the first 9 months. He was able to walk with a walker after 3-4 years of therapy. YEARS! This is going to be a long road of recovery. Maybe life long. The encouraging part is that I’m not even 4 months post-injury and am already walking around quite a bit.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Mass at 10am. Going to Park, it is definitely interesting to participate in a Mass service. This was definitely what I would call a “pure” service. Bible readings, songs, more readings, prayers, and that’s it. Short and simple. No real “message”/sermon like I am used to hearing. Pretty interesting.
I decided to walk the way to the small building where we were to have lunch with the sisters. Everyone joined me which was pretty cool. The best was walking in the middle of the road to cover the gap where there was no sidewalk.
After lunch I walked back, as well. I looked it up later - it was about 2300 ft in total, pretty much crushing my previous walker PR of 1700 ft.
We headed home and grabbed a deal at Piece to take back to the apartment. Long day.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Jeremy is transferring out of the downtown RIC location, so with his transition I got two new therapists yesterday in Sara and another with an ethnic name I can’t recall. It was great to vary it up a little. On the treadmill we did interval training (with walking… I know), and the strength training was good stuff. I can definitely tell my left leg, while still way weaker than the right leg, is slowly getting stronger.
I was in a sour mood all morning from not getting any sleep after a long weekend. Sorry for being so grumpy to you, dad. Luckily I worked in a nap after therapy and was able to get some much needed sleep Monday night.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
After getting some good sleep, I got up and headed to Dollop with Rebecca to do some work. Then I headed to a brunch meeting with Steve at Melrose Diner. Steve and I typically would meet once a week for brunch there to discuss everything with the business, but we really hadn’t officially done this since my accident. It was great to be back there. I transferred over to the booth seat and had my usual feta and spinach omelette covered in salsa. Delicious. And we got some great work done.
I jumped on the bus and headed to the RIC gym to workout. I like the new routine. It takes about 1.5 hours to complete with all the leg work. It is going to be a great complement to all the walking I’m doing. The NuStep machine is pretty awesome, too. It’s perfect for me to strengthen my legs. I’ll post a video in a sec of me using nothing but legs on it.
More work after that and here I am typing this much-delayed blog entry.
Thank you so much if you have sent me a card. Some of you have sent me LOTS of cards (you know who you are…). Aunt Cha, you are the winner. My aunt Cha sends hilarious “blurbs” all the time, such as, “I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow doesn’t look good, either.” She’s so funny.
Thank you so much for the prayers. Thank you, Sisters of Mercy, for an amazing weekend and also for all your support and prayers.
Thank you all. I feel very blessed. This is an extremely long and difficult ordeal but I feel very loved and supported by so many loving and caring people that have entered my life. I am starting to believe that this accident was a blessing.
G’night!
Chip
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