bunny limping along
So, thanks for reading and comments on first entry. I can’t stay on computer long…my leg swells up, then if I elevate it, my back starts to hurt…my whole work day seems to bounce back and forth between these two. I actually get stuff done too, but struggle to work a full day. I was injured four weeks ago playing tennis. I had just gotten back into playing after healing from tennis elbow. Playing with a younger guy, enjoying the running and hitting, then, out of nowhere, you all know it, I heard a pop, felt like I was hit from behind with a tennis ball or a hammer–didn’t hurt, but I knew it was bad. 30 minutes of balling out loud in the ER, knowing that my summer was gone, and that physical activity, core to my identity, was a long way off. A quick surgery and here I am–cast away into a sedentery lifestyle. I do crutch around, but the tennis elbow is back and the wrists hurt, so trying not to be too crazy. Bought a wheely stool to be able to cook in the kitchen–that was a god send. I even vacuumed and mopped a bit last weekend from the stool.
The whole thing has made me more passive, I think. I just sit in meetings and listen, where I used to interject more. The good thing about that is that I hear other people better, so I can comment more directly to their concerns…maybe that’s a BIG lesson.
Anyway, a big doer, I’m frustrated because I only seem to get half the stuff done that I used to….trying to be more efficient, but it only goes so far. I have a stack of paperwork, including reimbursement for some medical costs, for cab fare for work, info on swimmng pools for when I can finally swim. I only seem to be able to get to one or two personal tasks a day.
Two gifts–one–I learned to drive with the left foot. Three days after surgery, I was back to work half days. The second, I attended a retirement dinner (can’t do cocktail hours the same on crutches, I learned. You just sit in a corner and talk to whoever comes your way. I sat next to a young woman who I knew professionally. She told me that she had been in a cast for two years in college–she learned that you can do a lot in a cast (it helps to be 20-something, me, I’m forty-something plus). She had even back-packed to Europe in a cast, on crutches. Well, she told me that she drove with her left foot. …and she said that it is totally legal in Massachusetts.
“Well,” I thought, “that is just crazy.” One of my co-workers had got into an accident doing exactly that with his rt achilles tendon injury. However, I woke up the next day saying, “hell, yeah, I’mm gonna drive!”
So the next Saturday, I got in my buggy and tried it, and it worked. So I’ve been driving since then, though long rides drive the back crazy–I throw the right leg over the passenger seat on a pillow….great for short distances, but harder for long.
So, driving, the rolly stool, learning to sit still and listen…those are the god sends. I forget the other thing I was going to write about. Running out of gas…would love to hear others triumphs and frustrations. and how do you navigate this page to read other blogs…haven’t figured that out yet!!!
Best wishes to my fellow recoverers
Kathy, aka the bunny
