Greetings, and Season’s Greetings.
Today marks four months since the accident so it seems a good time for an update.
In some ways things seem normal. In many ways my life is picking up where it left off before the crash, if you leave a few things out of the equation: I am not cycling outdoors, nor doing very strenuous or long activities, my most-injured leg is still swollen and still weak to a degree that is hard to understand, my pelvic torsion has not yet corrected and is causing my right leg to be shorter – which impacts my gait, balance and mobility IOW ( much less than it did though) – so there are important issues still to resolve. I am also not quite back to being my previous energetic and fit self. I so miss that self. Will I ever see her again? Honestly I think not, not like before anyway.
However, I am still so grateful! Grateful my injuries were not more, well, injurious. Grateful I have made the gains I have – which I am told by my exceptional physical therapist are miraculous – and she does not throw complements around let me tell you – but I work so hard to improve and she respects that. And I have improved so much! When I think of where I was after being hit, the surgery, over 2 weeks of hospitalization and rehab, the physical limitations, etc., I cannot be anything but grateful for the gains I have made. They have been hard-won to put it mildly.
It is also true that I literally do not remember much of August – except for things I wish I could forget – or September or a lot of October. It is so strange to have big gaps in my memory. I do not know if it is due to the concussion or medications or both. Or the trauma of it all. Likely, all three – how could it not.
I continue to work with my “team” of professionals, who were/are a big part of where I am now in my recovery. I literally could not have done it without them, (nor my husband, Mark – certainly no one has helped me more), as my rehab and recovery support system. That’s a good name for them because they do support me and keep me moving in the right direction – not too fast or slow. I don’t really do slow more than I have to, but I also don’t do fast any longer and I am okay with that. I am learning to have patience with myself. And compassion too.
I am now able to ride my trainer down in the basement some. I use a little step stool to get on and off my bike and it works. Riding is actually part of my rehab, great for range of motion and strengthening, and to hopefully encourage my pelvic/leg issue to return to normal. It has not changed yet, but PT is addressing it along with my musculoskeletal doctor who is renowned with these types of injuries so I am hopeful. The leg length difference still throws things off and makes walking (something you do a lot you know) more difficult – even with lifts in shoe – and a little unstable but I am careful. My lower back was also whacked and that is another problem.
But as Elton John would say, I’m still standing.🎶
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