Walking Spirit

A lot of the time people ask me what an average day is like for me. Sad to say it's not very exciting. An average day for me, at least for the last year, has been pretty quiet. I get up at the crack of nine. (No sarcastic comments here, I think I deserve to sleep in.) I feed the cat and make breakfast, which I eat in front of the TV.

After breakfast is done, and I feel like my brain has started to rot from the brainless programming, I generally get on the floor and start my exercises. Sometimes the exercises are done to music and sometimes I try to position myself so I can watch a movie at the same time. The full exercise regimen usually takes about two hours. (perfect for movie watching)

Once I'm sufficiently hot and sweaty from exercising I usually push myself back onto the couch and then lift myself into the wheelchair. (these are the last two exercises) From there I head to the bathroom for a shower. There's no such thing as a quick shower for me anymore. (Shortly after the accident a good friend of mine commented that maybe this was God's way of slowing me down to make me enjoy life. If that's the case, I'm definitely enjoying the long steamy showers!)

After the shower it's usually lunch time. Of course lunch is eaten in front of the TV again. Once lunch is finished I usually work on bills, laundry, or any work that I have that I can do from home. My company has done an exceptional job of keeping me involved in projects throughout my leave of absence. Sometimes the projects pertain to my property, like the website, and sometimes I'm assisting with other operations. If there's no work to be done I indulge myself with watching one of the many TV series' that I've collected on DVD.

That's an average day. The routine has varied several times over the past year. From antibiotic infusions to practicing walking at home. Now that I'm walking whenever I leave the house I've gotten away from walking here. Although, last week I did put on my legs and set up a shelf of Star Wars figures in my den.

The good thing is that average days are becoming few and far between in this new year. I've increased my time at work to two days a week this month and will be adding a third in February. In March I'll add a fourth day and in April I plan to be back full time.

The good days, of course, have been the days when I'm out of the house. Over the past year I was usually at therapy twice a week and had to leave the house for multiple other reasons as well. Therapy days have always been good days. I don't really consider the doctors visits good days but these did give me quality time with Mom, which I've really enjoyed.

I haven't spent much time out in public in the normal sense, bars, movies, sporting events, etc. I just haven't felt that my energy was up to it. I also haven't liked the feeling that I didn't have my own transportation and therefore would either be trapped if I wasn't enjoying myself or would have to force someone else to leave who might not want to go. Sometimes I've worried about this, thinking that I was becoming anti-social. I made a comment to a new friend of mine over e-mail this past week that finally put it into perspective for me.

A good day for me right now is going to use the toilet in a public restroom without having to bring the wheelchair along. (Believe it or not, that was a HUGE breakthrough!) Over the past month feats like that have become more and more common. On Sunday I left the wheelchair at home for the second week in a row. Now, when I decided to leave it behind I didn't realize that my parents were going to make me do a marathon walk after the service followed by a period of standing while waiting for the car, but it all worked out in the end. Later that day Jamie and I went to a Borders.

We couldn't find a handicapped parking space nearby so I had a fairly decent walk across wet pavement before getting into the store. Once inside I walked to the section I was looking for, picked out my book, handed it to Jamie and then went to stand in line for a cashier. After paying for the book we walked the distance back to car where I finally got to rest. That was the first shopping experience that I've had, since the accident, that was entirely wheelchair free. A good portent of things to come.

Now, I'm going to fix dinner and veg out in front of some brainless programming. This is my recommended method to prepare for tomorrow's 8:00am Pilates session.