Like anyone going through an injury recovery, I've been experiencing ups and downs, emotionally and physically. Physically, I'm miserable. Doctor's orders are for me to be a lump. I'm supposed to sit in bed with my arm propped up watching Netflix all day, do my PT exercises, and ice my shoulder. I hate doing nothing all the time and I feel like I'm going crazy because I can't run, climb, or even ride a real bike. I've been riding a stationary bike and doing what I can, but I've never been someone who enjoys being in a gym. It's fall, it's beautiful, and all I want to do is run at the quarry, bike the greenway, and climb boulders.
Ups and downs all over the place… I wrote that baby paragraph two days ago, and things are already looking up. Why is everything so much better? Because I have things to do other than take naps! Like bake muffins, work on a matlab project, clean my apartment, slowly chop vegetable for fried rice, watch the Portland Boulder Rally Highlights, reread Harry Potter, dig in the rice bucket, make to do lists, make coffee all the time… So many things to do!
And I'm so psyched to get better! I talked to my physical therapist yesterday and got an outline of my future therapy:
Weeks 2-5 ~ stretching to the point of pain, trying to fix the numbness in my fingertips
Week 6-12 ~ stretching past the point of pain, trying to achieve full range of motion
She told me more, like I knew the outline of the entire rest of my recovery, but I already forgot. I just know that I might be able to run at 10 weeks, instead of 12, which is a HUGE difference to me right now. And 10 weeks is really six weeks, which will soon be five, four, three… Perspective is everything. I'm also weirdly psyched about my shoulder being forced into full range of motion in two weeks. Physical therapy already hurts, which is so weird. I feel like it shouldn't be hurting, my shoulder was fine one day and then the next it's stuck and needs to be forced into normal positions. It blows my mind that my good shoulder just externally rotates on it's own, and I have to push and force my bad shoulder to rotate less than 90 degrees. And it hurts. So weird.
My sling comes off at six weeks (I just celebrated four weeks post-surgery), and yesterday I got to actually use my arm!! Until yesterday I've been stretching it and moving it around with my other arm, what my therapist calls "passive motion". I can't just use my arm like normal yet, but little things every day bring a smile to my face. I'm getting more and more comfortable with being out of my sling for small tasks like typing. (There's been a lack of blog posts because nothing exciting was happening anyways and I've been typing one-handed).
Other things:
~ One of my roommates just turned 21, I'm so very happy for her and can't wait until I can hang out at wine night with her
~ Andrew is 23, not 24
~ I can't stop listening to Chance the Rapper
~ Go vote! Early voting goes through next Friday, get informed because we all matter
~ It's trendy soup time
~ Pumpkin Chocolate Espresso Muffins
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