And then what happened?

Neil Gaiman says the sign of a good story is that you ask, "And then what happened?" That has nothing to do with my day really, but if think it's a nice bit of literary criticism. The phrase actually came to mind because as I was thinking about my day it seemed like a never ending disconnected list of exhausting events. 

I hauled led myself out of bed and discovered I'd smashed a toenail in the night, so after my shower, I laboriously maneuvered my foot up on my opposite knee and carefully tried to clip my toenails. Really, although difficult and seriously uncomfortable, I celebrated the gift of being allowed to even attempt to care for my toes. I spent three months as "red point"  not allowed to even try to touch my feet. I also managed my whole gym workout without asking a therapist for help. Two months ago, I couldn't twist the three or so inches to reach the hand weights. 

I had morning physio with Alex, and I was so excited to stand up from my chair and walk with the sticks across the physiohalle to practice some balancing and standing moves. Right now, Alex wants me to learn to stand up without using my hands as well as to walk with less weight on my sticks. I've got a long way to go, but to have these goals as reasonable possibilities is plenty exciting.

Another exciting moment today was my weekly basketball game. It's one of the rehab highlights for me. I was never an excellent player with my feet (though I made a wonderful coach and had an undefeated season with my third and fourth grade girls), but I make a fantastic wheelchair basketball player. It's plenty physical as we ram our chairs into each other and race across the court for a missed pass, but it's also an incredibly good natured game as we give handicaps to the uncoordinated patients who struggle to catch the ball. 

Im certainly exhausted at the end of the game, so I was excited to treat myself to a nice cream after as Jo and I recapped our days and chatted after we both finished for the day. It's always nice for me to hear his successes and concerns as he's a few months ahead of me in the recovery process. Tomorrow will be his last day of tagesklinik, and I'll be eager to hear how he continues to make time for training as he reintegrates into work in August. 

I'm hopeful I'll get to come for tagesklinik, but I'm still waiting for confirmation from insurance. Please pray fervently they'll quickly approve this necessary continued treatment.

I had one more exciting moment this evening as I went to Kandern to meet my new landlord and sign my rental contract. I'm so grateful huge factor is settled. Thank you for the prayers. Praise God I'm not homeless! Though please pray the accommodations for the shower are quickly installed so I don't start to stink once I move in. 

That wasn't really the end of my day as I said goodbye to one of my sweet nurses who is going on holiday tomorrow. I was so encouraged as she told me how excited she was by the progress I have made and hopes to see more after I'm in day clinic. I then returned to my room and called up my insurance to offer my plea that they follow the doctors' recommendation for day clinic. Next I checked my email and found out that the interview I did for the nice women at 4word has been posted. They have a great website of resources for Christian business women, and the founder is a friend of my dad's. They asked to share my story, and you can read the feature here: http://www.4wordwomen.org/blog/2014/06/tragedy-in-a-new-land/

A lot happened today, and there are little details I've left out here, but you can praise God with me for the huge successes I've had in increased strength and mobility as well as pray for insurance approval and continued bathroom healing as those functions are inconveniently difficult to control.