Eight is Great

Tomorrow marks my eight month anniversary. Eight months ago my life changed forever. I have had lots of landmark moments in my life, and this one isn't the most significant though it is the one most people are very interested in.

Since you've all come to this page to hear about it, I'll oblige and let you know eight great things that happened today because of my accident. In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll share the difficulty related to each thing as well.

1. My school lets me sleep in. Mornings have never been my thing, and my administration has decided that I don't have to arrive at school as early as everyone else. Sweet deal. The downside is the "sleeping in" is really only maybe fifteen minutes later than I'd normally sleep. I take that much longer to get ready in the morning. When I could once roll out of bed and walk out the door neatly arranged in less than fifteen minutes, I now take more than an hour to heave myself out of bed and make myself presentable for the rest of the world.

2. I walked to school with Carol. Though I'd forgotten to confirm with her, my friend showed up on my path to school and let me work my muscles as we chatted on the increasingly shorter journey. I'm so grateful for this friend who still spends time with me though I wish it never had to be connected to my need to have someone walking with me for safety. I miss the independence of just walking out my door without someone next to me with my wheelchair in case I get to tired to make it more than 300 meters.

3. I got to hang out with Kristy Martin today. This woman is awesome. She plans our Impact Day - now a tradition because this was the second year - and coordinates a school wide service project of enormous proportion. The students and staff are sent out in groups all around Kandern and the surrounding towns to bless the local residents by burning brush to baking cookies to washing windows. Last year I got to pull weeds with a small group of my freshman girls. This year I couldn't take a group of kids anywhere - I have limited mobility plus I had a doctor's appointment later in the day. I was overjoyed that Kristy found a way for me to serve by sitting by her side and helping direct other staff who went out with students; there was still a twinge of sadness that I couldn't be pulling weeds side by side with my kids again.

4. I spent an hour with another Oregonian. The father of one of my students agreed to drive me to my check up in Basel this afternoon, and he and his wife are both from Oregon. Oregonians are delightful. The downside to this is the fact that I have to have ongoing appointments for the rest of my life - this was the first of an endless line of annual check ups to which I needed a ride.

5. I could have a conversation with Marion, one of my favorite nurses, without any other nurse translating. I arrived a few minutes early for my appointment with the doctor, and said hello to the nurses on duty in my old station. I was so happy to hug them all and tell them about how much I can walk now. Marion doesn't understand English, so I independently gave her a synopsis of my English answers to the other nurses questions. I love the ability to communicate directly with her, but no one is happy about the way in which I was forced into jumpstarting my German learning.

6. I got to see Alex! Part of my check up was a repeat of the muscle test Alex and I did my last day in REHAB, and she told me there are some great improvements. There's some flickers of muscles that weren't there before and my spitzfuss has decreased significantly on both feet. Clearly, flickers are far from full function, and "decreased significantly" is anything other than disappeared permanently. Also, Alex is a prime example of one of the great relationships I've made because of my injury. I'm so grateful to know her, and I love her dearly, but I'll never forget she's only in my life because of this awful tragedy.

7. I had a great PT session with Anja this evening. She worked me super hard as she forced me to walk with my hips more active than passive then helped relax my tight back muscles. Anja is another person like Alex who I am so grateful to get to spend time with because she makes my life better from the condition it's in now, but the condition before eight months ago is better by far. 

8. Magnum ice cream bars are delicious. How can there be a bad side to this? There's not really, but ice cream bars will forever be linked to REHAB in my mind. In the weeks before I left, Jo and I used to eat ice cream bars together as a little break from the hospital world but still in the hospital. 

Would I trade any of these eight great things? Not a chance.

Does it still suck to be paralyzed? Abso - freaking - lutely.