New year...new goals! (Written by Steve)

Well, today I was introduced to the sliding board as a means of transferring from bed to my wheelchair and back. It is much more comfortable to sit in my chair without the Hoyer pad, but it does need three people instead of two to conduct the transfer. My therapists have assured me that the number of aides will go down as time goes on, but I like not being plucked from bed by a machine (Hoyer Lift) several times a day.

I have moved to a double room, and have a veterinarian as my roommate. He is on his computer a lot, but always has time for our Charlie - who immediately adopted him. Chris had his practice on Hands Pike and 3L highway, so some of you may have used him in the past. 

I was able to attend Lakeside's Christmas Ève service, as well as go home again, to the condo on New Year's Day for dinner with Tim and Flora, Alex and Becky, and all the grandkids. It was great, and the dinner was good too!

On the 2nd, the  the family took me to what has become an annual tradition, the extended family's Cootie tournament. As you can imagine, when 24 family members get together- it was loud and quite a party! But suffice to say I learned that amplifier ear buds I wear of late, work well as earplugs when the amplifier is turned off. ;)

The state of my recovery seems very slow, from this side, but everyone that sees me infrequently claims I am progressing well. Christy ( my OT therapist ) says the sliding board was a huge step. Emily ( my PT therapist ) was totally surprised last week when I was able to fully pedal a floor bike. Her reaction was "...where did that come from?"

Feeling that Christy had been left out, I proclaimed that someday soon, I'd reach out and grab her, thus sharing the surprise. She immediately replied "...that would make her day!" Following that conversation, all the therapists wanted to know "...what, on earth, we were talking about..." - all quite innocent, I assure you.

I still have little or no movement in my hands or feet, but the Lord answered my prayers with regard to starting to see some muscle inflection when I try to move. He also gave me a way to fight off the various itches that I can't scratch. When I get an itch, I stop whatever I am doing and sing to myself a verse of "Jesus loves me" and the itch goes away. Try it yourself.

Well, posting a blog entry takes a while, especially with a mouth stylus.

So long, for now.

Steve

Sent from my iPad