May 16

I started my Monday morning with this picture in a text from Mrs. Lenny.

I guess that helps put things into perspective a little bit. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. I never was very fast anyways, right? Maybe I should put that as the screensaver on my phone or somewhere to be a constant reminder. 

It was a really good weekend, but I still had some moments where I got upset and fed up...I couldn't hide it from Dusty last night. He finally looked at me and said "this has taken a lot away from us...don't let it take away your happiness too." Why does he always have to be right? And there's that word again- "us." How do people deal with life changing events if they don't have a partner like that, holding their hand every step of the way?

The sun finally decided to come out on Friday, which was nice because I think I was having vitamin D withdraws! It was a nice change to be able to sit outside on the walking mall in Winchester, enjoying a drink with Sally, after being cooped up inside due to all the rain the last few weeks.

 Dusty and I met my friend, Katie, in DC on Saturday for the Nationals game. It was beautiful when we got there and we spent awhile outside the stadium where they had drinks, music and cornhole. When we got inside, we really only watched a few innings before the wind picked up and a storm blew in, driving us to our car and abandoning the rest of the game. I was really impressed with how handicap accessible the field was and what an easy time we had. I'm looking forward to going back (and not getting caught in the rain!)

Therapy went well today...my core strength has gotten even better. The back rest had to be moved even further away for my sit ups and I had a much easier time with my lateral crunches. After the arm and core exercises, we did some walking with a walker while in the harness and using the vectra spinal stim. Dennis said I had a lot of quad and hamstring activation and was really impressed with my response to the stim today. I was doing a pretty good job bringing my legs forward and initiating steps, but needed braces around my ankles to help prevent me from dragging my toes and Dennis said he was basically just helping unweight my foot with each step. It was the first time that I was able to keep my back knee straight while I stepped forward with the other leg. Slowly moving forward!