There are so many updates to post about!! First of all, therapy ended on a great note last week. I had been excited to stand in the pool without knee support, but then Dennis and I stood on land and he took away knee support for a few minutes, which was even more impressive. The Thera-stride keeps going well every time we do it and OT has been great! I used to have so much trouble with lower body dressing and things like that and not only am I doing all of that by myself, the timing has improved significantly. And I don't know if I had mentioned it, but all my fine motor skills and upper body strengths are completely normal now. They pretty much were before, but according to certain standards, I still had some minor deficits.
On Thursday, my friend Steve joined me for lunch in the cafeteria. I talked about him awhile back- a man in his late 50s/ early 60s who had a car accident three years ago, but does all these incredible things, like snorkeling and parasailing. He truly doesn't let anything hold him back and watching him do things or hearing him tell stories about his adventures gives me so much motivation. He told me that everyday he wakes up and says "I think the extraordinary so I can achieve the ordinary." I liked how he worded that. I had been wanting to talk with him because I'd seen him getting in his car (a sweet convertible) a couple weeks ago and I wanted to know more about driving and how he gets his chair in and out of the vehicle on his own. He explained everything to me and offered to show me the hand controls whenever we have time.
Dusty and I drove to Philly for the concert on Thursday night. We met with my school Friday morning and it honestly couldn't have gone any better. So many times people say "we'll make it work" or "of course we're wheelchair accessible," but rarely do people actually understand what it takes or what that means. Not only was campus easy to get around, but so was both clinic and lab. They're still working to write out a curriculum just for me, but the hope is that I'll be able to start in just a couple weeks. They'll give me just enough credits to get financial aid and keep my other loans in deferment, so it might just be a couple online courses to start with. They said they'll combine the scholars and traditional programs and do as much online as possible. They're even talking about an exam software for my computer so I won't have to come to Philly very often. There's still a lot up in the air, but I said my main goal was to take part one of boards in March and to be ready for externships whenever I end up leaving for them. I'll also be with the scholars students and professors in clinic and we're going to try to schedule that in a way to cut down on how much I'll have to travel.
Afterwards, Dusty and I went to clinic and Dr. Tonkery came along (so did the man from the Office of Academic Success because he wanted to make sure everything was accessible). I tried out different exam rooms and the various equipment. Dr. Tonkery even had me do a few different procedures on her so we could problem solve through any potential difficulties. I hadn't touched a slit lamp in a year, but it felt like it hadn't even been two days. It all seemed so natural and I was so relieved. I can't wait to see what they end up proposing and how it'll all piece together. I'm so incredibly excited though!
The concert and my birthday were both great, maybe because I was still on cloud 9 from my meeting with school, but it was so good to catch up with a couple of my friends and then have a birthday dinner at home with my family. Things are really turning around and I'm determined to make 25 the best year yet! (Not like it could be worse than 24 though, right? Ha)
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