February 22

Mom and I spent the morning on Kennedy-Krieger's website reading about the doctor I'm going to see and about all the testimonies/success stories. We were amazed and burst into tears more than once...I'm just so excited to see what the next step holds. They'd originally said most people do two weeks of intense therapy, but the doctor reviewed my chart and recommended I do four weeks.  We were also looking at all the equipment used and were pretty impressed with the technology.

Dusty helped get me down the stairs and out of the house in the morning and then Mom and I were on the go the rest of the day. It's crazy, but I swear there was more movement in the pool today than there was yesterday (I probably keep saying that, but it's true!) and standing up in the pool with the walker gets easier each time...I can do it longer with better posture and really try to put the weight through my legs instead of just holding myself up with my arms.

We went to Aldi and Costco, where I pushed myself around the whole time (it was exhausting, but I wanted the arm workout). I'm trying to eat a lot better- if you know me, you know that I always eat pretty healthy, but I don't like many veggies. And since I've been sick, I've developed the biggest sweet tooth...I used to have much better self control! So, I'm putting my whole family on a diet, haha. One thing I've learned is that you really need to take care of your body...I was in pretty good shape before I got sick and recovery is taking this long, I can't even imagine what shape I'd be in if I hadn't been working out and eating decent beforehand. Everything I do now takes a lot more energy, but it sucks not being able to get up and go for a run or hop on the elliptical (especially with my trip to Punta Cana next week!) The least I can do is eat healthier...I even ate zucchini and sweet potatoes last night (who am I?!)

When I got to Magee, Mom said she'd run a 5k with me when I'm better, so I think a diet is the best place to start. Stephanie and Dad even said they'd join. I wanted to be able to do it by Apple Blossom (an annual festival in our hometown at the end of April/beginning of May), but I'm trying to be more realistic as I've realized how long recovery takes no matter how hard I'm working. Dusty said he'd still run it and push me, which was really sweet, but we'll see as it gets closer. I'm also putting everyone through "Kelly boot camp" with how many transfers we do in a day, how many times someone has to go up and down the stairs when we're in the basement of the house, and by going to the pool each day. Before I left day rehab, I'd gotten two guys to stop smoking- Chris and Tim. Tim was struggling a bit with it, but on my last day, Chris couldn't wait to see me to tell me he hadn't had a cigarette all morning. I can't imagine how hard it must be to stop smoking, but I was really happy for them for trying. I hope they think of me giving them a hard time every time they reach for a cigarette now, haha.