Tuesday was off from therapy. Started the day with much needed chiropractor for my back and hip. The work he is doing and my daily exercises seem to be helping quote a bit. Saqaam came over and we did lower and upper body work. Tired me right out. Plus, he gave me homework because I do not already have enough, with OT stretching, PT strengthening, ST breathing and singing, chiropractor massaging and strengthening, working on this whole book/speaking thing (if you want to keep up with that follow me or subscribe at substack), and, oh yeah, getting back to work. Almost half the time I am too tired by late evening to even watch an hour of TV with Rachel. We are still a season and a half behind on our favorite Chicago (Med, Fire and PD) shows.
Wednesday, I had a therapy bonus with an unexpected visit from Ann, my PT who did not put it on the scheduled, and Kelley, my OT who did, and we tried a loaner Tilt-in-space manual wheelchair for use in my desired reunion trip this June. Even with a chair that did not fit, it was quite a bit too small so the seat was low and with the footrests engaged I was semi-squatting, it was a game changer. Next step is to see if we can get insurance to cover it since it is for different needs than my home power chair. After yesterday’s workout, I was starving at 11:30 even though I had a huge breakfast of oatmeal and sausage, so my next therapy was to walk in the rollator to the kitchen and cook lunch. I had spinach and mushrooms sautéed with bacon in bacon fat and scrambled two eggs into it. Delicious, and I made it all by myself. Followed that up with a Livestrong advocacy meeting learning about FiscalNote which we are using to track bills of interest. We also talked about how we will pick what to work on (there are about twenty candidate bills in Texas today) and how to take action. Then I took a nap; cooking and advocacy are tiring. Then I went off to work on the book and my task list.
Thursday, I started my day fasting so I could have an abdominal ultrasound to investigate some wonky live function test results (high LFTs from liver and bone). Then I had Occupational therapy, which involved a lot of slightly painful left arm movement, and Speech therapy, which involved a lot of humming and, for lack of a better words, singing. A lot of scat. Not in tune. Our friends, Windflower and Lance, were down for a visit from Minnesota. It was great to catch up on our lives and children. They have two daughters around the age of our sons, so lots of shared joy and trauma. Then Rachel and I headed to Fidelity to catch up on some backlogged financial tasks, so that took about an hour and a half. I finished my day with men’s group. Full day; passed out when I got home.
Friday was virtually a day off. No therapy. No nighttime activity. Just a taping of KLRU’s “Overheard” with Evan Smith interviewing Jason Isbell. I highly recommend you watch when it airs.
Today has been a day of working my task list. Heading to Austin FC match soon.
Also, if anybody is inerested in my substack, Ive started posting book stuff for paid subscribers and this first Bookbait which just had a free access for free subscribers.