Slow Return to “Normal”

Walking, quilting, and a bit of photography

Hard to believe June is almost over. This month has slid by me as I focused on PT sessions and exercises, daily incision cleaning, and slowly walking outside and increasing my stamina. It’s that latter activity, walking outside, that has made the most difference in my mood and my overall mental health. I have so missed walking, from the green-leaved trees and birdsong to the daily shot of endorphins.

When I can walk longer, I’ll be able to get to this green section from my house, but for now, I drive to the parking lot at the other end of it and walk from there. I get birds, chipmunks, rabbits, and, yesterday, an excited three-year-old girl with her grandma who pointed out where she’d just seen a deer cross the path and disappear into Landis Woods.

Walking around my neighborhood has been interesting for a different reason: they have started tearing down five old aparment buildings down the street, and the piles of rubble are something to see. Three buildings are down, this is the fourth one, and I’m kind of amazed how cleanly that John Deere scraped off the end unit and left the adjoining wall intact.

As my recovery has continued, and my overnight sleeping has improved, I’ve had more energy to get back to quilting. I went through my drawers last week and found two kid quilt projects I’d tucked away in various stages of construction. It’s so fun to sew these kid quilts because I choose fun fabrics and bright colors, and they’re small enough to be done quickly (well, once I actually sit down and sew).

I’m behind on my “one a month” goal, so I finished up the quilting on the second project, and now both are washed and packed, ready to be sent off with a kid quilt I finished way back in March. Here’s the fancy quilting one, I was learning how to do different quilting designs, at a very basic level.

This quilt is all leftovers from earlier projects, so I kind of hate to see it go, but I know some lucky kid will enjoy the different fabrics and maybe trace all those quilting lines with their finger to see where they go.

My recovery was so slow and so convoluted in May that I’m really appreciating every marker of forward progress in June. I can actually sit down, bend over, and put on my socks, and tie my shoes! And clip my toenails! And get dressed without needing a grabber to pull up my shorts! And bend down to pick up something I dropped on the floor, or get dishes in and out of the bottom rack of the dishwasher! I’m sure at some point I will take all those things for granted, but right now, each has felt like a tiny miracle on the road back to normal.

A few more weeks of physical herapy, another check-in with surgeon and primary care PA, and I might be looking at a calendar not stuffed full of PT sessions and labs and doctor visits. So let’s end this happy update with a photo of blue sky and beautiful clouds, a reminder, perhaps, to look up and see the beauty of the day.

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When you rise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love… (Marcus Aurelius)

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