On the Mend and Life is Wild

**** Written late August, not finished***

I've finally started feeling progress in the healing journey. Last Thursday Aug 22nd was the last night I felt really awful. I had felt well-ish that day so I thought I was up for a couple of things. 1) I used the crutches from the parking lot into the bank to open the needed account for our mortgage. The walk was exhausting. Not too long later Nate and I borrowed the Brewster's big white van and I hadn't considered the fact that there's a double step to climb in. Since I can't really hop up the narrow platform, and my ribs/chest area was way too tender for Nate to help lift me, it was kind of hard. I had to use my own upper body strength to pull myself up while twisting and not bumping the broken leg. I honestly don't even know how I accomplished it, it was so hard I must have blocked out the details, lol.

We then drove to the Underwater Audio company party where the kids had graciously been driven in our behalf. The Walkers called our house to ask if we were going and Brennan admitted that we didn't know since we can't all fit in the car. They've been really watching out for us.

Anyway, I then had to get out of the van, (not too bad, though a little painful for Nate to "hug me down") and crutch my way over to the picnic tables. Not a far walk generally but it was not easy. We stayed just long enough to eat and then headed out. Back down the path, back into the van. I was already beat.

We drove Kylea (and Hollyn and Kieran with us, the boys got different rides home) to the Winegardners to spend the night because Nate would be unable to take her to Brooke's the next morning. Then we had a big Craigslist pickup across Salem, which is why we'd borrowed the van.

By the time we got home my body felt no bueno again and I was kind of disappointed. But miraculously, after that night I had a big turn-around. I'm feeling so much better than I did before. I've started being able to sleep on my side the last few nights with barely any sternum discomfort. The brace and related difficulty moving my leg make rolling over a challenge. It's sweet because any time I move in bed, Nate suddenly wakes up saying, "What can I do?" or "Do you need help?" or something like that. I feel bad I keep waking him up though. It'll be a fine day when my legs can rest against each other normally, without a large pillow needed to separate the brace and/or bruising from the other leg.

My right leg, the "good one" remains pretty tender. There's only a shadow of bruising on my knees, but there's still both quite sensitive to much touch. Sometimes even a blanket on my legs is too much. Thankfully the blood clots aren't bothering my left leg much anymore. The calf is still tender if touched, but I can rest my leg on surfaces now instead of having to dangle off of the furniture.