Journal -- 11 months after being hit by a car & Read Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee

May 23, 2010

It's really lovely to think about how much my body is healed and how many things I can do now that would have been very hard to do even four months ago, let alone eleven.  Last night a friend was visiting with her young child and I was actually able to lift him high above me in the air while sitting down.  He's very very light for his age and my right side definitely felt pretty different from my left while I was doing it -- but I could do it and without pain! 

I continue to take amitriptyline daily.  I take the diclofenac as little as possible because of the heartburn issues that came from that (still experiencing that from time to time -- Dr. Banwart says it'll take a while for my stomach lining to heal).  I take flexeril once or sometimes twice a day still.  My pain is down enough that I sometimes forget to leave the house with it (whereas when the pain is high and constant it wouldn't occur to me to forget it)  but still present enough that I often wish, once I'm out, that I had it with me.

At Lani's suggestion, I began go to to physical therapy once a week instead of twice, starting the week of May 3rd.  I think that she is wanting to see how that reduction will affect my body.  So far it seems to be okay -- and it's certainly different schedule-wise to only need to be there once a week!  I continue to do all of the home exercises that Lani has given me -- a combination of stretches, strengthening exercises, and exercises focused on improving my posture.  

I saw Dr. Banwart on Friday.  She has encouraged me to continue doing physical therapy weekly at this point and said that massage is also still a good idea. I will see her one last time (she's leaving the clinic) on June 14th.  In the meantime, she asked me to see another doctor who does osteopathic manipulation work in the same clinic.  So I will see Dr. Pham on June 7.  Dr. Banwart says we are probably getting to the point where I will be discharged from care but that she thinks my body has a bit more it can improve before that point -- and that perhaps Dr. Pham can be a part of that improvement.

I continue to be able to do more and more with my body without giant pain increases.  Activities that involve "elbow grease" or concentrated strength (scrubbing a pan or trying to lower the storm window in our front door) are still difficult and painful as are some weight-bearing tasks -- especially ones that last more than a minute or two. 

Financially and emotionally, this accident continues to kick my family's collective butt.  Its impact on our life continues to diminish and that is definitely a good feeling.  Even better will be when it is all completely behind us!

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On a separate note, I absolutely love anything that Marla Frazee does and wanted to post about Roller Coaster.  It's not a brand new picture book (published in 2003) so it should be easy to get it from the library.  She does an amazing job of portraying different body types and races and relationships in her illustrations without making it a big deal ("look at me I'm so multicultural and aware") -- simply as acknowledgment of all the variety found in this world of ours.