The long road back...

It's been a long road back to "normal," and I'm still in the middle of my journey. For much of the past 5 months, I've been fighting to regain my "normal life" in terms of my recovery and being active again, getting my practice going and re-establishing the level of financial security that we have enjoyed, feeling settled in our new home, and enjoying time with quality people in our lives who can be counted on for love and support. In many ways though, I don't just want life to be the same as it used to be. I am eager to see what our "new normal" will look like once the dust eventually settles.

For now, here's a glimpse of how things are going...

Obviously, my physical recovery is the foundation for everything else. Next week marks 5 months since my life got turned upside down that day out on the Greenbelt. There has been a lot of progress since my previous post back in April. For the most part, I have regained functionality as a non-athlete and recently decreased PT sessions to once a week. It's going to take more work for me to resume running though, and I'm actively working on it. Thankfully, running no longer seems like a question of "if" but rather a question of "when" and "how." I've recently been able to tolerate running up and down our street without pain, although I don't have good form (I have new specific exercises to work on addressing the problem issues). According to the surgeon, it will take a year for me to fully regain strength and endurance. I'm finally starting to regain muscle tone in my leg again, although there is still weakness and motor control that I need to work through in certain areas. It's amazing to think about how far I have come, as I try not to get too discouraged of the work still to come.

My practice finally got kicked off last month. I have a handful of clients who I am working with, primarily therapy cases so far. I quickly experienced the hassles of dealing with insurance companies, and I am slowly sorting through processes for everything. I am thankful that I made enough money last month to pay my office rent for this month, so it's a start. I know it will take a while for us to regain the level of financial comfort that we had before as a dual-income no kids couple, but I think we'll get there again...hopefully sooner rather than later though. I miss all the traveling that we were able to do last year!

In terms of travel, we took our first trip post-surgery last month to Boston for a NBA playoff game (Celtics v. Cavaliers, game 4). And, surprisingly, I was the instigating force behind this, not my sports enthusiast husband. It was my first trip to Boston, and this Southern girl enjoyed taking in the cultural and historical experience of it all. The game itself was quite a passionate experience with the Boston fans.

We walked away from this first trip back with the realization that my endurance and K's patience need to improve before our trip to France next month. We've been looking forward to this trip since we booked our flights last fall. It's hard to believe it's only 4 1/2 weeks away (and, we still don't have some details finalized - that part isn't hard to believe though since K is involved...).

We are still sloooowly getting settled into our new house. It's been 2+ months now, can I still call it new? It's still not company ready, and I have no idea when it will be. I have such a strong desire to have it "finished," but our time seems to be spent on other things most of the time. Sigh. I know it will get done eventually, and I know ultimately the more energy we put into it the better. It's really hard to motivate a K though...

We've been getting reintegrated with our social scene as I have been feeling physically and emotionally better. I hope to start blogging more frequently again, too. Let's see how I do...