Terry had a big milestone today - she had her back brace off for a little while this morning and again this afternoon. It was really good to see her out of the back brace, even if only for a little while. The visit with her neurosurgeon went well yesterday. The X-ray showed the expected healing, so he gave her clearance to start weaning her self off the back brace. She will have it off for progressively longer periods each day, to allow the muscles in her torso to get used to having to work for a living again. On Monday she’ll start physiotherapy.

I’ve been working on stretching out the Achilles tendon so I can get enough range of movement in the ankle to allow normal walking. The range of movement is increasing, ever so slowly. Several times a day I spend a few minutes stretching, then hobble around, using crutches to limit the weight on the right leg. The ankle feels pretty ugly the first minute or two, then it starts getting warmed up and feels much better. I still have an awful long way to go, as I’m only up to about 25 lb of weight on the leg, and I can’t go for too far. But every day is better than the last.

The left wrist is working pretty well. It still doesn’t have quite the old range of motion yet, but it is pretty functional, and I can see improvement every week.

I need to make two more big milestones before I can go back to work. I need to be able to get up the stairs to the bedroom area by myself, and I need enough strength in the leg so I can drive. At the moment, we have an attendant car lady who comes by every morning to help us with the morning routine. She helps me get to the shower and back, but the schedule is such that by the time the whole morning routine is done it is pretty late to be leaving for work. I suspect Terry will be driving before me, assuming her back continues to cooperate.

All in all, we’re doing fairly well.