After the hospital, I spent two months in a wheelchair and was completely non weight bearing on either leg. As in absolutely, no-go, not happening, even if I had wanted to try cheating, that shit was NOT gonna happen. While you're in a wheelchair, you realize just how un-differently abled the world is. And quite frankly, just how inconsiderate the general population is. By all means, even though I'm the one in the wheelchair that really can't go onto the grass, yes, let ME get out of YOUR way on the sidewalk so as to not inconvenience your day. Until you're in a situation where you experience these things first hand, you don't realize how crappy situations can be or just how crappy those situations and people's responses can make a person feel.
But I digress, two months in a wheelchair basically hanging out at home. Basically all of my muscles had atrophied, so even if I had wanted to attempt going out of my house, I have a slanted drive way and was not strong enough (I know, I tried, under supervision) to halt my wheelchair from skidding down the drive way into the street, let alone wheeling my way back up that previously insignificant seeming incline. Not being able to leave the house unsupervised wasn't the worst thing. I had a LOT of healing to do. And because I'd had a couple bouts of my appetite and ability to eat going out the window while I was in the hospital (head trauma is a serious bitch), I hadn't been really fueling my body as much as it needed for the crazy amount of all over trauma it experienced. So small activities, even just having conversations, wore me completely out. I could interact with people for a MAX of two hours before I was basically falling asleep where ever I was. My endurance for focusing my eyes and my brain on reading or typing anything was also shot. The physical therapist in the hospital actually had me doing eye exercises. In a nut shell, I was easily exhausted and spent a lot of time sleeping and generally recovering.
During this time, Miley was my constant companion. We started nicknaming her Nurse Miley. Because I wasn't very strong and my legs were so sensitive and not mobile, we had to be really careful about how close she got to me. Any of her previous rough housing or even some of the snuggling that she would do with me were out of the question. She had a hard time initially, but she adjusted and she was content to be as close to me as she could. She was also a HUGE fan of the fact that my bathroom door had to be taken completely off in order for my wheel chair to fit in there. Miley LOVES to creep on me while I'm in the bathroom. She'll nose punch the door handle multiple times. And if that doesn't work, she very loudly inhales along the edges of the door. With the door no longer in her way, she was able to see everything that happened in the bathroom and basically keep a constant eye on me. She would even lay down in front of the bathroom door while I showered. It was all very sweet and through the whole process she was very careful to modify any of her physical interactions with me. She was incredibly gentle and calm. Now, of course, she's completely back to her normal crazy self. :)
Throughout the wheelchair period, I understandably couldn't wait to be weight bearing and walking again. I had a this INCREDIBLY unrealistic thought process that once I was weight bearing, I would just start walking and within a month everything would be back to normal. Yeah. That was cute. Though I will admit that this wonderful ignorance is likely what kept me in a much more forward thinking mindset than I would have otherwise been in. I basically had to learn to use everything from the waist down all over again. In some cases I had to form new neuro-muscular pathways for the different ways that my legs were now moving. Plus there was a whole lot of muscle imbalances. And atrophy. And hardware in both legs. And my favorite, limited range of motion in my right knee (almost a year later and there is still 20 degrees that I don't have). Relearning to walk is hard and painfully slow. You know how long it takes kids to go from crawling to walking and walking fluidly? I know very much understand that struggle.
As I mentioned, we're creeping up on the one year anniversary of my accident and I'm at a point where I can look back and be pretty proud of what I've accomplished and everything that I've had to push through and deal with. It has been a crap load of work and there have definitely been chunks of time where I was having a hard time dealing with everything. But I'm proud of the progress that I've made, I have a plan for continuing to move forward, and now I can say that I wrassled a car and it didn't beat me. ;) This life event will definitely continue to color things moving forward, but life is getting back to normal and I'm looking forward to getting back to everything with my dogs.
I hope anyone still reading these posts is doing well!
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