Ya Think?!

Mike is doing better. He was able to come home from the hospital after 2 days. He is not one who likes limiting his activity. He is one who is used to getting up by 5:30 in the morning so he can enjoy a beautiful sunrise before he charges into the day.

Only 2 months ago, he was very considerately helping me recover from surgery, reminding me to be patient and give myself time to heal. When I was discouraged, he was very kind and helpful. Now he is trying to let me encourage him to be patient.

Yeah, that's going well.

He has been deeply touched by all the kindnesses shown by so many people. And he is very anxious to return to all his work, service and recreational activities. He went on a hike a few days after the accident, he has been doing the home therapy exercises very consistently, he rode his bike on the indoor trainer within a week. We saw the osteopath last week. He said, with Mike being a non-smoker, non-drinker, no medical condition, good health and attitude, he could expect 98% recovery. When Mike glared at him, he quickly said, "Okay, you could probably get 100% recovery." Mike is going for 110%.

Unfortunately, he seems to think he should be at 110% by the end of the week.

As he so kindly reminded me last month, recovery is not always steady. It tends to go up and down like a roller coaster. One of the ways it does that is when one kind of pain seems to improve, another takes over and knocks you flat. Mike is finding out the many ways broken ribs and shoulder can hurt. He seems to be learning creative ways to find all the levels of the pain of healing, and get through them quickly.

Early Sunday morning, since he couldn't sleep, he got up very early, dressed in his suit, called for a ride, went to his early church leadership meetings, met me for choir practice before church, tried for three hours to find a comfortable way of sitting through church, went to a meeting after, and when he was finally home, let me put ice on his back and feed him painkillers. I had been trying for hours not to drag him back home and force him to rest. As he sat there, wincing in agony, he said, "I don't get it. I have this very sharp pain starting at my neck and shooting across my shoulder down my arm."

Any semblance of Florence Nightingale went out the window.

"Well, maybe, just maybe you have this pain because you broke your shoulder and ribs and just got out of the hospital!"

So anyway, Mike is progressing. Not sure I am.