Ethan’s Journey

 Today I was cranky! Everything was annoying me. Work annoyed me. Social media annoyed me. Penny annoyed me. Poor Penny. She excessively licks Paul. He allows it. It drives me crazy. The slurping noise of her tongue gliding over his hairy arms. Bleck! 🤮  In my annoyance it was best that I was home alone the majority of the day. Ethan got home and was in a good mood. He was chatting with me. Avery called to talk something through. As we were chatting, she was making me laugh. Family is good for that. I made a margarita and told Paul that I was cranky. The margarita hit the spot! My back is feeling small bits better everyday. I stood up to work part of the day today. I go back to physical therapy tomorrow. Hopefully it will be less torturous! Tonight, Paul and I were sitting on the couch. He was listening to me commenting on things that I was reading. We were discussing different things. I was pointing out the inconsistencies of this one article and he was on the same page. We ...

 Avery stopped by the house today. I like to think it was to visit me, specifically, but she had to pick up her teapot. She is so excited for her adult purchase. Prior to her arriving, she sent me the most “Alex P. Keaton” text. She was so excited that she was early voting. She was describing the people around her in line. All of them were older than her. She said they were having the most “old people” conversations. For example “someone was talking about their property taxes.” At certain ages you drift into the lane of discussing boring adult things with strangers. She is not there yet. It was a good moment to laugh about.  She went with me to pick up groceries. We chatted away in the car about different things. She doesn’t like the smell of her room mates used coffee grounds. At one point, I mentioned that I wished I had brought a beverage. Without missing a beat, she says “want me to spit in your mouth for you?” “NO!…..Avery Reese! Yuck!” She laughed and laughed. She likes ...

Got Ethan to the lab bright and early this morning. The sun was shining on all the beautiful colors of fall displayed on the branches of the trees.  Our wait wasn’t too bad. Only about 10-15 minutes. Ethan asked to go grab some donuts/apple fritters from the local family farm store. We added some cider. These are just so delicious! The donuts were still warm when we got home. That donut was gone so fast! I ate it like a wood chipper. The camper is now covered and hibernating for the winter. We had some pizza for dinner (donuts and pizza is the diet for champions).  My back is feeling a little bit better. It just feels bruised and sore to the touch. I did little bits and then would rest. I am feeling like I am making progress. That is encouraging. This back thing is not nearly as cool as a camel bite to the arm.

 I went back to physical therapy today. I was feeling some improvement. My physical therapist had me doing stretches and a little bit of strengthening.  I told her that I was still feeling tightness in some spots. She started doing the deep tissue work where she impales her thumb into knots in the muscles in my back.  She left bruises on my back from last time.  While this is quite uncomfortable, I had seen progress the last time and was hoping for more this time around.  She had remarked that she had never seen witnessed someone’s body react the way that mine did to those damn 5 planks. My body does not like to exercise. It is built for other things like walking dogs and sitting by campfires. My muscles were upset when I left and I had to keep stretching multiple times throughout the day. BUT I was up a little bit more this afternoon. I was standing to work a little bit with frequent rests. Ethan has been helpful around the house. He did some mowing yesterday. ...

 Guess what I did today! I stood for 15 minutes at a time a few times throughout the day. My hips are more level-ish. I have been faithfully doing my stretches and am beginning to see good progress. I did still take it QUITE easy. I am so glad I can lay flat and work. I need to keep my mind busy and focused on bc completing a goal and feeling helpful. I go back to PT in the morning at my own request. I want to make sure if my PT lady needs to get in and do another deep tissue massage to get some knots out, that it is done sooner rather than later. I am hoping that since things are loosening up it won’t be as excruciating. I am working on a side project at work. It is kind of fun. I am doing a presentation for Vet Tech students about the do’s and don’ts of writing a resume. I have been collecting real life examples to share. I am working with another coworker on this. Today we met and she gave some great tips to elevate things. I am trying to elevate a boring topic and make it fun, ...

 Results from the mammogram/ultrasound combo- normal. Yay! Probably the most normal thing on me right now. I went to physical therapy today. My PT asked how I was feeling. “Terrible”. That got her attention. We scrapped any form of strengthening exercises. My right leg was longer than the left. My PT was explaining that my muscles are all upset and they are wound up tight. So tight intact, they are pulling my one hip up more than the other. We worked on loosening the muscles. Lots of stretching and half push ups. “Do 20…Do 20 more…cock your leg out to the side….do 20 more.” My triceps were screaming. This is after I had done this at home too. “No more! My muscles are going to rip my shirt they are so big” I understand that I need to do this work to get to the prize at the end…livable back pain. But man, I was dying a little. We discussed that she was never going to even suggest or hint for me to do a plank ever again, or modified plank… or anything that rhymes with plank. She had t...

 I walked outside this morning when it was still dark out. It was quiet, cool and the sky was so clear. The stars were twinkling. So pretty. Today was a gift. Beautiful weather! I walked outside with the dogs and loved how the color of the leaves were bouncing off the sunshine. If everyday was like today I would not complain. I had my mammogram/ breast ultrasound combo today. It was a routine check up, making sure the girls are healthy. I ran into someone I went to high school with. Paul saw his buddy at the colonoscopy place. I run into someone at the breast clinic. This is what life throws your way when you are middle aged? I spent the majority of the day flat on the couch on my ice pack. I got up frequently to let the dogs out and do some exercises and stretches. My hips are still uneven but a sliver of a bit better. I hobbled around the field once to get the dogs their sunshine therapy (and mine too). I am hoping the movement helps. I feel like the tin man with my movements. I ...