Physical Therapy

I've now been to physical therapy three times. Everyone I've worked with is pleased with my range of motion and strength. I can bring my foot into a ninety-degree angle with my leg, which is a good place to start. It needs to be at 110 degrees to walk. Therapy consists of riding an exercise bike and stretching. I'm not sure why I have to go somewhere to do that. Why can't they just tell me to ride an exercise bike and then stretch? But I guess some people won't do it unless they're made to.

So therapy is going well. My rides, however, are another story. Because the rest of the family have lives, I've arranged for transportation through my worker's comp provider, who hired a cab service to transport me back and forth. Forth is going great. Back is another story.

Yesterday the driver picked me up at home at 10:30. Therapy went from 11-11:30. No one showed up to pick me up at 11:30. Or at noon. Or at 12:30. At noon the receptionist at the physical therapists' office took pity on me and drove me home. I called my worker's comp case nurse, who made an angry phone call to the cab company. She called me back and told me to tell the driver when I needed to be picked up and gave me a number to call if no one showed.

This morning the cab was waiting at 10:30 again. When the driver dropped me off, I told him I'd need to be picked up at noon. He added me to the schedule and gave me a number to call in case of a problem (my nurse must have made an impression). At noon, no ride. So I call the number, and they tell me a driver is on his way. At 12:15 I call again. The driver is lost. I can't really be upset, because as everyone knows, I am the most directionally impaired person on earth (although I can read a map and a compass, so I'm a little bit better than my wife. At directions, that is). At 12:30 I'm getting a little annoyed, so I call again. He's on the right street, but he's looking for the address. At 12:45 he finally arrives.

So riding in cabs is a bit of an adventure, and I'm amazed at the different shades of body odor that the human body can produce.

For now, therapy sessions are 1/2-1 hour. I will eventually be working up to 3-4 hour sessions.

The end is in sight

Monday I saw my new doctor for the first time. He said that my X-rays looked good and that my bones seem to be healing fine. To be sure, he got me an appointment for a CT scan at the hospital next door for that afternoon. The results came in today and were positive. The next step is to begin physical therapy. I see the doctor again in four weeks, when he expects me to be off the crutches and using a cane or nothing. He predicts I'll be back to normal in 8-10 weeks.

Movie Marathon

Since we don't watch football, Superbowl Sunday has becaome our movie trilogy day. This year we're watching The Lord of the Rings, the extended version. Let the nerdiness begin!

Babies and Books

Dear Loyal Readers,

I apologize for my absence; much has happened over the last month, and I will record it, but if I included it all in one post, you would grow bored and stop reading. So I will update regularly until you are up to speed on my life (I now anticipate the comments, "Do you think we have nothing better to do than read about your life?" from people who visit a blog that is about nothing other than my life).

I told you last time that I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon. It has taken two weeks and several phone calls (most of which were unreturned), but I finally have an appointment for Monday at 10:30. Of course, once I got the appointment, everybody I had left messages with returned my calls. I'll be sure to let you know what I find out.

If you read my mom's blog at all, you may have seen a photo or two of our nephew, who was born on New Years Day. We were so happy he came while we were there, and Christine had a great time helping Dana that week. While Christine might not think she has maternal instincts, anyone who has ever needed care while she was around would disagree.

As of yesterday, the baby is one-month old, and while watching him grow on mom's blog is better than nothing, we miss him dreadfully. We will be in Grand Rapids next weekend, and will have to fight with Grandpa over who gets to hold him. Dana, make sure you know where the baby is before either of us leaves.

While the baby may have overshadowed most of our holiday trip to Michigan, it was not the only enjoyable part. We went to a couple of parties with friends, which were great. One in particular, a Literary Party, was awesome. We played Trivial Pursuit: Book Lovers Edition, which made all of us English majors despair of the last four or five years, and had a white elephant used book swap. I went home with Stephen Lawhead's Byzantium (thanks Zac!) and gave one of my many copies of The Princess Bride to Cousin Chris.

We ended the evening playing Riff, a music trivia game. A word to the wise, if you play this game with people who know music, get some definitions at the beginning. I apparently did not adequately differentiate between hair bands and heavy metal, which is very funny to some people. Apparently my palette is not refined enough to distinguish the subtle differences that separate one crappy sub-genre from another. But I'm not bitter. My team was undefeated that night.

Well, until next month (I'm kidding, I promise).