It was a good week with lots of progress on my shoulder and
a visit from my nephew on the weekend.
First with the shoulder milestones. Here’s the list:
- I was officially brace free on Wednesday. Now I hadn’t been wearing it much during the day but was still sleeping in it so having it completely gone was huge.
- Other than a brief stint on Tuesday morning, when I went to my recliner out of desperation because I could not find a comfortable position for my last 2 hours of sleep before the alarm, I am sleeping in my bed. Having success for 5 nights in a row means the recliner really is retired. Yay!
- I’m back to work full time. I do have 3 shorter days because of PT but since I’m only missing an hour of work on those days and will be doing so for months, I’m counting it as full time. With the brace off, I’m actually more comfortable at my desk because it’s a controlled environment. I have a thin pillow under my arm and a folded towel that keeps my arm at the exact right position, all of which means I’m fully functional and typing with 2 hands without a problem.
- PT is progressing, with new things added on Wednesday that have me moving my arm more and more, albeit with pulleys doing the moving instead of my own muscles. Still, it’s progress.
- Small victories to add to the list – I can now grab my seatbelt with my left hand to latch (from below instead of above my shoulder but it works) and if the door isn’t opened all the way, I can close it with my left hand. I was also able to put the toilet paper back on the holder because I can pull it with my left hand now. It’s the little things.
My nephew Drew had called to ask if he could come for Easter
this year, which he’d once before. I said yes at the time with the warning that
I wouldn’t be up for much activity. I considered cancelling but decided against
it. His only request was home cooking, which I could handle. I’d also warned
him that he would have to move some furniture before he could sleep in the
spare room because the chair the recliner replaced is in that room and the bed
is covered with yarn totes that are too large for me to move with my bum
shoulder. He didn’t seem phased by any of it so his trip was on.
He was due to arrive Friday evening so I made a big pot of
sausage and potato soup late Thursday so he could have some whenever he arrived
and bought a loaf of my favorite asiago cheese bread from HyVee to go with it.
First meal done and he seemed to enjoy it when he arrived ~8:00 on Friday
night. Now Drew is a night owl so was up way past my bedtime and then slept
until noon on Saturday. That gave me some quiet time and when he got up, I had
2 pies ready to go in the oven. We made plans to meet Helen and Charlie for an
early dinner at Farmer Brown’s, which meant we didn’t have time to do much that
afternoon so just watched a movie. Helen was running late and Charlie opted out
so he dropped Helen at my house and we got the last table in the first seating,
enjoying yummy prime rib all around. We dropped Helen at Wal-Mart, where
Charlie would pick her up on the way to his niece’s for Easter egg dyeing and we
headed home for more Netflix. It was a low key day but worked for me. I headed
for bed at my regular time, leaving Drew up watching TV into the wee hours
again.
We had a plan to go to Freedom Park in Omaha on Sunday and
then antiquing before heading back for a nice Easter dinner, featuring the ham
Drew had brought from the butcher shop he works at for one of his 4 jobs. I
should mention here that Drew had asked if I wanted any meat from the butcher
and I’d checked their website, expressing interest in 2 of the funky brats they
sell. Well, Drew arrives with a huge cooler FULL OF MEAT! I’m guessing on
quantities here but in addition to the ham, I’d say there were 8 six packs of
brats (all kinds), 8 more white wrapped packages of various meats (I have yet
to check them all out) and as many packages of sliced meats, including 3 types
of head cheese! I put what was still frozen immediately into the downstairs
freezer and found room in the already full refrigerator for everything else. I
have enough meat to last months. Literally.
Back to Sunday…. I was making a nice breakfast of bacon
(from Drew’s haul), pancakes and eggs when Drew got up on his own just before
noon. After a nice breakfast, I had to convince Drew of the need to get off the
couch if we had any hopes of getting back in time for me to cook dinner. We
drove all the way through Omaha to the Missouri river only to find the entrance
to the park blocked off. Grrrr… We headed to The Brass Armadillo antique mall
on I-80 and browsed (separately) for a couple of hours. Drew found nothing and
I got a Blue Q bag (not antique but I love their products) to use for knitting
and a 25 cent postcard. Way to kill an afternoon when nothing else is open.
When we got home, I made ham (just a chunk of the enormous,
double smoked, boneless ham Drew brought), asparagus, the best mashed potatoes
ever and Cracker Barrel biscuits for dinner. Streusel topped strawberry/rhubarb
pie was dessert. Yum! I took control of the remote for an evening of PBS and
got no grumbling from Drew. Having to be up at 6:00 for work on Monday, I went
to bed at 10:00 but struggled to fall asleep and then woke up repeatedly.
While I love my nephew, between the sleep differences and
his male obliviousness to cleanliness, I would be happy to have my house back.
He was leaving on Monday and while he vowed that he would be awake when I got
back from PT to change before work, I had my doubts. Regardless, it was a nice
weekend visit and with my shoulder getting better with every passing day, I’d
call it a good week. I hope you all had a happy Easter.
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