The View From Here - Various thoughts and travels
Got my car back from the bodyshop. They had it for ten days.
Last Sunday I had a mishap and badly sprained my left leg. The first few days it was painful in the knee and ankle area. It has been steadily getting better through the week and I am able to put some weight on it. Obviously I have been laid up and doing nothing.
So I am not dead, just inactive.
When I last visited Rosenheim School in Alberta January 2020 it look like this.
Recently it got moved September 2024. The next photo is not mine and is used with permission.
I did not want it to be next year but next year it shall be.
At the end of July I got some disappointing news. I was told I was pushing myself too hard and I needed to take it easier. Last year when I was in a hospital bed I kept thinking about the things I would be doing once I got out and summer arrived. It turns out I cannot do those things yet. I told some friends that a few things we wanted to do this summer will not happen. Thankfully they understood. I shelved some plans and kicked some others over to next year.
Next year.
I have been in a lot of pain lately. It is not fun.
When I see my surgeon I have not had a problem with him prescribing pain medication when requested. Which is good as I have been taking painkillers more frequently lately. My knees and hips are giving me issues. My feet hurt. I can feel pain radiating down my legs. I have spent a couple of days doing very little in the hope that the pain will subside.
I have been seeing a therapist, not a physiotherapist, a different kind of therapist. I have been discussing pain and other recovery issues with her. I have jokingly mentioned to people that I have been spending time with a woman that I pay by the hour. It has been some help. I have suffered more than just physical damage.
I seem to make some progress, take a half step or so back, level out, and start again with some periods of pain and less pain. There are no pain free days. Recently the last few days have not been some of the better days. With luck it gets better.
This is near Torrington, Alberta.
I am trying to get back in the swing of things by going to some places kind of close to where I live. I have been here twice before. The roof is relatively new so someone is trying to preserve it. I believe the church was built in 1906 and abandoned sometime in the 1950's.
I am dying to get out on a road trip for a few days. I cannot make it happen, I have not progressed enough that I feel comfortable trying it. I have managed to take a couple of unassisted steps, it is painful and almost torturous. On the plus side I know I can take a step without using anything for help. I aim to be doing some hiking next spring.
At two this afternoon someone in my building altered me that someone hit my car. My new car, parked on the street, in front of my building, in a clearly marked handicapped spot. A guy driving a 2023 Freightliner commercial moving van happened to catch his rear bumper on my car. I got out onto the street and had a few choice words. I reported it to my insurance company who got me an appointment with a bodyshop later in the afternoon. I will get a damage report next week.
Ten days ago on the highway to visit mom a baseball-sized rock whacked my windshield. You can imagine the damage that did. I put in a new windshield yesterday and now this. The luck needs to turn soon.
I have owned my 2025 Mazda CX-30 GX for about six weeks. In that time I made one day trip to Jasper, Alberta, some physiotherapist appointments, and nine trips to visit mom who lives an hour from me.
My most recent trip to visit mom was today. Mom is eighty-three and looking a bit frail. She is getting weaker. She gets around in a wheelchair and needs the help of two staff to get in and out of bed. Her memory is rapidly declining, today it was the worst that I have observed. She still knows who me and my sister are, however I was not quite sure she definitely knew who I was today. She does not remember what town she lives in and thinks I live in the same building.
I try to have a conversation with her, it is not easy. She tires easily and most visits come to a premature end as she easily falls asleep. I do not like to see her, or practically anyone, like this. Time gets us all.
I am still getting about on crutches. I do not think I have used the walker for about two months.
Some of the pain in my left leg - the one with the most metal - has faded with time. There is still pain, it is not as severe as it was. When I looked at my feet my first week in the hospital both were red, blue, and purple from my toes to a bit above the ankle. They were heavily bruised. I was amazed there were no bones broken in my feet. After all this time I am getting more sensation in my feet. There are still some numb spots but it is getting better.
I had an evaluation in physiotherapy today. After some measurements it shows I have gained a bit of range of motion with my knees and hips. That was a bit of a surprise as I thought I hit the wall in that regard. A therapist had told me that I am doing too much at times. Most of the time I feel like I am hardly doing anything. It does not take much to tire me out. I am incrementally getting better and I want to be back doing some hiking in May of next year. I think that is an attainable goal.
I took a day trip to Jasper yesterday because I wanted to get out and enjoy summer. Weather was perfect. It was sad to see all the damage Jasper suffered from the wildfire last year. It remains one of my favourite places.
Anyone who has a passing interest in this blog knows I spent a good chunk of last year in the hospital. I missed the spring and summer. I was released in the fall and got to see nature start to surrender to winter. Not that I minded. I got to live another day.
This year I am appreciating ever more the greenery and the colours of summer. It was almost taken from me last year, I came too damn close to dying. I am trying to squeeze in what I can now, maybe I am trying to do too much before I am able.
In the last few days fields of yellow have started to make their presence known. I missed this most of all in the summer months last year.
About a mile from Liberal Church which is a bit southeast of Mirror, Alberta. Now it is an occasional community hall. Nothing but farms in the area.
