Day 136 - Dry As A Bone

Jan has had two more physical therapy sessions since last time. TENS with heat then exercises and ice. The PT guy says her posture looks better. The changes are subtle and I don't notice the changes. Kind of like you don't notice your hair growing.

We are looking for a profile picture to see how her posture is now compared to before the accident to get some measure of what we are working with. Here's a picture from 2006 that was taken for our 20-year vow renewals. Not sure it shows a lot but it is the only one I can find.

She hasn't driven any more since the one short trip to Sam's but I keep prodding her to see if she wants to try a short trip here or there.

After Jan's most recent trip to physical therapy, we arrived home. Clothes were in the dryer so I went to start it. It sounded funny, all to quiet. Upon closer examination, the belt broke and the drum doesn't turn.

As I type this, the dryer is in a state of severe disassembly, scattered all over the utility room, awaiting the procurement of a new belt. The bright side of this affair is the new level of cleanliness. After 15 years of lint build-up, it is now as clean as new.

I suspect it will work better with a new belt as the old one had been shedding material for quite some time. I had no idea what the black powder under it was when we moved almost three years ago until now. Once inside of it, I could tell the belt had frayed, leaving a fine black residue all over the inside of the dryer.

Day 133 - On The Road Again

It is 19 weeks since the accident and Jan drove for the first time since December 14th, 2008. It wasn't far or fast but she drove from my work to Sam's Club, which is maybe half a mile. She was nervous, even a little anxious, but did fine. I don't know that she will be driving to work any time soon but a little progress is still progress.

PT is going well and she gets through it mostly pain-free. He adds a new exercise each visit and she is supposed to do them a few times a day between PT visits. She does the TENS and ice at the end of her visit lately. Sometimes she does the TENS first but ice is always the last thing.

Her pain level fluctuates but she manages it with Tylenol and Advil. She complains about her sleep not being restful as well. I'm not sure what we can do about that.

We've been trying to find a summer vacation destination. Cancun, Mexico was our preferred destination since it has a beach and scuba diving. I'd found a nice place and cheap airfare but the $200 round trip airfare was short-lived. It has more than doubled. Florida is looking like the next viable option since we would drive there.