In October 2106, I took a big spill. It’s a miracle my aging bones didn’t break. If ‘inquiring minds’ wish to read about it, here’s the past post: https://www.pjcolando.com/life-miracle-no-fault-fall/

I endured. Two weeks’ wait for the swelling to go down, pain pills ‘taken as needed’, but not as often as you think. I’m not a wimp. I live strong, with thoughts of personal well-being not easily rising to the fore. To a fault. Not the best habit to adopt as a life stance. Self-reliance is what first-born islands do.

I abided. Stalwart is what first-born islands do.

I complied. Two months of physical therapy, scheduled at three times/week, with a home exercise program. I had many goals because, after all, I’d injured my dominant arm. Holy crap! I needed to recoup:

  1. ability to perform personal hygiene tasks – and to eat! On a positive note, I lost six pounds in two weeks with this dietary constraint. Ha – it’s hard to keep food on a fork when guided to one’s mouth by an arm unpracticed in the task.
  2. regain balance and a sense of personal safety. On another – and improbable – positive note, I was able to ride on an elephant’s back for lengthy time in Cambodia. Things only got dicey when the elephant decided to bathe in the River Kwai – while my husband was steering. Not a joke! Yes, Constant Reader, my physician released me to fly on this weeklong trip, within four days of the fall. Larry and I ascribe to the theory that you can hurt in the isolation of home – or you can hurt on a trip. It’s all hurting… thank God for pain pills and the kindness of people eager to encourage more tourism.
  3. write again! Vital to my life.

An additional goal, unbeknownst at the time, was the ability to extend my dominant arm as needed to pull my husband from his LaZBoy recliner. where he’d seated himself to begin home recovery from an emergency gall bladder surgery… The day I was released from physical therapy because my arm’s strength and capability had been restored. On this day in 2017.

To serve a loved one as needed. Life as a Miracle seldom gets better than that.

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