Small Steps

So how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  That's a cute saying, but there's really a lot of truth in that.  To accomplish anything in life, you just have to take one small step at a time.

I've found that to be especially true in my recovery from surgery.  After my surgery in January 2014, I could hardly even move my right arm.  I couldn't do anything with that arm.  Even simple tasks like picking up my water cup was nearly impossible.  That's a big deal because I drink A LOT of water!  I'm sure the nurses got tired of coming in to hand me a drink.

I also could hardly change the channel on the remote or type on the keyboard like I'm doing here.  I was in bad shape.  The neurosurgeon said I could regain use of that arm, but it could take up to a year before I began to see any improvement.  It has now been a year and a half, but I'm finally seeing my strength returning in that arm.

It didn't come easy, though.  Through small steps -- even baby steps -- I'm able to do some of those simple tasks, like typing this blog.  I started out typing only a few words at a time.  Now, I can usually type a whole post in one sitting.  My computer use is at the level I had before my surgery.  Overall, I'd say I've regained about 75 percent of the function that I had before.  That's a great feeling!

I recently reached another goal.  I can transfer from my scooter to the bed with only minimal assistance.  It used to take two people to put me in bed, and I sometimes had to wait 30 minutes or an hour until they got two aides to help me.  So this was a big accomplishment for me, but it only came by taking one small step at a time!