Continuing to Recover

I haven't posted for a while about my injury. Physical therapy ended the last day of last semester. They even gave me a t-shirt! Since then, it has been like taking one step at a time on the road to recovery.

Over break I had gone to the doctor who attended to me when the accident happened. I have one more appointment coming up in a few months. The doctor had said so far, I'm doing well, but he pointedly told me that I needed to lose weight to help relieve the pressure on my hip. The activities that I can participate in are quite limited when it comes to my hip. I can't do sports or run. Walking is okay if I'm smart about it. So basically I can do the bike or elliptical. I miss playing soccer... and I hope that someday I will be able to play again with out having to worry about injuring my silly hip.

When someone chucks the crutches or whatever they had to help them with their injury, one usually doesn't think about that injury anymore because that person is back to normal. I have learned that "normal" won't be achieved for quite a while yet. It has been so neat how slowly I am getting better. I don't have to use a grabber (yes, just like an older people use) to put on my socks. I even tied my shoe while it was still on my foot the other day. This is quite the achievement since I have not done so since my accident happened. I am regaining my flexibility slowly, but it's taking work. The last week I have worked out almost every day for a good amount of time.

Does my hip still give me pain? Sometimes. Like if I over do it at a college activity (which was SO much fun by the way), or sometimes I just step wrong and the muscles around my hip didn't like what I did. Such pain, however, is nothing compared to the first months after my accident. God has been so faithful and helping me through this situation. His grace always amazes me.

So there. An update on my hip and the road to recovery. It's a long path to tread, but I have an Awesome God and great friends who encourage me as continue onward towards full recovery.

Some Crutchy-ness

Just a fun Quote from the movie Newsies: Crutchy: Jack, when I walk, does it look like I'm fakin' it? Jack Kelly: Nah, Crutchy, who says ye'r fakin' it? Crutchy: I don't know... It's just there's so many fake crips on the streets today, a real crip ain't got a chance. I gotta find me a new sellin' spot where they ain't used to seein' me! For about the past two months I have been on crutches. For the first six weeks, I was on two crutches, and the last two I have been down to using only one. To you, my readers, I will confess something: I am not a patient person. Since my accident, I have been thankful for many things: being alive, God's mercy and grace, awesome friends and family who support me, people's prayers, etc. I have a hard time being thankful for my crutches. At first I often tripped over them while attempting to walk. I often drop them and struggle to pick them up. They get in the way and are quite bothersome for a small dorm room. Even worse: they constantly remind me how weak I am. Although I have made tremendous amounts of improvement, I still somewhat rely upon my crutch. You know what though? Even though I don't like using a crutch, I sometimes do need it when I am not as physically up to the task without it. Sometimes we treat God that way. We resent being so weak and in need of God's grace in order to get us through a certain situation or to have victory over our sin. We feel that we should be able to do things on our own when in reality, God is the one Who supplies us with the strength we need to get us through the day. We try to do things on our own but fall flat on our face. Now, I am not saying that God is a crutch. That would imply that someday, we wouldn't need God. We as fallible sinners will always need the Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. It is my prayer that I don't resent the fact that I need God for everything in my life, but rather, welcome His wonderful grace and be thankful for His help for all of my needs. So for now, I'll keep gimping along despite my dislike for the metal crutch. I only have a few more weeks on it anyway (hopefully won't be prolonged). I will rejoice, and be glad in my circumstances and in the God Who holds me in His hand.