This post will be a little shorter than normal. Partly because I don't have that much to report, but mostly because I got "Chicago Med" Season 1 in the mail today (as a birthday present from my brother) and I really, really want to start watching it. Priorities, priorities ;)
I turned the electricity down in my deep brain stimulation device today. Down because I already know what it does on a higher level, so I'm experimenting with the lower levels. I actually turned it down by .20 volts instead of just .10. If I see worse results, I'll turn it back up, but for now it's set at 2.50. It actually kind of surprised me this morning that I was at 2.70 volts. I seriously thought I was already at 2.50. On another note, but in the same vein, the lower the setting is, the longer the battery will last in the device. That's not to say that I shouldn't be afraid to use the higher settings, but if I can find my "sweet spot" on a lower level that will eventually save me from having to get it replaced sooner. On average the batteries last about 5 years.
This past week definitely had its ups and downs, but no catastrophic downs and no miraculous ups, so I'm concluding that I still get to "play" with the levels. On one hand, I'm grateful for that and on the other I just want a level to work!! I return to Vanderbilt on September 22, so I have until then to play.
One unfortunate event did happen this past Friday: I fell. And it was a pretty hard fall. It was totally my fault, but a fall is a fall. I have ONE tiny, teeny, itsy-bitsy step in my house and that is from the garage into the house. Friday night I went grocery shopping and I was bringing in yogurt. I was holding three cases because I'm impatient and just wanted to get them all in at the same time. I stepped up and somehow lost my footing. Well, the rest seemed to play out in slow motion. I knew I was falling, but couldn't do anything about it because I was holding the yogurt. I actually fell backwards. I landed on my butt, but also hit my head on the car (my garage is small!). I wasn't hurt, but it was the "last straw" in a few bad things that happened on Friday and I just burst out crying. Yogurt went flying (but surprisingly didn't burst open or anything) and I sat there on the garage floor for a few minutes feeling sorry for myself. But then, I got up, dusted myself off and did the only thing that would make me happy: go and see my 2 year old niece.
Speaking of Ms. G. - I find it highly amusing and perfectly fitting for God to use her to help me walk better. I was with her all day Sunday and only used the walker to get in and out of church. When I have something or someone else to devote my attention to, walking takes a back seat. It wasn't perfect by any means, but I did "run" after her all day and for the most part kept up. I had a helper though in my Dad's secretary, Linda, who took over a few times. We had to stay at church for a voter's meeting and were there until about 2:30pm, so Linda could tell when I was getting tired and she'd run after G. But - I would do ANYTHING for that little girl and her cousin, so on Sunday, that meant chasing her around church. I didn't have time to think about walking, I just had to do it. ;) I said in my last post that a little bit of distraction is a good thing. "Running" after G was definitely the distraction I needed. :)
Thank you all for continuing to follow along on this journey. In particular, I'm very thankful for those that have given me compliments this past week on my hair. I'm still very self-conscious about it, but your comments have helped immensely. I have to give the biggest shout-out to Little G though. She and I have the curly hair. When she saw me for the first time without the wig she pointed at my hair as said, "Hair - pretty!!" "I touch?" While I wore the wig, she was taught not to touch it because it would get dirtier faster. Talk about melting my heart!! Of course I let her touch it. And then on Sunday as I was changing her out of her Sunday dress, she reached up and grabbed my hair and said "I like". "Curls". Again, she melted my heart.
I am blessed and I know that I am. I hope by sharing my story, I can be a blessing to someone else. It's not an easy journey to walk, but it's the journey God has me on, so I'll keep putting one foot in front of the other and rely on Him to keep me from falling.
And now that I'm done with this post, I realize that it's probably not shorter than any other post I've written - oh well!! Again, thanks for reading. May God bless you immensely in the coming week.
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