Recovery Year comes to an end

Discovering that my legs didn’t work was a game changer. It’s never something you expect or can plan for. I’ve worked hard both in rehab and out-patient PT to get back as much as I could. When I left residential rehab in October 2021, I gave myself through December 2022 to see how much mobility I could get back and how many real-life things I could do myself. I called it my “Recovery Year” even though it was actually longer than that.

I wrote out what happened so I would remember facts and emotions, and be reminded of progress through the hardest thing I’ve ever faced. I’ll keep doing that, but I’m going to widen my world to include more than just thinking about therapy and physical tasks. Because that gets really boring.

Some tasks are hard; others aren’t easy but I’ve figured out how to do them. And others that seemed impossible in the beginning are now parts of my normal life. There’s progress everywhere when I remember to look and to be grateful – and to continue that progress going forward.

First, though, I copied all of these “Therapy Notes” blog posts into 2 books, one for my intensive period (August-December 2021) and the second covering all of 2022. It feels productive and marks a turning point going into 2023. The books are only for me, something tangible to use for reference and remembrance.

This “Recovery Year” has been another game changer. Now it’s time to close this chapter and move on to whatever comes next.