January 10, 2022
Dodie Update - set up my trainer!
I won't lie, Christmas was actually "no picnic". Actually that's not quite true, because of Erika Paxman. Erika is a nurse, and she came to check Dodie out, bathe a little, and change her blood stained shirt. Not only that, Erika came up with these Christmas goodies. We also had a lot of calls and emails from so many friends and family. It all made a big big difference for us.
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The "no picnic" narrative comes from the fact that most of our medical resources shut down for most of Christmas through New Years and beyond. For instance, though Dodie's doctor organized new xrays and a cat scan Dec 20, he then took off until January 3 and there was no one to give the interpretation. We ended by driving to the Emergency at distant Victoria General Hospital, and eventually got the assessment that the arm was "really smooshed". However an orthopedic surgeon remotely looked at the scans and gave the opinion that no operation would be needed. There was no explanation or analysis, just this pronouncement. So we drove back home, sort of relieved and sort of "what now"?
Meanwhile circumstances conspired to lock us down at the farm. Snow was part of it. We got hit with stuff that looked like this:
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Of course, we also watched the Omicron cases spiking locally and in Canada generally. For a time (and maybe still) Mexico was a safer place to be. We cancelled appointments with physio, dentist, and optometrist. Not all of this was snow and Omicron. For example, though an optometrist sort of reconstructed Dodie's wrecked glasses, she found she mentally could not process the images they produced. This told her that an eye exam and new glasses would be pointless at this stage.
Without dragging out the story, what we had was a scene of injury and isolation. Not the prettiest picture, except that Dodie did not lose heart. She kept her eye on the day she would remount her bike, and of course she had one very excellent caregiver on duty!!
Now, a couple of weeks on, I feel I can give a much more optimistic report. Dodie has put her glasses (however twisted) back on, and today she made an optometrist appointment for Valentines Day. She still does not remember any part of the Yucatan ride. But ok, we'll go back and do it over (except for going slower near Uxmal!).
Most significantly, and I guess the reason for putting this update up today, is that we busted out of the snow and got to the physio. The physio has prescribed six exercises for the next two weeks. This gives Dodie a focus and a basis for feeling and measuring progress. Importantly for me, I got the physio to say some words that I, anyway, have needed to hear: "It'll be ok".
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Dodie is also asking me to build some steps so she can better mount her bike, set up as a trainer. At first, she will have to use one hand to lift the other to the bar, and none of this may happen exactly instantly. But this is where Dodie's head is at, and when snow and Omicron melt away, we'll see her out on those European trails!
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Dodie is also walking outside, using two trekking poles. And she can do other tricks, like putting on socks. I think a big landmark will be not so much using the bike trainer (which she can now already do) but riding on the road. We are predicting that for the end of March - early April.
Thanks so much for checking in!
2 years ago
Oh NO! I just caught up on your journal and find you two once again in rehabilitation mode. Dodie, when I went down in 2020 and broke things I had nothing but wet pavement to blame! I don't remember anything from the time I turned on to the street to the part where my bike went out from under me and off down the road I bounced and broke my nose, my pelvis in three places, blunt force to my chest and a head injury. The head takes the longest to heal and now I can't tell if it's from the hit or just because I'm old! But I was back on my trainer in four weeks! Nothing keeps us warriors down for long! Hope you keep us posted on your progress.
2 years ago