Wednesday, August 13, 2008 ~ The Road to Recovery

Wow, it’s been 2 ½ weeks since my accident so I thought I’d give you a bit of an update on my status.

As I’ve stated in my last blog entry, our family has been overwhelmed by the prayers, meals, cards and visits. They’ve nourished and encouraged us. Thanks sooooo much.

To back up a tad. Ralph and I arrived home Wednesday, July 30. At this time I was using two crutches and still on meds (oh happy day, feeling no pain!). By Saturday I was down to one crutch and very few meds. My left side was still very, very sore. In particular my left knee was swollen and giving me some significant problems. Getting up and out of a chair or bed was proving to be quite the challenge.

On Sunday it was good to experience the communion of the body of believers. The morning service was so uplifting that we decided to return again in the evening…double the pleasure. Trust me, I’m not spottem here (p.s. Jake Janssens helped me with the spelling of spotten so if it’s wrong…email him!)

On Tuesday, Aug 5 I received a lymph node drainage treatment. What a difference this made. My knee returned to normal size and the pain was considerable less. By Friday, Aug 8th I had cast my crutches aside and was limping around on my own steam. Hooray! My sister and her husband came over for dinner and I actually helped prepare some of the food. (Now mind you, I could probably have done more, but when I can fill my days with napping and knitting….why would I want to take on other duties!). Oh, I have taken over the laundry…hanging it up, taking it in, etc….just to let my family know that I’m not quite ready to be ‘put out to pasture’.

So to sum it all up. Basically I’ve just been recuperating. In the morning I generally read the paper and then start off in this chair in the livingroom.

I check the blogs (why aren’t they posting…don’t they know people back home are waiting!!!!) . Then I check over my emails and knit. What am I knitting? As some of you are aware we are expecting our first grandchild in October and so I’ve embarked on an ambitious project of knitting the baptismal gown. I say ambitious because I usually end up knitting 5 rows, notice a mistake and then I’m down 2 rows.. I joked with Janessa and Sean that we may just be pinning the front panel to the Babes undershirt and we’ll just wrap a blanket around the back so no one will know that I never finished the project!

After I tire of sitting in this chair I either limp to the front of the house….
Or the back of the house….. Or the family room.......
Here is what I’ve finished on the baptismal gown

This past Sunday evening as I was reading over the blogs, Melissa Kloostra’s commented that my baskets where being stored in a safe place and that she now had my shelf. This proved to be all the motivation I needed to get back on my bike. Now, I have no problem with Sea to Sea storing my supplies but when they give away my shelf (prime location on the gear truck…..close to the ramp, middle shelf so you don’t have to bend down or reach up) it felt like they were giving up on me. So with a new resolve (translate to a very, very stubborn streak) I mentioned to my family that I would like to try to get on a bike. After all, my shelf is at stake here!

So on Monday when Andrew returned from work he set up the trainer in the garage and placed my trek on the trainer. He lowered the seat a notch to make it easier for me to reach the gear shifters. Low and behold I could cycle. Victory cheer! After supper with much fear and trepidation I put on two tri suits (all my bike shorts on still stored ‘safely’ on the gear truck), clipped on the new helmet, slide into my running shoes (I have cages, not clips on my trek bike at home) and Andrew and I went out for a ride. One hour and 20km later we came home.

Andrew and I

I admit to being somewhat stiff on the bike. My reaction time isn’t up to snuff. I need time to slow down and apply the brakes and my cadence is around 70 not 90 reps pr minute. Still it felt good. On Tuesday evening we biked for 30km, my average speed was around 24km and the cadence was higher than the previous evening.

How to describe the feeling of being back on the bike? Relief, scared, delighted, over joyed…….just too many emotions. I’ve asked so many people to pray that I would be able to rejoin the tour (not because of selfish reasons but it’s something I started and I would really like to fulfill my commitment if at all possible) and now it looks like it is a very real possibility.

Am I still in pain? Yes, sitting on the saddle is a challenge and this is my one big area of concern. The pelvic fracture is not entirely healed (although the doctor did say I can do what ever feels right because I cannot damage it any more). I also found out that my concussion was only for 30 seconds, so hopefully another fall wouldn’t result in me being spoon fed for the remainder of my life. So with Andrew by my side I hope to cycle from Grand Haven to Grand Rapids (78km) on Saturday, August 16th. Can I sit in the saddle for that length of time…..this remains to be seen, but I won’t know until I try.

P.S. Andrew thinks I should be sitting on this saddle during the next couple days...he says, 'good training'. I think, 'not'.

Will I remain with the tour? The plan is to return home to Chatham on Sunday evening, because the following Tuesday is a 154km day and I know this is way too much to put my body thru. Instead, if I return home then I hope to take advantage of two days of rest before meeting the group in Sombra and then I may be able to bike the remaining 60km into Chatham and hopefully continue to complete the reminder of the week with the tour in Southern Ontario.

It will be a busy weekend in Grand Rapids. I look forward to reuniting with the cyclists and support crew and also in participating in the celebration service.

Sixty new cyclists start on Monday. Please continue to pray for the safety of the group especially as they near the end of the tour. Also remember those who are still recovering from injuries as they have to watch from the sidelines as others continue their journey, a journey that they would love to be on.

May God grant us all what we stand in need of. To Him be the glory! Cynthia