October 27 – “Entering my MRI world”

Physical therapy appointment number two is in the books.  Now instead of just posture checks and adjustments every waking hour (literally), I have to do a series of five neck stretches every three to four hours.  They are not difficult.  Oh, I can feel the stretch, to be sure, but the moves are not impossible to do.  Well, guess what?  That is a dangerous way to talk in the world of physical therapy. 

First of all, I was very sore after the session itself.  She poked and prodded my neck again.  This time I escaped into my MRI world.  What’s that?  I do my best to go to sleep in spite of what is happening around me.  It’s hard in an MRI chamber because it is so noisy, but sometimes I am successful.  Apparently I did well yesterday as well.  She was convinced that I dozed through most of the first half of the session.  Of course I had a little help.  I had stayed up past midnight the night before.  Hey … go Astros, OK?

I was absolutely consistent in following the home exercise instructions.  Posture checks every time I thought about them (not saying I thought about them every single hour, but I did quite a few throughout the day).  And then those five neck stretches every three or four hours.  Talk about sore.  Every time I finished the series, the electrical zinging would sneak back into play.  That’s the part that wears me out more than anything.  It makes me tired just thinking about it.

When I got home, while I was “in the mood,” I spent about an hour entering all the itemized bills onto the Samaritan Ministries website.  You have to do them one at a time, and I had seven or eight to enter.  That meant scanning them into a .pdf file and uploading them after filling out a separate page on each one.  It was a tedious process.  I sure hope they are a forgiving lot.  And discerning.  Who am I kidding?  I just hope they can make some sense of the stuff I sent.  I had no idea what I was doing, so they may have received several copies of the same thing. 

On a brighter note, we are looking forward to attending a “Watch the Astros” party tonight.  Lasagna, brownies and baseball.  Oh, and friends, too.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

1 John 4:17 says, “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.”

Father, help me to be consistent in these exercises.  At least until the PT schedule is complete.  Amen.