Dog Walking, Wrist Update

[stormdog]

Here's restoman's dog, Lily, at the top of one of Lincoln Park's many sets of stairs.





Stairs are some of her favorite things. I mean, most things are her favorite things. But stairs are the mostest favoritest! I think I got her to slow down a little bit on the way down after repeated halts; the stairs were slippery and I didn't want her pulling me off my feet. But even when she's stopping, she can't stop and has to run back and forth on the steps, or climb off their side to nose around. Back at the house, I tried keeping her on a leash while sitting down in the living room in the hope that she'd sit down and mellow out a little instead of dashing around the house looking for anything and everything she can get her teeth on, and our attention with. It's hard; unless I'm paying active attention to her, petting her and talking to her, she's running in circles, back and forth, looking for toys, chewing on her leash. I don't know how to calm her down for more than ten seconds at a time; she's the most energetic dog I've ever known. (That picture was one of the only ones in a series of blurred noses and tails as I tried to get her to sit for a little bit at the top of the steps before moving on.)

Here's how difficult it is for her to focus on something for long periods. Very often when I give her a treat, she'll chew once or twice and then kind of drop the fragments out of her mouth and forget about them while she casts about for places to go and things to see. Today, she actually dropped an entire treat I gave her for slowing down when I asked and I had to pick it up again, covered in slime, and ask, "Lily, don't you want to eat this?" She did, once she could focus on it. And it's not that she doesn't like them! If she knows I have one while I'm sitting in a chair, she'll start frantically nosing around all sides of me, pushing her way under my arms, trying desperately to get at it. She just can't even hold her focus long enough to eat it once she does!

I, on the other hand, am not so energetic these days. Even though I don't have my stereo set up for music anymore, I still sometimes spend thirty minutes to an hour sitting in my recliner, blanket over me, letting my mind wander, sometimes napping briefly. Sometimes napping a little less briefly; I think I just slept for more than two hours. That's not something I've done regularly in the past, or wanted to, but it feels so good. I'm hoping that I'm still in some kind of recovery mode and that that will wear off. Or that it's related to my still somewhat funky sleep schedule. I'd rather have a solid span of active hours and then sleep for a while. But I think it's also been good listening to my body and doing what seems right while I have the opportunity to.

I had my first, and last, physical therapy appointment today. Everything looks really good so far. My strength is significantly reduced due to pain under exertion, but he expected that. I have another three weeks or so before the hole in the bone where the screw was is likely to be filled in, and until then I must avoid compressing or twisting motions so it doesn't rebreak. That's advice I will follow! So no bicycling until a few weeks after I'm settled in in Illinois. After that, I can start doing some strengthening exercises, as well as the other exercises he gave me today. I used my phone camera to record video of a few of them to make sure I get them right; I want to make sure I can keep doing this right without follow-up visits! He's fully confident that I'll be on a bike and doing hundred mile rides once I'm healed, which was a real relief to hear.