Hi Friends! I’m so glad it’s the weekend!

So many good things to cover this week! So let’s get started!

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We are all about positivity and moving forward where ever you are at. It really will inspire you and get you moving!

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About My Story This Week

So my life is on an interesting path right now, if you haven’t followed my blog before, generally on Fridays I cover all sorts of fun things on my blog, mostly fashion. But just 3 short weeks ago, I went out in the morning to warm my car up for work, and I slipped on the ice in my driveway. And I fell like Humpty Dumpty, in almost as many pieces! Hah! Seriously, though I broke my ankle in several places and my leg, and my son Jake who happened to be outside at the same time took me to the urgent care and they sent me on to the hospital. That was my first ever serious break.

A week later, they did surgery on my ankle, (my first ever surgery) and I will never forget that moment when I opened my eyes, and there sat my husband, my son Jake, and my sister Stacey. I am the luckiest girl on the planet to have a team like that at a moment when I really needed some reassuring. Goodness gracious, my heart, just thinking of what that meant to me!

The next week was healing from the surgery and beginning some very basic physical therapy. And therapy for the heart and soul in the form of so many well wishes and kindnesses from friends and family. Each text, each call, each email was divinely timed to cheer me up and encourage me! People brought meals to us, sent flowers, and goodies, and the cards! I opened up 2 today, another one from my Aunt Linda and Uncle Al, oh how that blessed me! And one from the team I work with, including several young people, and when I opened that card up and the signatures were all over like flower petals in springtime! You can imagine how my heart about leaped out of my chest! Goodness gracious people are so good and kind!

Well, this past Monday I needed to go in to have the stitches removed and to hear from the surgeon about what all they did in the surgery. So away we went. Or as my husband would say, “Off like a herd of turtles!”

We got in to the surgeon’s office, and the first thing I told them was that I wanted to thank them for taking such excellent care of me during the surgery. The surgeon and his resident both grinned a little bit, but I meant it with my whole heart. They had my life in their hands. How do you thank someone for that? The resident has also been there when I came in the night of the accident, and he had the unfortunate task of “resetting” my leg that night while I was awake. But he looked me in the eyes and told me I was going to be ok. And I knew he meant it. That is priceless.

So they removed the cast and said the stitches and healing looked beautiful. That is exactly what I wanted to hear! The doctor said he put 3 plates in my ankle, and some screws. They said I needed to be non weight bearing on that leg until they saw me again in April, and then they would reevaluate. They sent in another person to take out the stitches. I am a little squeamish, and I told them so, so a wonderful nurse came in and took my hand and just kept talking to me about all kinds of things so my mind would be diverted from them taking out the stitches. Bless her, she literally walked right along that bumpy road with me! I am so grateful!

Next they sent me to get an “air cast” or a boot. It’s a little bulky, but it works.

So we were homeward bound! Onward and upward!

Now one thing I was noticing was that my stamina was pretty low. You see, walking across the room with the walker takes a lot of strength, and my arms are not that strong. Right about now I wish I had worked on more arm strengthening exercises!

Anyway, so I decided I needed to get intentional about getting up and moving more frequently to try and build up some endurance. So I started recording in a little notebook each time I got up, and my goal is to try and get up every 1-2 hours during the day. All I am doing is walking from one room to another with the walker. But that is a pretty big workout, when you have to keep the one leg off the ground. Just the simple act of writing it down feels like I am making progress, and it inspires me to be stronger and go a little further.

Another task we began this week was washing the surgical area. My sister Stacey who is a nurse, came over the first night we were to wash it, and showed us how to do it.

That meant the world to us! She showed us how to wrap it and then she and her husband stayed and visited with us for quite awhile and we laughed and talked about our dreams for the future. What a lovely evening!

I also had my in home therapy sessions with a very nice man named Saurabh. He taught me how to do exercises to help relieve the extra stress put on my different joints with the injury and using the walker. He showed me how you can use a towel and gently stretch your injured leg/foot to increase mobility. He gave me lots of helpful pointers.  I always had questions for him. This last time he showed me how to get up the stair with a walker. He put a belt around my waist to catch me if I fell, and then I took that fearful step. I hopped up the step carrying that heavy boot! And while I was nervous, I was so happy when I accomplished it! He told me that was a very good sign, that it means I trust him. Saurabh told me he was really going to miss me. That made me feel so good! And my in home therapy ended this week. And next week starts outpatient therapy.

My husband has been right there every day, by my side, with kindness and encouragement and 10,000 little gestures and deeds to make my life easier. I got a little misty (ok on several occasions) thanking him over and over for his kindness. Do you know what he said? He said, “It’s easy to be nice to an angel.” Ok, that just busted the main line and I cried all over the place! But happy tears because I knew that I was so blessed and I was going to get through this!

And my Sizzlers group, those ladies are getting out there and getting after it with their exercise. Some are walking in the city and some are on their treadmills and doing weights and Pilates and all sorts of things. So the bird with the wounded wing (me) gets on to report her activity. “I walked across the room 10 times today” you would have thought I ran an Ironman competition! They encouraged me and lifted me up! And you know, it really makes a difference! It makes you want to walk across that room 11 times tomorrow!

It wasn’t that long ago I was working on getting my “plank” times up after walking a few miles every day. A plank is when you try and hold a push up position for an extended length of time. This may sound kind of silly, but I would do my plank every night while listening to the song “Fight my Battles” by Michael W Smith. I would distract my mind from the fatigue by listening to the lyrics. “This is how I fight my battles. It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You.” Well, how precious are those lyrics to me now!

‘It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You.’  means multiple things to me right now. When the road gets challenging, I can look to all of you in my life, who are so kind and pour into me. I am literally surrounded by you and your strength and courage fills me with so much faith!

And on a spiritual level, I know that I am never alone, no matter how deep the river or how low the valley or how high the mountaintop, I never ever go that journey alone! What do I have to fear if I know the One who created me and loves me goes there with me? Even when I am not holding on to Him, He is holding on to me. “It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You.”

None of us knows what tomorrow will bring. I don’t know if you have any challenges or disappointments in life right now. You may be worried about something in your career or in your personal life. Or maybe there is a door closing and you just don’t know how you will carry on. But my friend, there is a fighter inside of you, and you are going to rise above this thing and be stronger and there are more good days ahead. For all of us!

Once again, I thank you all for so many kind words of support. Thank you for doing this stretch of the journey with me.  I wish you a truly lovely weekend!

Love Always,

Amy

Faith can move mountains.  ~Matthew 17:20