Feb 11 - poking, proding, measuring

Even though it was only one hour out of the day, the physio appointment was the ?highlight? and certainly the most anticipated. 

Standing, sitting, lying on my back, front, sides, he took measurements (well, really assessed) the strength of both arms in moving against resistance in every direction and range of movement.  He then spent the rest of the hour digging into muscles deep inside the shoulder, stretching them out and then checking to see if it made any difference.  It did.

The other thing that he did was give me some exercises to do for the next week.  They are stretching exercises.  It's like the muscles that were "traumatized" (his word) by the event have been compensated for by other muscles which are now tight and the shoulder is out of position.  My right shoulder is now carried slightly higher than the left ... his words  ... "we have to get your shoulder further from your ear".

I've setup weekly appointments for the next three weeks and we'll see how that goes.  Hopefully there will be improvement.  The shoulder hurt more yesterday after all this than it has since the accident and that has carried over to this morning. 

He also gave me a small ice pack but no instruction in its use.  I think that I'll pick up another at CVS along with a heating pad.  

--------

In other news ... I did some more furniture rearranging, figuring out what will work best here in the den.  I also installed the door knobs on the dresser in "Kim's" room (the front room) and the door pull/latch for the pocket door.  Kim Davies will occupy that room tonight; yes, we heard that Jason, Lo and Kim were in Wytheville VA and expect to be here tonight.

I'd ordered some 2' CAT5 cables and replaced the variety of different cable lengths joining the modem, two routers, printer, switch and Vonage box together.  They're all within the same two foot space on top of the cabinet and don't need 5'-10' cables dangling all over the place.  Now I need to get a proper power strip with a dozen outlets.  I've seen one online that I can use.

I moved the stereo and speakers into place as part of the aforementioned furniture moves and I think that I like the setup.  Sandy would rather have me get tiny speakers than the large KEF speakers that I built 35 years ago ... yes, it was that long.  I emailed Alex and said that someone should have warned me back then that eventually I'd be too old to lift these things ! 

Sandy went to Costco and did other grocery shopping.  We had grilled chicken breasts for dinner with green beans and grilled potatoes.

In other news ... Patti Himes had a minor stroke on Thursday, which we found out about yesterday.  They were at the club at the time and rushed her over to the hospital, which is just across the causeway.  She's made a lot of progress already, moving her arm and talking but Norm reports that she re-fractured her foot -- not sure if that took place at the time -- which will slow her recovery / therapy.  We'll go and visit her later in the week once she's at the rehab location, where she will be moved today.

Life is short and can take unexpected turns at a moment's notice ... enjoy it to the fullest.

I did some housecleaning yesterday, running the shop vacuum down the stairs and over the main floor.  Sandy will re-do and also wash the tile floor.  I'm going to see John shortly and will later go for a bike ride.  My next ride will be Saturday after Jason leaves for Disney -- I actually think that three days off the bike and not doing construction work will help speed recovery ... perhaps !

Oh yes, I posted this on Facebook but CNN had an article on shark attacks that included some stats that I'd rather not know -- Between 1985 and 2010, Floridians were almost 21 times as likely to be killed by a tornado (125 deaths) as by a shark (six). Between 1990 and 2009, the state also saw 2,272 bicycle deaths, compared to four from sharks.

Of course it's the tornado deaths that are top of mind.

Onward !