One Pastor's Perspective

I went to see Dr. Mezzanotte this morning.  It had been 10 weeks since my last recheck, and Thursday is 16 weeks from that day I should’ve cut work!

I went in planning to ask for a smaller brace, to be allowed to drive, to get some help for my right shoulder, and maybe get a little help with my sleep problem.  The shoulder issues are the fact that, to date, I really don’t have much elbow pain, but my shoulders are another story.  The shoulder discomfort wakes me up, usually around 2 am, at which time I move to my recliner.  Yes, I haven’t slept through the night in 16 weeks!!

What I received was far better than that for which I hoped!!  The brace??  GONE.  (I do still have elbow and shoulder issues though … Not out of the woods or done with therapy by a long shot).  Drive??  YES!!  Help with right shoulder??  DONE!!  Therapy order written for right shoulder (even though we are done with right elbow therapy).  Sleep issues??  Discussed and we have a plan to try a couple of things before a pill (an option of which I approve).

This is a great illustration of God’s plan versus our plans!  Had things worked out the way I wanted them, I would still be in a brace!!!

OK, I haven’t posted in forever … I know that … But last week was an awesome time of recharging.  So, here goes:

We had two weeks at the beach this summer … The last week of school and this past week.  This only happens every other year, but it sure is fun!!!  Mom and Dad came down for both weeks (at least, part of each week).

Dad is doing well … Stable.  Seems to be holding his ground.  He didn’t do much other than wheel around the condo.  It was good for Mom to be able to get out … have some help … Go a couple of places she wouldn’t normally get to go.  My job was staying with Dad.  We had some interesting conversations!!

I really enjoyed spending time with Krissy and Diana on our walks.  We walked almost 20 miles each week!  Got to talk about a lot of good stuff!  It was a great week … But now, back to the office!

I go back to Dr Mezzanotte tomorrow for the first time in 10 weeks!!  Hoping for clearance to drive, a more definite timeline, and maybe a smaller brace!!  Pray for me!!!

What does PT stand for??  On Parris Island it refers to the things one does to maintain and build physical fitness.  On a job application, it could mean part-time.  It was what they called the greatest circus man of all time, PT Barnum.  But when you have broken bones or illness, it means something totally different!

Pain & Torture

Personal Torture

Physical Terrorism

aka – Physical Therapy!!

I’m doing my PT at Progressive Physical Therapy on Irby Street.  And I highly recommend them!! They approach this thing on a very personal level, and I like that!!  We started with my right arm (the better of the two).  Honestly, my right arm LIED to me!  I breezed through almost everything they threw at me!!  The elbow is probably at 98% right now, although we are still working through some shoulder issues.

How did Righty lie?  He convinced me that Lefty wouldn’t be so bad.  And, in every way Righty was easy, Lefty is HARD.  Double-hard.  We are making progress, but the progress is slow.  When first out of the cast one month ago today), I could barely move my hand and arm.  We are working hard on this and it is coming along, but there is still so far to go!  The most painful thing is when we stretch my left hand out, but it feels so much better afterward.  Yesterday it was almost nauseating.  We have a long road ahead.

And, even though I give them a hard time and accuse them of trying to kill me … And claim to see a bright light and my grandpa sometimes during therapy … I’m very appreciative of their hard work and care!!  I don’t know if they’ll even see this, but thanks, Pam and Dana!!  You guys are awesome!!!

I’ve thought much about something lately … Something that seems trivial, but it’s actually ginormous.  Maybe not where you’d expect to see God’s power at work, but He is showing up HUGE.

PRAYER!!  Well, duh!  I know God inhabits praise and He hears every prayer that we even THINK.  No, seriously, you will never know what it has meant to me to know so many people across this globe that are praying for me!!!  I have friends in almost every church in Florence, and I’ve heard from almost every one of them HUNDREDS of times in the past 8 weeks.    (Yep … 8 weeks on Thursday).

But it doesn’t stop there …  I’ve heard from friends all over South Carolina that fervently pray for me and my recovery.  I’m looking at a prayergram I got in the mail yesterday from West Hartsville Baptist Church (about 20 miles away from me).  Churches in the upstate are praying.  THEN, I regularly get cards from the prayer ministry of Rolling Hills Baptist in Fairfield, OH (Mark & Priscilla Plunkett).

Skipping to electronic media, HUNDREDS of messages from folks in my neighborhood to New Orleans to DC to Nashville to tons of other cities all the way to Lake Forest, California (Rick Warren).  Then, skip across the pond to Hawaii to my friends, the Lopez brothers.

What does all of this mean to me??

THE POWER OF FAMILY.  THE POWER OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, UNITED IN CHRIST, IS BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDING.  SOMETIMES ALL WE CAN DO IS WIPE THE TEARS AND BE THANKFUL FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST.

Yep … That’s where I am today.

Yes, therapy progress is SLOW.  The right arm deceived me (although I’m still doing some things with it, too.)

I am moving my fingers, elbow, and shoulder on the left side.  Slowly.  The compression glove is ivory-colored, so it really does make my hand look fake.  Little kids stare.  Adults, too.  I HAVE done my Phil Hartman-SNL-Frankenstein growl and swiped my hand at a few of them.  They laugh …  Dawson Daniel tried to pull the glove off last night in Sam’s.  Says he wants one.  I may give it to him!!

I didn’t expect the shoulder pain…  It is the reason I don’t sleep through the night.  Haven’t done that in 8 weeks now.  Thankfully, the folks at Progressive Physical Therapy are addressing all issues and treating the pain!!  I don’t know how bad it would be without them!!

The final analysis is:

• I AM making progress, and am thankful to God!!
• I know as we press on, the shoulders are getting better!!

Therapy is moving along … Right shoulder is now one focus, trying to increase flexibility and strength.  And I’m shocked how much I’ve lost!!

Lefty is now moving some, but swelling in the hand continues to be a problem.  Two weeks ago, the doc said he was ordering therapy to supply a compression glove to help with swelling.  The folks at Progressive PT have been great, but needed more detail.  Unfortunately, we’ve learned there is a bottleneck of info at the doc’s office … So the dance began.

Yesterday, since arm swelling has decreased, I needed to have my brace adjusted.  While at Palmetto Prosthetics, we discovered they have gloves, so Diana got on the phone and finished this two week quest … And I have a glove!!!

So, last night I saw my adopted daughter … to protect her identity, let’s call her Pristina Klunkett.  She took one look and asked, “Is that your REAL hand??”

If anyone  asks that today, my answer will be, “No, mine’s in the shop.  This is a loaner!!”

Yesterday I returned to the Y. After almost 7 weeks. It was odd … I couldn’t do the things I used to do (only because of the brace), so I rode the bike and walked slowly on the treadmill. Saw only a couple of people I knew. It was a strange experience. But I am sooooooooooooooooo glad I got to do it!

Things are slowly getting back to normal. I am now doing every morning in the office, and when I get to the place where I can grip the steering wheel with my left hand, will be driving again.

Therapy on lefty is going slow, but we make progress every day.the swelling in my left hand is going down and I can move it more every day. If nothing else, this has taught me huge lessons on how difficult it can be to bounce back from a simple fall …

We are getting there, but slowly! Keep praying!!!

Here goes:

Right arm brace is OFF!

Left arm cast is GONE! It is now in a brace. Therapy starts tomorrow!

Summarizing the doc’s remarks, this was as good as it could be! And it is EXACTLY what we prayed for!

Who says God doesn’t answer prayer!

Had an interesting day yesterday. Therapy went well, but my physical therapist had called the doctor before I got there: the brace on my right arm is not doing it’s job well, and she wanted them to look at it.

She talked to the person who likes to shift blame … We got to know her when I was begging to get therapy started a few weeks ago. Ironically, this person told the therapist that the brace I was in was one her therapy company approved … That is ironic because I got the brace the day I was discharged from McLeod, 15 days before we knew Progressive PT was where the insurance company would insist I go …

Any who … We went to the docs office and the folks there were great! The brace guru looked it over and looked my file over. She showed us how we can make ths one work. We all agreed it would’ve pointless to replace since everyone thinks he will start weaning me out of it at me recheck on Tuesday. So it was a good experience and didn’t take long at all!

So here we are! Right arm is doing well in therapy. Left arm is still in the cast and still pretty swollen. Though we think we will know more about the timeline on lefty next week. So we covet your prayers!!!