State of Non-Surveillance

[hrj]

Bicycled to my regular PT appointment this morning, just to celebrate the fact that I *can*. Measurements showed 5% improvement on all my metrics since last time which evidently is satisfactory especially given that I didn't use the MTDs for most of last week. I confessed to my PT that I've been doing 20 minutes sessions for each position with the MTDs rather than the prescribed 30 minutes (because that's how long I can stand it) and she was ok with that. She also noted that although the manual PT app logs my sessions, she doesn't look at that data and offers no judgment. I mean, it makes sense that the incentive is improvement, not official approval, but I suspect that for some people the expectation of surveillance is a useful incentive.

I'm lifting heavier things with my off arm and doing more routine manipulations without awkwardness. Won't be totally off weight restrictions until the end of the month, at which point I'll ask about returning to using the weight machines at the gym. (Only about half the ones in my routine involve the arms, but I haven't been doing partial routines--just some treadmill to make up for the biking.)

It occurred to me at some point that all this embodied experience of recovering from arm injury will be quite useful in writing Barbara's journey in Mistress of Shadows, where she's dealing very intensely with the long-term consequences of her gunshot injury. I'd already been including some details but there's no substitute for personal experience. (Different injury, but many things can carry over.) Of course, she has the advantage of having a specific person to blame for the whole thing, even if she's been forbidden to take direct revenge...

Comments

[heleninwales]

I'm glad that your recovery is progressing well. Your PT seems very thorough.

[kareina]

Ooo, I like the idea of mining your personal experiance to advance the progress on the story! I mean, I would have preferred you not be injured in the first place, but since we can't have that, having a new bood in a beloved series take a step closer to done sounds like a great idea to me.

[oracne]

Good for you for doing as much as you can of the PT.