Hola!

Last few days have been busy but good. Yesterday we got to take Angie and Ambie out to lunch. What fun! And delicious!

Saturday we got to go on 2nd first date. Who says almost dying has no fringe benefits?!?! We went to Admiral and saw Where the Wild Things Are and then went next door to Porterhouse for a delicious dinner of fish and chips. It sure was nice to get play normal for a night.

Friday was a lovely Christmas day spent with Josh's family eating great food. It was nice. Tiring but nice.

Then there was today - a day of firsts to say the least. I was successful at Wii hula hooping this morning (which I failed miserably at 4 weeks ago). Yes!!! And I got to 2 hours and 15 minutes in my torture device (my arm splint that stretches my left arm out). Big progress! Painful, but progress.

Tomorrow we're having lunch with Pops and Gram. Sure to be a good time.

If you are looking for something to be in prayer for - I've been sort of sad lately. Mostly I've been sad for Josh feeling like I'm not the wife he deserves or signed up for. I just wish I could be better so I could help him out more. It's sort of a bummer being me right now. Most everything hurts and I never really feel all that good. Life is just pretty hard. Any and all prayers would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ang

Wow - humble pie never tasted so good! We' have been REALLY humbled lately. Between our concert that was successful beyond our wildest dreams, people's amazingly generous hearts who have donated online, and SPU who did an amazing bake sale / craft sale to raise funds for us. Thanks to all of you from the bottom of our hearts!

The concert was fabulous!!! Angie Fuller was magnificent, moving, and funny as hell. There were about 350 - 400 people in attendance and it was awesome! Even my talk went well - I only choked up in 2 places and remembered to breathe and talk slow enough to be understood. Lucky audience. I think I was most surprised that somebody in charge put a donation box inside and despite that people had already bought tickets to donate they were still using it! Wow - thanks! And people in attendance were from all walks. Some were family, coworkers, and friends (as expected) but there were also some who had no idea who I was and just read about the concert in the newspaper. Thanks to all of you too!

Well - can you believe Christmas is here?! It seems like it was just summer. Especially when I've forgotten 2 months. It's here though and it's going to be great. Today we have brunch with my mom and family then dinner with Josh's mom and family. And then tomorrow we have dinner with Josh's dad and stepmom and sister so that should be nice too.

If you are about to get a Christmas present from us look no further... For the rest of you, it was great yesterday. I talked my OT into helping me make biscotti (since they included 10 minutes of kneading the dough which I promised to use my left hand for). Here's proof those cookies were made with love - Hope you enjoy them if you're on the receiving end...

Merry Christmas,

Ang

Hooray - I made some progress this morning. I noticed when I woke up that I have moved from "mad" to "sad". Yippee - I'm on my way through the stages of grief. And another little victory - even though I'm in "sad" I feel like I'm in it like I would have been before my accident. The thing I'm saddest about is Josh - how hard this all has been and continues to be for him. I am at least a little sad for myself too but it comes second to Josh. I feel like if things were different and we were grieving about something else I would have the same sentiments. So that's good news.

What am I sad about for me? Mostly I am sad because I lost some of myself in the accident. I don't feel like I have the same energy or voice or presence I had before and I hope desperately that they come back. I kept my sense of humor, love for my husband, love for Jesus, and mind which are the most important so that's a blessing. But I still miss the rest of me. Prayer for this would be much appreciated.

Thanks for listening. Sorry if it was a downer.

Ang

More to show...

For those of you that haven't seen it - this is the x-ray of my left arm. Talk about bionic woman! And the scanner even cut off the top part so there is more metal than you can see!

And there were more articles done about me too. One in the PI and on the west Seattle blog. Have a little look-see:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlearts/archives/188746.asp

http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=25310

Not too shabby.

Today has been alright. PT this morning then a busted attempt for pool therapy only to find a closed pool and finally a trip to the gym with OT for a good butt-kicking. Now I just have to get some dinner (pizza hopefully) and practice reading my statement for the concert tomorrow without sobbing all the way through it. We'll see how that goes - I just might have to sob through the whole thing.

Yesterday was good. Got to go to church and got to go to the Choi's for a corn movie with the girls. For those of you that don't know what a corn movie is it's a movie where we stuff our faces with caramel corn. Yesterday's was sure a good one - Nightmare Before Christmas. Ah, how I do love Jack Skellington.

That's about it for the last few days. Really looking forward to my concert tomorrow. Still blown away by the fact that Angie Fuller is willing to donate her time and talent to help me out. What a lady! Should be a good time.

Hope to see you there,

Ang

Lots to show and tell.





Yesterday I went to the dentist in the morning and found out that - as though I didn't get hurt bad enough - I need a root canal because there is nerve damage in my mouth. At least it's only one tooth. It was sort of crazy because one of the plates in my face showed up in the x-rays of my teeth. Check it out - and look closely for the little 3mm screws.
Wild, huh?!?!

After the dentist I had occupational therapy where I got my Dynasplint. It's supposed to help straighten my arm. I was supposed to wear it for 45 minutes but I could only handle 30. Wow - did that hurt!

Today has been really nice so far. Josh has a head cold so we are just laying low. I was able to wear my Dynasplint for the full 45 minutes today but it was pretty sore. Tomorrow we'll try an hour - phew. My article also came out in the Times today. We are pretty happy with it. Here's a link: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010545332_benefit19m.html

Looks like we've got a relaxing weekend ahead. Hopefully Josh'll be able to get healthy. Then Tuesday it's time for my concert already. Wow!

Hope to see you there,

Ang

I think my life is just as busy now as before my accident. Yesterday was a perfect example of that. First thing in the morning I had physical therapy where I went walking in the rain. Not too long after I had occupational therapy where we went to the gym and did lots of weights and rowed on the rowing machine. After that a friend stopped by to bring us dinner - thank you Jesus for chocolate chip cookies. Then we got interviewed by the Seattle Times which went pretty well and the story is supposed to be published on the 19th. After that we went to West 5 for some BLT's. And then on to the Choi's for a bible study / Christmas party. Whew - I slept well last night - that's for sure. Eleven and a half hours to be exact.

The Times interview was the big to do yesterday. They asked lots of questions about when I was in / coming out of a coma. Needless to say Josh did most of the talking. I am very much looking forward to seeing the story in print. Hopefully it'll be good. I did get to talk a little bit about how I'm doing now and how many bones I broke and stuff like that. I had 22 fractures or broken bones - can you believe it?!?! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I could get hurt this bad just riding my bike to work. Who knew?!?!

Tuesday was busy too, but a little less so. Josh's mom came over for lunch and then Josh and I got to go to my department's (work-related) Christmas party. It was fun and I was able to reconnect with a few people from work. And there was good food so that was nice.

Today should be minimal-ish. We're going to go do some water therapy at the pool around noon and then we have haircuts or in my case a bang-trim set up for this evening. Too bad I wasn't able to get my bangs cut before the Times came and took pictures for the paper. Oh well. At least it's in time for my benefit - I don't want to go up front and welcome people with crazy hair. The bang situation is really bad. When I first got in to ICU they shaved a patch on the front of my head to put in an inter-cranial monitor. The bangs have been sort of catty-wompus ever since. But not for long. The shaved side has finally grown out enough to cut the long side to match. Thank you Jesus that I get to look like myself again! And that I even understand that!

Blessings have certainly been aplenty. Although despite that I'm in a new emotional phase now. I'm pretty mad. Mad about how bad I got hurt, about how long it's taking to heal, and really mad about how much it makes my family hurt. I just kind of feel like I got the short end of the stick and am pretty pissed off about it. Please pray for me that I won't be here for long and that I would just focus on that this is all in God's plan and that He will be here for me when I'm not mad any more.

Thanks,

Ang

What a busy couple of days it has been.

Thursday I went to checkups at Harborview and it went really well. I'm decreasing one if my meds now which is great and most importantly I got approved for weight bearing in my left arm. Then after we were done at the hospital Josh was kind enough to take me to Laughing Buddha on Broadway and John Durante put all my jewelry back in. I didn't think it would be able to just go back back in - I thought the holes had closed up. But no, I now have my nose ring and both of my tragus' back in. I feel more like myself, that's for sure.

Friday came with lots of pain and a great date night. Lots of pain came because I can weight bear now and my OT had me on hands and knees trying to do push ups. Wow - that was an incredible and searing pain in my wrist! And my push ups weren't even that good. Bummer! Oh well. I am a little afraid of what OT has to bring now and that it'll just hurt so bad I'll have to quit and look like I'm wimping out. We'll see. Date night included lots of great sushi where I felt full again and a trip to Husky Deli to get some coveted Danish bacon.

Saturday was really busy. Mom came over in the morning and it turns out her whole ladies group got me Christmas presents so she schlepped them all upstairs. We had a great time opening and then got to go to the Mars Hill West Seattle Christmas tea. The tea was really nice. I think my favorite parts were getting to chat with Brit and getting to introduce Mom to Sandee. After it was over Mom and I went to Husky to get an appetizer platter because Josh and I had our new-married Christmas party yesterday afternoon. That was great fun too! I think the best part of that was a tie between 5-year-old Theresa telling me,. "I'm glad you're healing" and Tom Vo's heinous ornaments made out of liverwurst and summer sausage. Oh, they were even worse then you're imaging - if that's possible.

Not too much on the docket for today - just some good relaxing. If you want something specific to pray for me for I could really use prayer surrounding my left arm. Please pray that it gets working well and doesn't hurt too much. Also just prayer for me and my pride involved in that entire thing - that I don't hurt myself trying to satiate my pride.

Thanks.

Ang

I'm doing great! The last 2 days have been really good - busy but good. My poor OT agreed to take me to work and her normally hour and a half appointment grew into a nearly four hour appointment yesterday. We rode the bus down to Amgen and I got to say hi to a ton of people. We even got to go to the gym and Liz told Dan all about what I need to work on when I get back. And I did the whole trip with just my new pink cane! What a success!!!

Then today I did PT, went to the pool, then did OT! Whew - tiring to say the least! In PT I did lots of balance work and I got to go in the loft. Wow - another success! I'm definitely making progress. Then I went to the pool with just my cane and the lady at the desk even noticed I was there with no walker. I even swam the whole length of the pool today on my back! Another big success! Yeah!

All in all I'm doing pretty well right now. Being able to get around with just the cane has been a great reminder for me that God is not done healing me yet. I can't wait to see how far I'm going to go.

Tomorrow is a huge day. I have a musculo-skeletal (TBI) and orthopedic check-up at Harborview in the morning. I'm hoping to get approved for weight-bearing in my left arm. We'll see. And the plan right now is to go get my nose re-pierced after my doctor's appointments so that's good news. I'll finally look like myself again.

Hope all is well with you,

Ang

The last few days have been okay. Today I got to go to the gym with my PT. We tried the bike, the elliptical, the stepmill, and the treadmill. I'm okay to do the bike and the treadmill by myself, I felt really unstable on the elliptical, and I just have to have someone there with me if I want to do the stepmill. We also tried various weight machines that work the legs. All in all it felt pretty good to be back at the gym. Then this afternoon Josh and I went to Target and Barnes and Noble. Whew, I did lots of walking today. Guess that's good. And Josh got me a cane today too. Not too shabby - and it's powder pink!

Yesterday was pretty low key. Just hanging around the house and then the 5 o'clock church service. Kinda nice just to have a day to rest.

Tomorrow is a big day. I get to visit work with my OT. Should be great. It'll be good to ride the bus since I haven't done that since my accident. I might even feel normal. Or at least normal-ish. And the day after is follow-ups with musculo-skeletal and orthopedic. I really hope to be approved for weight bearing in my left arm.

What I've been struggling the most with lately has been balance. I just don't feel that stable. Most of the time I feel a little tippy. Any prayers regarding this wouldbe much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ang

Today was full. I had PT this morning and got to get a long awaited gingerbread latte from Starbucks. Then we went to the pool with Nick and Rachel and Sharon. Mom met us there too. After the water workout we came home and Billy did a little acupuncture. I even stayed awake - just barely. Finally Josh and I made beef and broccoli stir fry and had dinner. Whew - what a day.

This morning I worked more on my paper for speech therapy. It is coming along well. It's on TBI. Pretty fitting if I do say so myself. Fun, hard, and very interesting.

Therapies have been great lately. In PT I've been cleared to walk with my walker by myself safely. I've also been cleared to get out of the house on my own going down the steps one at a time, but I get to come back up step-over-step.

My walking is improving a lot too. My PT had me walk fast and we found that my gait is even better then. I think it's because I'm not bogged down by thinking about every little thing as I'm going slow. All I'm thinking about when I'm going fast is trying not to fall on my ass. Whatever works.

Day before yesterday I went to Target with Josh. We were on the hunt for heinous Christmas ornaments for a gift exchange we do with friends every year. We found them alright! I just don't know who's is worse - mine or Josh's. They are both pretty bad. Should be a fun year for that get together.

Also emptied the dishwasher and put away some clothes. Almost felt like a regular wife for a minute. As a good wife, I put on the video of the UFC fights we had tickets to before my accident. Wish we could have been there and seen it live!

Yesterday I had a big day too. Walked over to QFC with my OT and did a little grocery shopping. Boy that is a long walk. Then Nick and Rach came over and we had a Wii bowl-off. Josh did really well - he bowled over a 200!! Is it just natural or was it because he was full of the awesome lasagna brought over by the Latvala's? Who knows - it could be either. That was a good lasagna! I didn't do too bad either.

Looking forward to seeing Z tomorrow and resting up over the weekend. I've got a full week next week between therapies and follow-ups at Harborview. I also have to work on what I'm going to say at my concert on the 22nd. It's coming up.

Thanks for reading,

Ang

"O Lord my God, I called to you for help and You healed me." Psalm 30:2

Bummer, PJ day was only relaxing for one of us - ME. It started out great. We went out for pho around 12:30 but when we got home things went a little awry. First we went over the checkbook which hasn't been balanced since before my accident. Great for me - still relaxed, Josh - not so much. Then we attacked paying bills. Again, ok for me - stressful for Josh. Oh well - I had a great day!

Next day we went to Angelo's to celebrate Josh's dad's birthday. I ate like a pig! A side salad, almost a whole small pizza, and dessert. Delish! It was really nice to visit too. Josh's step-mom joked around with me about all the things we can blame on my TBI. Too funny!

Yesterday was a productive day. We got a new resting hand splint for me with my OT. And then we loafed on the couch, ate pizza, and watched a movie. Apparently I had already seen it but it was like new all over again. I guess that's one of the perks of my accident. Old movies seeming all new again - who knew?!

Today has been alright. Got to go for a long walk in the sun to the post office with my OT today. Then Josh and I laid down for a bit and had lunch with Josh's mom. Yum! Chili.

That's all for now.

Ang