Recently I came upon a blog wherein the author will, for each day in 2011, display a sense of gratitude about something. Since my recovery is expected to take 6-12 months, I thought that each day I could chronicle some small progress or otherwise show some gratitude for improvement in my condition--but then I realized that people don't come here primarily to read about a gimp's recovery, and soon, very soon, such posts would become exceedingly boring. So I decided not to do it.
But today I am, because I've got some gratitude to display. Yesterday I got the staples out of my knee, and the x-rays "look good". But that's not the best part. This morning, for the first time since that fateful day over 2 weeks ago, I got to take a real live genuine shower. Praise be to Jesus!
Recently the best I've been able to do was a washcloth bath, or sometimes just sit on the toilet seat and lean my upper body into the shower and use the hand-held shower squirter. It was enough to keep me from feeling gross, but not enough to feel clean and shiny. But today, oh, today was different.
Taking a shower means having to maneuver without the leg immobilizer on--and that petrifies me. I have one of those plastic stools in my tub, and it took me a couple minutes to figure out how to get my bad leg, which must remain perfectly straight, into the tub without the immobilizer. Fear, panic, dread, but after a few different attempts I devised a procedure to get the leg in there. And then, there I was. Sweet Mother of God, did that hot water falling from above feel good!
I feel clean, refreshed, and happy.
A good shower after an extended period without showers is certainly one of those little things that make the day finer! Other things that do it for me: an ice-cold drink of water after hours in the hot sun, clean sheets straight from the dryer, finishing a day of yard maintenance and smelling the fresh cut grass, seeing our groundcover in full bloom (it looks like carpets of snow), putting dinner in the crockpot and then coming home hungry and opening the door to a houseful of dinner smell - and of course, the aromas of Thanksgiving! :)
ReplyDeleteI like stepping (hobbling) outside my front door, where I can smell the jasmine growing just around the corner on the side of the house.
ReplyDeleteDamned I thought I smelled something bad from the west! :<)
ReplyDeleteAll seriousness remind you of the one real shower you get on a field problem?
Clean At Last, Clean At Last, Thank God Almighty I'm Clean At Last!
I will never forget the joy of going to get a hair cut (or, more importantly, a hair wash) after hopping on crutches with a non-waterproof cast up to my knee for two weeks. It was heaven. (It was also the tail end of winter, and icy as hell. And finals week! Yay!)
ReplyDeleteJust as a question, is it possible to hop into the bath, sit down, and only then take the immobilizer off?
I guess that's possible....
ReplyDeleteBoth hands clapping. Your happines/enthusiasm/celebration (well you get the point) radiates from the post.
ReplyDeleteclean is good...for skin, mind and soul.
ReplyDeleteThere's a reason that when the Romans conquered a town one of the first things built was a public bath.
ReplyDelete