At least my bed is comfy...

Well, I'm still sick. It's been 7 days of various colds -- just as I seem to be over one, a few hours later a new symptom appears. I have gone from sinus pains, to swollen tonsils, to ear aches, to green snot. I'm a lovely sight right now.

So my spare time this week has mostly been spent in bed. My bedside table and surrounding floor space have become a dumping ground for used tissues; and my bed is full of books, crocheting, and a constant stream of True Blood episodes because even I can't sleep for more than 14 hours a day. All this time in bed has made my back quite stiff, and it has reminded me of where I was this time last year.

September 25th of last year I slipped on a wet floor. With no apparent damage done, aside from much embarrassment, I headed home and had a normal evening. But the next morning I could barely walk. Things got progressively worse until I had family and friends putting on my socks, shaving my legs, and helping me out of bed. I spent the fall wearing skirts (sans tights) because pulling on a skirt took less of a struggle than maneuvering into pants. A month of expensive physiotherapy appointments offered little relief, and I would spend my nights crying in bed and my days working on as little as two hours of sleep. I was a wreck for months.

But eventually I found a wonderful chiropractor who was able to get me back on track. I stopped taking pain killers, my limp disappeared and I could tie my own shoes again! It's incredible to think of how far I've come in the last year, but I still have so far to go.

I need to walk every day in order to stay limber, and I still need a chiropractic adjustment every month. Another fall could quite easily throw a year of progress out the window, so I don't dare do anything that could risk it -- you wont even catch me on a bike. But possibly the hardest thing to deal with right now is the weight gain that happened over months of limited mobility and recuperation. I usually don't beat myself up about it, but the kids have mentioned a few times now how "thick" I am. And my standby answer of "It just makes me more huggable!" doesn't seem to cut it.

So, that being said, I'm going to enjoy this sunny October afternoon and go for a walk.