12 days post surgery . . . .

So much has happened yet I’ve done so little . . . Since my last update, I’ve seen the surgeon for a follow up, Mom and Dad have gone home, I’ve started PT at home, the boys have gone to the dentist and VBS started at church. What do I do every day though, mostly sit, read a lot and walk the neighborhood a little. It’s driving me crazy. You see, I feel good and so it is hard to make myself not do more. Please be praying that I can continue to force myself to be patient with my healing body.

Now for details from the “big things” that have happened for those of you who want them.

Surgeon Follow Up: I saw the surgeon last Thursday for a follow up and she was thrilled with what she saw. My body was doing exactly what it needs to do. In fact, she was so happy with the way my incisions look and the lack of swelling that she released me from coming back to see her until January.

Mom and Dad: We sent Mom and Dad home after my appointment with the surgeon. Many of my restrictions were lifted and those that weren’t are workable for us to keep up with the house and the boys on our own. The church is still helping with meals and that is a huge help as getting things in and out of the oven and other cooking devices would prove to be hard and I do still get tired more quickly so energy to cook would have been little. We also knew that there is a good chance we will be travelling to see Mom and Dad as well as my brother and his family here soon so we knew it wasn’t goodbye for long.

Physical Therapy: I’ve been given several exercises to work on gaining back my range of motion. My right arm is getting close to normal range of motion. My left, on the other hand, is a different story. I am doing okay and am well beyond where I think most people expect me to be including some of my doctors; however, it isn’t anywhere close to being “normal.” I’m diligently doing the exercises twice a day and I’m doing my best to be patient knowing that the work done on the left side was substantially more invasive. I’m seeing progress. I just feels slow.

Dentist: The trip to the dentist was unremarkable, which is fantastic. The only notable things were the fact that I was able to go and the fact that I drove the boys there myself.

VBS: God has been so good and brought Clough together to pull off VBS this year. In a turn of events, I ended up writing the scripts to use for the opening and closing parts of every night. This is a VBS that I started writing more than a year ago and then handed off. Due to some unexpected changes, I picked part of it back up right before surgery. Writing the scripts was an excellent distraction post surgery. It kept me super busy but in a sitting position last week. This week I am working with Mr. Monkey (aka Andy using a monkey puppet), to teach said opening and closings. I would have never guessed I was going to be strong enough to do this so close to surgery but after night one, I still felt good. Please be praying for us as we continue the week. If you’ve never seen Mr. Monkey and I work together and you want a good laugh, I suggest you check out Honk, the Hairy Angels. It is one of our favorite skits to do and it’s worth your 20 minutes, if I do say so myself.

I think that is all the updates for now. Thank you for continuing this LONG journey with us. We’re 6 months in and we know that there are still weeks and weeks of treatment to go. We’ve witnessed the answer to many of your prayers. Thank you for praying and for all the other support you’ve given us so far and we know you will continue to give.