On Being Passive – SoCS

 

There is just nothing like Linda G Hill to get me to come back to my blog. I have become a FaceBook denizen of late, and while that has some merit, it isn’t really my favorite place. Why don’t I spend my time more wisely reading the content of my favorite bloggers instead? It’s way better than cat pictures.

Anyway, I have been very passive since about 6 weeks ago I found out that bifocals, reading and stairs do not go well together. I now understand why some people (whom I used to refer to as “old ladies”, sorry about that, won’t do it ever again!) wear their glasses on a cord around their necks. It is so they can take them off while walking without losing them. Obviously. I’m getting one of those.

In the meantime, I have acquired 3 metal plates and roughly 24 screws in my right leg from the tibia-fibula fracture I got from missing a measly two stairs in my house. I have passively endured an ambulance ride, 4 days in the hospital, 2 surgeries, and many days spent in the bed that my loving husband moved into my living room.  I have learned to passively let others be active for me.

I am so grateful for my church family and for my friends at work who have brought meals to us and who have come over to chat. I am so blessed to have such good friends and to know such caring people. I don’t know how I would navigate this without my sweet husband who does EVERYTHING. He even takes care of my sourdough starter and has learned to make coffee-cakes 🙂

The whole experience has been a huge “life-lesson.” I’m not really good at letting others do things for me. Traditionally I am a “self-sufficient” girl, and I like to be low-impact on others. I am learning to accept help gracefully. Hopefully I am doing so, anyway. It’s very humbling to be “temporarily disabled” and I am surprised at every turn how difficult it is. I have grown a lot of empathy for people who are mobility limited. Simple things like trying to go to a symphony concert where nobody knew where the “handicapped” lift was, and otherwise you had to do stairs (I can’t at the moment) to trying to navigate JC Penneys in a wheelchair (they put the racks too close together to get a chair through) are huge challenges.

My house has two stairs from the front door to the living room, and two stairs from the living room to the kitchen. By means of a walker and a couple of aerobic steps, we devised a way for me to get to the powder room. I can’t actually answer the front door. Taking a shower became possible after buying a shower bench and a special bag to keep the cast dry. I shimmy upstairs on my butt and use the walker from there. I can’t do it without help. Perhaps I am more grateful for things now, perhaps I am more empathetic to others, I don’t know, but I hope so. I just can’t keep from wondering, could there have been a less painful way to learn these things?

I have learned words in French that I never wanted to learn, like “plâtre”,   “Se casser” and “plaques” and “vises”…in order to explain to my French friends what happened. Some vocabulary lessons are decidedly un-good!

I have at least 3 more weeks before I can put any weight on the leg, so I have more passive days left before Physical Therapy on the injured leg will make me a more active participant in my own healing again. Grrrf.

I really need to spend my passive time writing my blog, n’est-ce pas ? I didn’t do April A to Z this year because I didn’t have anything to write about, and I wasn’t a big fan of the new format last year, but it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t start writing something. I will try to find something interesting, mes chers lecteurs!! 

Et vous ? Have you ever been “temporarily disabled”? What important lessons did you learn from it?

 

Click on the picture to find out more about Linda G Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday!

Badge by J-Dub @ https://jilywily.wordpress.com/

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