I am in Texas. I have been here since the 27th. I may never leave. No. I will. Texas is not my favorite place. I’m going home in a week. Next monday. Back to the snow and frigid temperatures. We came down for my cousin’s wedding and I decided to stay to escape the winter for a little while. I’ve become a snow bird. I always thought those people were weird. But I get it now. It’s mostly because its hard for me to walk on ice and snow and it makes me nervous to drive left-footed on snowy roads. So, I stayed in TX with my Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, & 4 boy cousins.

December 11th we left Rochester for Boston and then left Boston for France. It was such a great trip and I am working on blogging pictures/stories so look for those in the next few days! We were home for 4 days and then jumped on a plane again and headed to San Antonio, Austin, & Dallas. (Which is where I am currently)

Overall. I feel like I have been gone from home forever. I miss my bed and my dog and my church and my friends! (not necessarily in that order) I have had some requests to know how I am doing and how my leg is, so here is a little update.

I have been away from PT for almost a month so I feel LAZY and like I haven’t been making very much progress. My scar is slowly fading. I am slowly gaining feeling down my leg. I have tingles all the way to my fourth toe. The three big toes have no tingles, but 4th and baby get a little. That’s only if I tap them repeatedly. My feeling is mostly normal about halfway down my calf. It’s not perfect, but I can tell if something is touching me at least. I have better movement in my ankle and toes. I can move my foot up and down and out to the right. I can’t move it inwards at all. My third toe curls pretty well but none of the others really do. I’ll try to attach a video to this post so you can see the progress. Keep in mind that at the beginning I had absolutely NO movement of my foot/ankle/toes. So any movement is a positive thing.

I still wear a brace that goes almost to my knee, but I walk around the house without it as long as I’m not standing for a long period of time. I can balance on my bad foot for about 3-4 seconds which is huge. When I first started balancing I couldn’t even put all my weight on it and that was only at the beginning of November. So I am gaining strength, mobility, and feeling every day. I still have pain. My good knee bothers me a lot because it has been taking a beating for the past 8 months. My back bothers me a lot. I think this is residual from being on crutches for 6 months and also my limp throws it off all the time. The medicine I am on makes me so tired. So I feel lazy and lethargic all the time. I just want to take a nap! My bad leg still has nerve pain, but it’s not as intense as it has been. It is mostly when I go to bed. It starts zapping me like crazy and won’t let up for a while. It also gets really sore if I walk or stand a lot. But I usually try to push through within reason. It needs to get stronger!

I do PT 3 days a week still when I am home. About 2 hours each time. I started working with a personal trainer right before we left for France so I will start a weight lifting/swimming program when I get home the other 3 days of the week. Hopefully I can get my strength and energy back! I think that’s about it! Quick update on me. France trip blogs to commence asap!