…how fast time slips away!
We’re almost at the end of 2012 and it amazes me that I’ve been ashore now for more than a year and that I’ve crossed over my 4th anniversary serving in the Royal Canadian Navy.
With regards to my injury and health, things are moving along. More appointments and more tests. At this point it’s become more about making the adaptations in my daily living, and life, to best manage the pain and allow me to do some of the simplest of things.
I’ve had some very fortunate accommodations though at work with regards to my injury. I now have Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software on my computer at work as well as a specially designed mouse, the Rollermouse Free2. Both have been great in helping to reduce the amount of typing and mousing that I do. The Rollermouse is great in that it significantly increases the time I can work at the computer (using the mouse) before my pain levels get to a point that I can’t anymore. Dragon is a little slower to return the benefits as it has a learning curve that can be steep, and frustrating. I’m trying to get these things for at home too because I do so much work on the computer outside of work.
The loss of independence and realizing I have to ask for help sometimes is difficult for me and having always been so health conscious and fit, my drop in fitness and the weight gain I’ve experienced has been quite upsetting. An Occupational Therapist came and spent some time sorting out changes and making suggestions of things I can do around the house to make things easier and safer. I’m also excited to start working with an Adaptive Fitness Specialist. I don’t think I’ll be running any 10k’s soon (just walking is a challenge ;-) or doing any weight lifting (the coffee pot’s about my limit right now ;-), but I’m hoping they’ll be able to make some adaptations to some basic exercises so I can feel like I’m beginning to gain back some level of fitness. I think it will really help to have some supervision and do things in a controlled environment. As silly as it might seem, I’m hesitant to start walking because of the probability that I’m going to get around the block and then can’t get myself back home – a very real likelihood.
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