Merry Christmas 2007!!!

After physical therapy on Christmas Eve morning I made the trip to my parent's house in Novi. I arrived around 1:00 and didn't have a lot of time to hang out before we headed over to my Aunt's for Christmas Eve. My cousin's daughter Kassie wore me out playing catch with her ball. She's only four years old and has one heck of an arm. I'm predicting a softball player. It was a lot of fun, great food and was great to spend some time with my family. After dinner we exchanged presents. Opening presents is always much more exciting when there are little kids around. Kassie had a stack of presents and it was fun to watch her tear open the paper and show everyone what she got. It was really funny when she was opening her gifts and would come to a box that was clothes, she would kind of look at and think, what is this? Then toss it aside and on to the next one. Needless to say she was not a fan of clothes. We headed home and I ended up watching a movie with my mom (well she slept on the couch while I watched it) It was called "Cider House Rules." It was a really good movie and I recommend it to anyone that hasn't seen it.

Christmas Day I slept in a little bit and woke up to pancakes and eggs. I timed that just right, I wish I could wake up to that every day. My parents and I exchanged presents. I think we all made out really well. My dad ended up buying himself a 16' Kayak for Christmas. Pretty nice. I had been looking at Kayaks for a little while and reading up on them in magazines at Barnes & Nobles, now I have a little pressure to get one of my own. It would be fun to head out with my dad. And with Lake Michigan only 35 minutes away, that would be a blast to take it out when there are some good waves. My mom spent the day in the kitchen cooking my favorite meal; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc… This is my absolute favorite and was as good as usual. She invited my grandma and Aunt over for dinner. I don't get to see them all that often so I'm really glad they came over and it was great to see them again. I even didn't mind that they ate some of my mom's famous stuffing J I did notice my grandma trying to sneak a second helping… just kidding. After dinner I relaxed for a little bit and around 8:30 packed up the car and headed back to Kalamazoo. I couldn't miss my physical therapy session on Wednesday morning. I'm progressing so well that I can't afford to mess that up. Friday I make the trip back to the doctors for some more x-rays and to find out if I can start doing some strength programs with my leg. I'm predicting that the doc is going to be shocked with how well I'm doing. I'll keep you all posted.

Well I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Christmas.

When’s the last time you built a snowman???

Wednesday was my 7^th session of PT and I still can't believe the progress. My range of motion has improved over 100% and I am so close to my flexibility being back to normal. My strength will still take some time; unfortunately we can't start working on that until the Doc gives the ok. My next visit to see him is on the 28^th so I hoping for good news. I have been walking without crutches and spending some time on the bike and putting in a little effort. Today at therapy I was working on some ladder drills that worked on balance and footwork. These drills were great and my speed progressed each set I did. I have to say the teamwork between Carl and myself is the reason for my speedy recovery; Carl brings the knowledge and discipline and I just do as he says.

On my way out of therapy Carl mentioned that he was going to be building a snowman with Allie this evening and wondered if I wanted to come by. How could I refuse; a free pass to play in the snow and hang out with my little pal Allie. It's been a while since I've built a snowman, I think the last time was back in college when we had a snow day and that turned into a huge snowball fight. Carl got held up a few minutes at work so I hung out with LeAnne, baby Luke, and Allie in the kitchen. Each time I see Allie she's learned something new. She was counting to 10, singing her ABC's, singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and all this while coloring Christmas Cards for Grandma and Grandpa. Needless to say I was impressed. So Carl, Allie and I headed outside to build "Frosty." Allie enjoyed playing in the snow and being pulled around in her sled. Carl did most of the pulling and I took a turn or two but when Carl or myself would stop pulling Allie would say, "again, again." She was having a blast and of course we would listen and keep pulling her around the yard. Hmmm… I'm going to try that technique in the spring when I'm out riding with my buddies and there is a strong head wind, I wonder if I said "Again, Again" if they would keep pulling up front and let me draft off them. For some reason I don't think that's going to fly. I'm really glad that Carl gave me the invite because building the snowman with Carl and Allie was a lot of fun and I'm quite impressed with the end result. After we warmed up a bit we headed downtown for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants / microbreweries "Olde Peninsula." This seems to be the place I always take family when there in town visiting.

Dinner, Friends & Hockey … It doesn’t get much better than that!

It's been a while since I've had homemade tacos. Monday night my good buddy from college Marc and his wife Kendra invited me over for a good dinner and some entertainment. The entertainment was their two and a half year old son Mason and 1 year old daughter Jada. Their kids are a lot of fun. Marc and Kendra recently moved back into town, not only is it great to have them here, but here's the best part… they only live about a mile down the road. Marc was my lifting partner during college and partner in crime on the bar nights. Lots of good times and memories.

The U.S. Junior National Team was playing W.M.U. in hockey Tuesday night. I knew this was going to be an awesome game. The U.S. team had 20 of 22 kids already drafted to the NHL, the only reason it wasn't 22 of 22 is because 1 kid was 17 and the other 18. I talked with my buddy Jeff to see if he and his son Jack were interested in getting tickets. Jeff grew up playing hockey and Jack started his ice hockey career this year, so he was geeked to go. If all goes as planned, Jeff and I will be coaching his team next year. Fortunately I was able to get tickets for free from my neighbor who works all the games as the goal judge. The game was a blast. We were all really impressed with what Western brought to the table. We all expected a blow out, but the final score ended up being 4 – 2 (the U.S. team won). Western games are a blast and every time I go I always wonder why I don't go more often. It's always good hockey, the fans are a riot and there's not a bad seat in the house. Almost forgot… so we get to the game and Jeff and I sign up for the drawing to get picked for the games during intermission. Jeff got picked to play "shuffle puck," which is where you stand on the goal line and try to get the puck as close to the circle at center ice. Jeff was up against five guys and unfortunately that night he had too much muscle and sent the puck a little too far. It was pretty cool to see a buddy out there and we were able to yell for him when they called his name. Hope everyone has a great Holiday.

All this snow and fun too!

The last couple days have been quite productive. Friday I had PT in the morning and I am always amazed at how fast I am progressing. Right now I am walking without crutches about 70% of the time. My hip is fine, but I am working on rebuilding the muscle in my leg that they had to cut through during surgery. Friday night I met up with Carl and Leanne at their house and we went downtown to work at the Kalamazoo Food Drive. This was my first year attending and I was amazed at how many volunteers they had and how well everyone worked together. We were working on putting together 1500 meals for families in the Kalamazoo area. It was really nice to help out and this is something I would like to do again next year. Later that evening we went to dinner at University Roadhouse. It was really nice to sit and talk for a while. I know Carl and Leanne really enjoyed it as they were able to leave the kids at home with the babysitter.

Saturday was filled with running errands, Christmas Shopping and working on projects around the house. Today I woke up to 8" of snow on the ground. I really enjoy this time of year and wish I was 100% so I could be out skiing. I did get out the snow blower and spent a couple hours outside taking care of the drive and some of the neighbor's driveways. My leg and hip feel pretty good. The rest of the day consists of relaxing and resting my leg, making some white chicken chili and heading over to a buddy's house to hang out. Thanks for reading.

Physical Therapy Session #3

I'm back on the bike… Can you believe it? Well kind of back on the bike. Today's PT session started as the others with the thigh massage and the love / hate stretching session. Next, Carl thought it would be a good idea to get me on the stationary bike to work on the motion in my leg. I wasn't going to argue with that. It took a couple of minutes of my leg going back and forth on the pedals before I finally developed the flexibility in my leg to go completely around, but by the end of the session I was spinning my legs away. I think I got a little too excited because I was wanting to put some resistance on the pedals to make it tougher but thankfully Carl kept me inline and said maybe next time. What's that saying…? You got to learn to crawl before you can walk. After a 10 min session on the bike we headed over to the treadmill, I put on the vest and harness and got hooked up to the machine. This time we set the weight at 50lbs opposed to the 70lbs it was just four days ago. This session I was much more comfortable; I was able to walk at a fairly decent pace without using my hands. At one point I even said to Carl "check this out" and began to jog. Carl looked at me smiled and said "no, no, not yet." Once the 12 min. walk was over I felt great and Carl gave me some exercises to do at home. Today I found out that if you are in Physical Therapy at KVO you are allowed to use the gym any time during their regular business hours for a small fee. Carl introduced me to the weight room and I did some circuit training on the upper body and some core workouts on the ball. It felt great to get the heart rate up and to finally break a sweat. My next PT session is on Wednesday, but I plan on heading back tomorrow to lift weights and hopefully hop on the bike, but no resistance!!! Cheers!

Physical Therapy

Today I was teased with what it will be like to finally walk normal again and it felt awesome. I had my second physical therapy appointment this afternoon with Carl. Although physical therapy can be somewhat painful I really enjoy it; I get to spend time with a buddy, get out of the house and each session I get closer to being 100%. Today's session started with a thigh massage, we all know you can't beat that. After the massage comes the not so fun part, stretching. Because of the surgery the doctor had to cut through the muscles in my leg to attach the plate to the bone; needless to say my thigh muscles are very stiff and tender. Even though the stretching can be painful and at times it can feel as if the muscle is tearing, in a twisted way it actually feels good. After the stretching we went over to the treadmill where I got to practice walking without using 100% of my body weight. It sounds funny to say practice walking, but it really is like starting from scratch. I put on a harness that went around my thighs, waist and had a vest that attached to it with hooks on the shoulders. The hooks attach to a frame above the treadmill that is tied into an air weight system. Carl set the system at 70lbs which means it was taking 70lbs off my body weight so I was only using about 52% of my actual body weight when walking. Although I had this support system on and to some may have looked funny I think I had the biggest smile on my face just from the feeling of being able to walk normal again. An incident like this really makes you thankful for what you have and that things could always be worse.

So I was looking forward to getting my Christmas Tree and decorations up this year but was unable to bring the stuff up from the basement myself. I had some friends (Jason & Cecily, and Mike N.) get together and decide that Tuesday would be the day. They called to make sure Tuesday evening would work for me. Hmmm… let me check… yup I'm free. I was excited by the fact that they thought of me and decided to do this without me asking for their help. I guess that's what makes great friends; they know that right now is a difficult time and they think of you without having to ask. Cecily was the project manager on this task, she had the guys bring the stuff up from the basement and put the tree together. Then Cecily went to work with a keen eye for detail spacing all the ornaments throughout the tree. I also learned a lesson… by placing some of the ornaments further back on the branches it gives some depth. Who would have thought, certainly not me. Tuesday evening the decorations were out, the tree was up and everything was looking really great.

West Virginia 2007

Physical Therapy Bound

Friday finally came and it was time for my two week post surgery check-up. Wow it seems a lot longer than two weeks. Anyway Dr. Cline had ordered a couple x-rays to check on my progress; I am progressing well and was able to view the x-ray and see the metal in my leg. It looks a lot like the picture I posted below with the difference that my plate is longer and I have four stabilizing screws as opposed to two shown in the picture. Wow… I was just thinking that between this surgery and the one I had in High School that this right leg of mine probably has about $120,000 invested into when all said and done. I am progressing well and I was written a script for Physical Therapy which I start on Tuesday. For now I will be unable to do any strengthening exercises at PT and will be limited to range of motion exercises and gait analysis. The doc would like for the bones and muscles to be healed before starting to work on strength. I have to say Dr. Cline is a great doctor, very personable and takes plenty of time to reassure me that I will be able to ride my bike again and be back to 100% shortly. Needless to say he is well aware that I am very active and am anxiously awaiting those days where I will be back to 100%.

It has been great when friends and family have gotten me out of the house or stopped by; it really helps pass the time. The days get extremely long when I spend the entire day on the couch. For all you movie goers I saw an awesome, must see movie this week, "August Rush." This is one of those movies that I plan on buying when it comes to DVD, it was that good. Highly recommended. Saturday I made it to Barnes and Nobles for a couple hours. I picked up a book on clearance called "Beautiful North America." Its' like a big picture book that talks about the must see places across the U.S. and Canada.

Once I learn to post videos and slideshows on here I plan on putting something together for my West Virginia trip this summer along with some others. Until next time, take care and Happy Holidays!