Caregivers.

Aside from my family and friends, who have been amazing caregivers to me throughout this process, there are a bunch of other people who have been working hard to help me heal and get ready to return to normal activity.

I have, since the first week of April, been seeing home care nurses twice a week, a wound care specialist once a week, and a physical therapist once a week.

It’s been a pretty constant rotation of people. but I’ve seen them all a number of times, and they’ve become part of my routine, and a bit of an extended family presence over these few months at home.

It’s been good to mark progress with the physical therapists, from starting out being trepidatious about transferring to the bathroom and shower and doing balance exercises and leg strengthening exercises, to legitimately being able to do those things with little to no thought, and seeing the physical transformatio of my body.

When they first started coming, I was afraid of so much, and now I feel like there’s so little I can’t conquer or adapt to.

The wound care specialist has been the same the whole time. (Travis, who will be the subject of an interview on the subject later) He has worked with me through the frustration of the new wound, spitting the stitch, the slow healing process, allergies to adhesives and wound care tape, blood, tissue, and all kinds of fun goo.

I have, though him, learned the benefits of hydrofera blue, how to use collagen to help wounds close, as well as it being a dietary supplement, how to dress wounds, and, above all, patience and the normalcy of your body taking some time to heal.

And, then, there are the home health nurses, who put up with every question we had during this process, no matter how small or fueled by doing my own reading on the internet (which, besides reading this blog, is a mostly terrible idea), and have cheered me on to every appointment and milestone I’ve had and am having in the process.

Now that I’ve started a new phase, and my outpatient therapy for walking with the prosthetic foot is imminent, and my wound is almost entirely healed, these services will begin to taper off, and, finally, disappear completely.

It’s another turning point, and I’m happy, but I will definitely miss having experts in their field coming to take care of me every other day or so. It makes one feel very well cared for.

So, as always, a salute to these medical professionals. They have made my recovery an easier and more productive process, and taught me something along the way about how to view myself, my body, and my expectations.

Thanks to Travis, Miguel, Jeremy, Melissa, Dan, Carissa, Jana and Andrew, You guys are the best. I really appreciate you.

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As always, if you have it in you, please give a thought to donating time or money to Hospice Austin. They do amazing work for people who are going through the hardest thing a person can face.

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