For those of you who don't know me yet, I'm not a Lance Armstrong fan. If you want to do whatever it takes, including hurting yourself and potentially even giving yourself cancer then Fine, but they should have a separate group for freaks and let the clean kids measure up to other clean kids. I'll never read his book.
BUT this week really has been a bike week for me! I'll go in reverse chronological order. Hmmmm which starts in the future.
October 8th this year is my personal deadline for being back on my own bike. It may not be pretty but it'll be exactly one year since I got hit; exactly one year since I was happy on my own bike. It won't be easy but I don't think I'd recognize myself if I wan't struggling for Something! ;)
I've requested to be on the Lafayette Metropolitan Planning Organization Bicycling Subcommittee. I've sat in on a couple of the meetings, they're a focused group of people that really have safe bicycling at heart, and I'm stoked to see it happening. I'll find out probably next month if I'm in!
BikeLafayette has been a great outlet for me. They're a good group of people and the organization is realizing it's potential, growing crazy fast, and I'm glad I'm in a position to help. I used to work 40+ hours, single mom it, and train for triathlons, and now allll that energy has to go somewhere. When I'm not hanging out with my awesome little family or promoting my business, it's this. I'm heading up the first membership meeting next month!
I was on KLFY with the amazing Laura Phillips: KLFY video (Facebook)
(ugh, it was early, I look tired!) And dang look at those comments! There's sooo much work that needs to be done educating people here!
The highlight of this week was the inaugural Watermelon Ride! The president of my triathlon club John Hebert had the Lafayette Consolidated Government agree to put up "Share The Road" signs after I was hit. This was the ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating them in the North East quadrant, and I was incredibly glad to be a part of it. I was able to ride tandem again with the president of BikeLafayette, Jen Steele.
I like these pics because I don't look so hurt in them! Trust me, I totally still look hurt in person, but cool that I can pull it off ;)
Progress is still slow this week. It seems things are getting way harder and taking much longer for little progressions, and it's frustrating. I still have so far to go! I'll probably be working at this the rest of my life.
I had a friend this week say that I'll probably be approached by a lot of people that I maybe don't know that feel they know me because of my blog and minor fame. I'm okay with this. I'm cool with people "knowing" me that well and I wouldn't change a thing, but I'm glad he said something because that is what's happening and it is a little weird.
I had another friend this week tell me that the main point in the end is that I'll be better for all of this happening. This wasn't some flippant statement; this is from someone who's been through hell and is coming back, and her point I think is that tragedy like this makes you grow in ways that you would have avoided before. Not that I would have chosen this or had a choice, but hey man that's life. I'm choosing to believe this is true, it's a good way for me to think right now.
I typed this using all the digits on my right hand; my fourth (ring) finger has not been able to do that. It's all about the awesome little progresses. It's also all about bikes right now, time for a road bike ya'll! #roadie? #no #holycowthenicknamesforcyclistsmakemelaugh!
You know that song "Money For Nothing" by the Dire Straits? They wrote that about Motley Crue. There, your music trivia for the day.
Now that I don't have a job, I'm staying pretty busy. For free. Doesn't add up once I think about it...
My biggest thing this week was an application to the League of American Bicyclists for Lafayette to be designated at a "Bicycle Friendly Community". Now I realize, by up front and personal experience, Lafayette is most certainly NOT a "Bicycle Friendly Community". But I want it to be, and come to find out there's a ton of other people that want that too. If your city doesn't get the designation, the LAB provides invaluable feedback that you can then take to your council person or whomever and start working together towards reaching your goals (this is my personal plan anyway). They only accept applications every 6 months, so I decided to embark on this little project (unbeknownst to me) 24 hours before the deadline. This made the application a bit sparse but I Was Determined not to have to wait 6 months. And it was, you know, workable, but I wasn't really going to tell anyone about it because there wasn't much to it. Then though LAB asked for local reviewers and the more the better, so what the heck, I had done the best I can, so I asked a ton of people to review it. More than I actually even know. SO if you're one of 'em, No Laughing!
We'll get the results back Novemberish, I'll have the next application well on it's way by then, so February 2014 is my target date.
ALSO Feb 2014 is the NOLA RnR! This is the time to start training if you're not a runner; if you can put in 30 minutes a day or every other day for the next 30 days, you'll be in good shape to run it. In fact, if you start in 30 days, you'll be fine. So I'll remind you again! My info is not based on any coach or anything though, just info from Hal Higdon's website. I'd welcome coaching! Here's the 30/30 plan if you don't run: Hal Higdon's Beginning Runner's Guide *Here's my training log: Training Log **If you can't make that one I'll also be at Laffy's inaugural marathon the following month! http://zydecomarathon.com/
This Saturday is the inaugural free "Watermelon Ride", celebrating the placement of "Share The Road" signs in north Lafayette. The TriCajun's president, John Hebert, had gotten the Lafayette Consolidated Government to agree to them after I was hit. Needless to say, I will be there!! For more information, go here: BikeLafayette's Website
Not much has changed on the physical front; I've been working and I can feel a little bit more, and I'm a tiny bit faster, but not by much. My hand relaxes a tiny bit more but all progress right now is slow and minute. Still progress but I see why people that have been doing this a long time get frustrated, there's still so far to go!
It will never ever ever be good or fair that this happened, but I talked to an Episcopalian priest about similar things a couple of years ago, and she said that prayer doesn't change what happens, but it does open our eyes to the blessings that do occur. One thing is that I've been able to be a stay-at-home mom this summer. I could only take 10 days off of work when I had Snakebyte (or Liamuiga, ha - what nicknames!) and I lloovvee it! Yeah we get bored, and he's a handful at times but on the whole this is a good experience that I would have never had if I didn't get hit. We frequent the library and train together (well, I walk and he runs) and he bikes all the time and we cook and play with the pets and argue and go to the park, etc etc. I can't imagine life any other way right now.
This is what my kid did when I asked to take his picture!
I walked .45 miles sans cane last Saturday; it was slow and hard but I could do it! I followed it up then with the same the next day with the cane, much faster (though not as fast as I had with the walker!)
THEN, I took a break, because as my therapist had mentioned and my SKB friend Kate had reminded me, I maybe shouldn't be overdoing things right now. And I surely was exhausted! It's hard to know where my limits are, I mean sheesh walking less than 1/2 mile is exhausting? But, yep! All that balancing, it's hard to realize, but that takes a lot of stamina. #slowbuildIguess
My tone has gone down, but still feels crazy up. HOWEVER according to my therapist my tone is much better, and maybe my nerves are just kicking in and my feeling is getting better? I'm going with that. My muscles are all stiff again today but I worked out crazy hard in therapy so maybe that's it. They don't feel sore necessarily, just harder to bend my knee again for example, but part of all this is learning how my body feels in different situations.
I started seeing Keith Terro, chiropractor extraordinaire, again this week. First my quads were ultrasounded - man that stung, it didn't last time! - and then he massaged the heck out of my right quads. Lastly he kinesio-taped my ankle to help with propriception. MAN my quads HuRt the next day - great news because they hadn't hurt before when he had done the exact same thing! Woohoo yay pain! Well, feeling anyway. Trust me it an't all back but it's a good start. BUT the next day I went to therapy, my PT commented on how I had NO quad resistance whilst he was manipulating it! Coincidence mmaayybbeee but I'm going back again next week fo' sho', heck can't beat it!
I'm also up for giving any and all alternative therapies a try; massage and acupuncture and reflexology and reiki and all that other crazy stuff that I don't necessarily believe in. Wulf said, and it makes sense, that the placebo effect may be a placebo but still is an effect.
I'm open for business ya'll, and already have my first client referral, back in the game! I'm sure I won't make tons of money but it gives me something to focus on. Maybe I should go back to school and be an accountant or something. Don't they make good money and have awesome hours?
What else what else what else... it's racing season again and it's been fun watching, knowing I'll be back at it shortly. Dang ya'll I have some fast friends!
The truth is, if I thought I had no chance on being competitive again I wouldn't try to go back to it; it's what got me hooked in the first place. It's cool if it takes a year or five, I was on such an uptick when I got hit I hate to think that I had lost that chance completely just yet in my life. So we'll just pretend that I hadn't.
Last Sunday we went to Natchitoches to witness my Great Aunt Anna's induction to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. The timing was especially special as it coincided with the opening of the brand new museum. My dad gave a speech since they were very close. She didn't have kids of her own, and subsequently I was close to her too - she taught me how to read, even. At age three I was reading the newspaper because of her! She was incredibly smart and had completed a post-doc at Harvard (where she won a tennis title beating the other women AND men). She was the first woman in professional tennis to wear shorts instead of a skirt and literally dominated several other sports, including hurdles, baseball, track, basketball, etc etc, for over a decade, even being named New Orleans Greatest All-Around Athlete of the 1930s.
A lot of comparisons have been speculated between us recently, namely I guess our persistence and dedication, and encouragement to others to compete, but as Nic pointed out there's a HUGE difference between us -she is described as "terse" and I am most decidedly NOT, ha!
This is my amateur video of her actual induction
CoxSports TV(the video won't work for some reason! This link will). Please watch it it's really really good!
Pictures of us and my dad at the ceremony________________________
So on to this week! Let's see...
Monday: Wulf (my PT) was on vacation for three weeks and now he's back, which I'm incredibly glad for. He's always excited for me when something awesome happens, and is gentle with the sad stuff. Don't tell him I talked nicely about him, though! I have to keep up my tough outer shell ;)
My abnormal muscle tone is still crazy high, but he convinced me not to worry about it. He also told me that I might be over-training, and I'm maybe not the calmest person he's ever met, and to relax a bit - what?? Pshaw! But the truth is, I just can't feel as well, even when my muscles are sore or whatever, so mmaayybbeee. We'll see. I asked him about when I can walk again, to see when I can start running again. He said I could walk alright without the cane now, albeit slower (yay!) but running has a hop in it that is limited by my increased muscle tone, and there is nothing I can do about that. Sadness.
I read a fake Buddha quote, "The trouble is, you think you have time." This makes me think, if I had the time to heal I would. 50 years, 300 years, whatever. But I don't have that kind of time, and that's a harsh truth. BUT I do have Tons of time, so I'm going to pretend I'm going to heal fast!
The other thing on Monday is, my business is official! I still have noooooo idea what I'm doing, even pricing, but hey it's a step forward. I've also decided I need a small segment of the population to critique my webpage, and I've decided that should be ya'll blogliophiles! I'm doing it myself, and the picture credit goes to Drew Shawver - I don't even know where to put credits in! My awesome neighbor Darren is going to come up with a couple of logo ideas for me. SO, it's sparse, and I've got tons and tons and tons of work, but any and everything you come up with I will take into consideration. PLEASE. I've left it a little sparse on purpose. So if you don't mind, please get in touch with me with your thoughts! You can comment, or Facebook, or email, or use the "Contact" form on the page, or whatever. I plan on having an awesome lawyer help me, and I think I need an accountant? Oh, and I have this "Business Plan" template I should do something with.
And, as you probably didn't guess, I've named it Cadence Veterinary Behavior Solutions, LLC. No real mind-blowing awesome thought process behind that, just the word "cadence" makes me happy and people generally know how to spell it. Seeing how "Cadence Veterinary Behavior Solutions" is long, and to shorten a word or two would be confusing, I'm sticking to "Cadence Veterinary" as the trade name (is that what it's called?) Plus when I'm all healed up I could still use the name for my medicine-inclined stuff. SO, I don't expect large profits or anything, but hey it's something to focus on, and it's in my profession which I'm really starting to miss.
Tuesday: Well dang I don't remember much about Tuesday, Monday and Wednesday were pretty eventful. It was my mom's birthday- you should wish her happy birthday!
Wednesday: Wednesday I was a little down when I woke up. I still have hypertonicity, and it's what's going to keep me from running, and bleh. But Then, I went to therapy.
My OT Simonne had me repeat these strength tests for my hands, and I'm Much Stronger. 7x more in one case of my right thumb, and getting close to normal strength with my left hand. My right wrist is much stronger too, and I'm able to extend it quite well now.
It was also testing day for PT (if you remember, OT mainly works with upper body, PT with lower). I walked a set distance, I don't know what it is, in 20 seconds with the quad cane; it was 53 seconds approximately 2 months ago. Then I walked it in about the same amount of time with a regular cane. Then I walked it in about the same amount of time with NO cane. Nothin. So, rockin! Also my balance test was better, which in my case reflects that my tone really IS decreasing, even though it's up higher than I want right now! And now therapy is going to start focusing more on balancing. Which, of course, is going to involve falling a lot. In fact, I'm required to stand with my eyes closed until I fall over and over and over and over. Sigh. BUT I scored high enough on the test to graduate from a quad cane!
In not so great news, I got denied unemployment Again. I don't understand - something about being instructed to and then not getting an unemployment agency and going to their office. I think. The jargon is really weird. Which is the first I'm hearing about it if that is what they meant! I imagine this has something to do with being a pregnant administrative assistant...not a broken-neck vet... So, I'm appealing it. Yet again. There's even more to it than that, like they changed my username without telling me, which made me have to skip a week, and more... It's just tedious. I've also been turned down for food stamps (appealing that) and still waiting on my hearing for social security.
And here's my thing. I've *always* maintained that I'm going to be self-sufficient and never ever need government assistance. I've never thought anything else. And now that I need it, it's not there!
Now that this is happening to me I'm seeing there's a bunch of friends I know now that have needed it too, when I thought they didn't need it. Way more of us than I realized. AND the amount of craziness that I have gone through and I still don't have access to it, it's unreal.
I know some people make a living on it, like scamming the system IS their job, but what about regular people that don't have the education or computer savvy and access I do, what about them? Well, I found out, they just don't get it. They don't get the help they need. It's sad. These are people I know now too, from therapy.
This experience has shown me that people that shouldn't need government assistance because they are highly educated and/or have a good work ethic still do need it, and other people who do need it but are older and/or poorer can't access it because the path is too convoluted for them to get it. Our system is way more messed up than I ever realized.
So ME, I'm fighting what I can fight, and holding out until the retirement money that I had put away makes it through. Because that's what I have to do to make it work, take my retirement out early. I'm a professional that has worked full time and more as much as possible, hit by an illegal driver and blamed for it, lost my government job in a shady way, and too disabled to get a high enough paying one to cover my bills. I'm sure glad I pay taxes to the government that I have to fight to help me out when I need it. Awesome. Go USA.
Enough ranting! I love my country, just there's always room for change!
Thursday - Independence Day! Man this blog is long enough already, ya'll have an awesome week!
