I am typing this post on my brother's laptop, using both hands. The speed is low, but that will improve with time and practice. Especially practice.

I'm rather surprised at how fast I'm improving. Seems like every morning I wake up and realize that I've gotten something more back. Today, it was this.

UPDATE: Bill and I just had a meeting with the person who plans discharges, and the consensus was that I will probably be ready to go home in about a week.

I have been "doing laps", going up and down the hall in my wheelchair as exercise for my left arm. It tkaes me past the dining hall. The TV there is tuned to "Animal planet" and when I went past just now it was running an ad for "Amish Mafia", and I think I don't want to know any more. (Shudder)

Typing is a secret pleasure. I'm already typing about twice as fast as I could one-finger. A bedside table beside a hospital bed isn't the optimum, though, and I'm sure I'll do much better at home. In about a week.

I want to go home. But I can't yet.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Daily Life at 09:04 AM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
Post contains 197 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Great progress.  Keeping working at it and, hopefully, it'll all be back in time. 

Though I guess that also means we need to find a way for you to clip enjoyable screen caps from questionable series while you recover.

Posted by: sqa at November 28, 2012 10:08 AM (iCuS2)

2 And the OT person had me do my own hair today. I brushed it, and aaalmost tied it back, but couldn't. A few moredays. Another thing is that I needd a cane, and I'll tell the PT person this afternoon.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at November 28, 2012 02:22 PM (uNl21)

3 No cane yet. I have to qualify. I've told them I want to, and it'll take a couple of days, probably.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at November 28, 2012 03:33 PM (uNl21)

4 Had the same thing when I did Very Bad Things to my ankle lo these many years ago.  I was on crutches for a couple of months, but before I could move to a cane, I had to prove to the Powers That be that I could walk with one without going arse over teakettle.

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 28, 2012 05:21 PM (LbiZL)

5 Glad to hear you're doing well, Steven, and my best wishes for a continued speedy recovery.
 
You may have already heard this, but it looks like Dog Days Season 3 is in the works, so more stuff to look forward to in 2013.

Posted by: wahsatchmo at November 28, 2012 06:29 PM (JeUF0)

6

New first: This morning I tied back my hair without help, and during my OT session I was able to climb into and out of a bathtub without any help.

I know that doesn't sound like much, but they're steps on the path to normalcy.

Oh, also, I can shuffle cards now. I taught my speech therapist how to play Casino.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at November 29, 2012 10:41 AM (uNl21)

7

Stu the Alpaca is going around visiting those who wish to be visited (not me).

Strange looking animal, about the same height as a Shetland Pony at the shoulder, but with a long neck, and covered with fleece like a sheep.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at November 29, 2012 11:19 AM (uNl21)

8 I think Llama and Alpaca are about the same thing, and there's a character Llama in Polar Bear Cafe, brilliantly coiceived, and voiced by Daisuke Ono.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at November 29, 2012 12:42 PM (RqRa5)

9 "Oh, also, I can shuffle cards now."
Excellent! Could you shuffle cards before?

Posted by: David at November 29, 2012 03:06 PM (+C5m6)

10 There's a doujin game, Paca Plus, that deals with the protagonist's girlfriend turning into an alpaca. J-List has the sequel, Paca Plus ~ minus.

Posted by: muon at November 29, 2012 03:33 PM (jFJid)

11

My brother just bought me a cane, and I'm goung to be practicing walking witth it.

Home,  there's no place like it. I can't wait to go there.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at November 29, 2012 04:36 PM (uNl21)

12 Sword, flask, umbrella, blowgun, irish blackthorn, bull penis, or plain old boring "cane"?

-j

Posted by: J Greely at November 29, 2012 05:07 PM (fpXGN)

13 Actually, it's aluminum.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at November 29, 2012 05:31 PM (uNl21)

14 I think I mentioned that before, but one of my ninjutsu teachers, Mr. Albright, was very big on improvised weapons, like keys, pencils, etc. He could be a killing machine with an aluminum cane. Didn't even need a sword cane.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at November 29, 2012 05:48 PM (RqRa5)

15 *coughalpacacough*

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 29, 2012 06:07 PM (LbiZL)

16 Steven's right.  Alpacas/Llamas became the new pyramid scheme about  10 years ago.  "Hey, you can breed them!  Hey, their wool is amazing!"  Bull.  They're tough to care for, they take a great deal of space, and most people won't eat them.
Thus, Stu's probably a cynical jackass at this point.  Despite being a llama.

Posted by: wahsatchmo at November 29, 2012 11:01 PM (HKneV)

17 I was at a harvest festival just a few miles from Steve's digs last year, and they had a pen of Alpacas, with all sorts of literature and example crafts out on display in the hopes of getting more people to raise them.  There is a pretty decent vertical economy here, from the raising of Alpacas, trading around raw wool, making hand crafted goods, and then selling them to various stores locally and internationally.  But I have no doubt that it is in fact a pyramid, and the pointy profitable part is long past.

Posted by: David at November 29, 2012 11:08 PM (vyRm+)

18 Alpaca stew?  Yum!

Oh, wait...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 30, 2012 01:35 AM (PiXy!)

19 I keep trying to come up with something witty to say about alpacas, but all I can manage is, "Was Winamp following it around with a whip?"

Sigh. Just not good enough material for the Tonight Show..  Maybe prime-time TV comedy, but nothing, you know, actually funny.

Posted by: ubu at November 30, 2012 06:55 AM (SlLGE)

20 What a coincidence. They are discussing Llama and Alpaca in PBC #30.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at December 02, 2012 08:54 PM (RqRa5)

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