recommended reading

I recently picked up Learning to Breathe by a photojournalist named Alison Wright. While on assignment in Laos, she was riding on a bus that collided with a truck. Her injuries were quite severe, and in this book she writes about her recovery. I'm about halfway through. I thought it would be really hard for me to read this, and sometimes it is, but often I find myself laughing because I know exactly what she means. For instance, she talks about how talkative she was while on Percocet. I'm the same way. I think reading this has actually been a good experience for me so far. It reminds me how lucky I am, and it reminds me that I should make the most of every day I have. I might email her when I'm done reading the book, just to tell her my story, and to tell her how inspiring her story is to me.

My own recovery has been going okay, but I feel like I've slipped a little behind schedule. I use the term "schedule" loosely here, because I'm probably not the typical case. My ankle injuries were so extensive, it's no surprise my recovery is taking a little longer than expected. I was hoping I'd recover ahead of "schedule" since this isn't the first time I've had to recover from ankle surgery. I didn't realize my ankle would feel so differently after my doc pulled out a bunch of scar tissue. My ankle feels more unstable now, which makes sense since the scar tissue was sort of holding everything together. My ligaments probably aren't helping much - they were stretched when my foot was dislocated, and unfortunately ligaments don't really bounce back. I'll just have to work harder to build up all the little muscles that will make my ankle stable. I went for a short walk today without crutches or my aircast, which was a huge step (haha, no pun intended). Thanks to my ankle brace and my custom shoe insoles, my ankle wasn't going anywhere. It did feel a lot different than pre-surgery, though. I can tell that I have a lot more motion in the joint.

I'm getting ready to go to Jackson, WY for Thanksgiving to visit the family. Apparently it's going to take me three flights and over seven hours to get there. Luckily(?) I have lots of reading and writing to do, and I downloaded some good music to listen to - Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, Björk's Gling-Gló, and an album by one of UW's faculty members - Cuong Vu's Come Play With Me. I should have plenty to do...

Other than school, I don't have a whole lot going on right now. I did go to a holiday party at the Space Needle over the weekend, though. It was pretty amazing.