| [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2202054/][/URL] December 10th, 2016
In Fall of 2015 I was looking forward to collecting beautifully colored Autumn leaves. It never happened, because of the auto accident I had in late October. It basically rendered me immobile well into Spring 2016.
This past Fall, I was more determined than ever to gather lovely leaves. I started in late September and was able to find great leaves through mid November! In my area of Michigan (metro Detroit) the leaves turned colors very gradually this year. So I was even able to locate certain kinds of trees & anticipate when their leaves would be at their prettiest before I gathered them up.
I wanted to get as many colors and shapes of leaves as I possibly could. Many of the most beautiful leaves I collected were from maple trees. Norway, Silver, Red, Sugar, Autumn Blaze, and Japanese maple leaves found their way into my collection. I also gathered leaves from sweet gum, ash, beech, sassafras, magnolia, elm, hawthorn, oak, and birch trees. And there were mystery leaves also. I wasn\'t sure what kind of tree they were from! All together, I must have collected well over 1,000 leaves!
At first I kept my leaves in plastic bags in the refrigerator. Gradually, I started putting them between the pages of dictionaries, catalogues, and telephone directories. Actually, no large book was totally safe, especially older ones without color plates.
Then came photography day. In years past, I photographed them by the garage in my back yard so that I could shoot them in natural sunlight. It wasn\'t easy. No matter how nice a day I picked to photo them, The gentlest of breezes would shift and blow some of them off my tray. I tried some gluing and taping, but I soon learned that leaves do not cooperate with these materials!
This year I hit upon the idea of going to my mother\'s house and working on her screened in porch. She also had storm panels that could be moved into place and skylights for natural lighting.
I spent over 3 hours "wrangling" my leaves and shooting photos of them. I added two things besides leaves to some of the photos; "helicopter" seeds from a small Norway maple in my back yard, and tiny blue berries attached to thick red stems. The berries came from the ivy that grows on the sides of my house.
All in all, it was a lot of work. There were times that my back got quite aggravated. But it was worth it in the end. I now have plenty of beautiful leaf photos to create designs with, for years to come.
Elaine
PS. When I was finished photographing my leaves, it was kind of hard for me to part ways with them. One thing that helped was that I was able to save my prettiest leaves to give to a little girl who lives across the street from my Mom. I\'m sure she had a lot of fun playing with them. Perhaps her mother even helped her to iron some of them between sheets of waxed paper, like we used to do when I was small. [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2202057/][/URL]
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[URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2194404/][/URL] November 2016
On October 24th 2015, I was in a car accident that broke my right foot in 2 places. That put me in a wheelchair for 6 months, as I waited for the foot to heal. Definitely a life changing milestone for me!
On October 24th, 2016, I had another milestone that was a lot more enjoyable. I went to Canada for the first time in at least 25 years. I live in the metro Detroit area, not far from the Canadian border. So what took me so long?
I won\'t go into all of the details, but I can easily account for the last 15 years. After 911, Canada (and the USA) tightened border restrictions. Before 911 crossing the border for most people was as easy as answering a question or two and driving away. After 911 things changed drastically. For quite awhile, you could only go into Canada if you had a passport.
There was no way that my husband and I were going to spend over 200 dollars on passports just so that we could go to Canada occasionally. We didn\'t have that kind of money. I remember gloomily wondering if we\'d ever get to see Canada again.
Eventually the enhanced driver\'s license was created. It was considerably more affordable. We didn\'t apply for them, however. I guess by that time, we were resigned to staying on our side of the border. There was plenty of great stuff to do in Michigan anyway.
Then, our son started talking about a cabin just over the border. It belonged to his girlfriend\'s family. He had obtained an enhanced license and started going to the cabin with them. It wasn\'t long before he was urging us to get enhanced licenses so that we could come also. It took us awhile to get interested enough, I guess. He married his girl (much to our joy) and we still had not gotten enhanced licenses.
Finally, when I renewed my drivers license in 2014, I went through a bunch of extra red tape and got one. I didn\'t want to go to Canada without my husband, however, so I joined in with my son and his wife in cajoling my husband to get one too. Less than two months after my husband finally got his, off we all went to Canada to spend the day in this (by now) legendary cabin.
[URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2194406/][/URL]
The cabin really was a cabin. My daughter in laws grandfather had built it himself in the 1930\'s. He did a wonderful job. He used round logs, rather than lumber, and "chinked in" the cracks between them. He started with one room and eventually added another one.
One of my first impressions of the cabin was that it looked very small. It was surprisingly roomy on the inside. It had a large room (that included a kitchen) a bathroom, and a small bedroom. With clever use of 2 pull out couches and bunk beds, it could sleep 8 people, or more if sleeping bags were used. My daughter in law has many fond memories of spending summer days there with her parents and 3 siblings.
The cabin is on a wooded lot and the property overlooks Lake Huron. I took many photographs of beautiful scenery. The photos will have to last me for awhile, because the cabin has been prepped for winter. (That\'s why the picnic table is tilted up by the side of the cabin.) The cabin will be opened up again next Spring.
We had a wonderful day. I\'ll be uploading some of my pictures on DN from time to time, as I got many good ones.
I\'m so happy to be able to go to Canada again at last! My brother and I used to spend part of our Summer vacations on a farm in Ontario, and I used to go to Stratford to see Shakespeare plays. There is a lot to love about this next door neighbor! It\'s great to be reunited at last.
Elaine
[URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2194407/][/URL]
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| Friday, October 28, 2016
(If you got a profile greeting from me today, you have probably already read this. I\'m posting it again here.)
[url=http://www.crystalscomments.com/graphics/167/p/1/][/url]
[URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2185919/][/URL] Hi Everybody,
I hope you are doing well.
As I write this, I\'m listening to lots of banging and crashing. It\'s been going on all day! At long last we are getting a badly needed new roof on our house. We\'ve been saving up for it for 3 years. To my amazement, Katie our collie is taking all of the noise & pounding a lot better than I thought she would. Now if only I could get her resigned to traffic noises...
I\'m looking forward to passing out candy to trick or treaters this Monday. But the best Halloween fun I\'ve had so far this year is planning & designing these 2 wallpapers! I chased one of them down with my camera...and the other one took me waaaay more time to do than I ever dreamed it would. It was worth it, but...if I spent 30ish hours on every abstract I made, I\'d go absolutely crazy! (Did I just hear a couple of smart alecs say that I\'m totally crazy already? Rat\'s... the secret is out! )
Have a great weekend, and a super fun Halloween!
Elaine [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2185920/][/URL]
[url=http://www.crystalscomments.com/graphics/167/p/1/][/url]
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| [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2175983/][/URL] 2016
(If you got a profile greeting from me on Sept 30 or October 1st 2016, you\'ve probably read this already! I\'m posting it here because I was too tired to do a separate journal entry.
Hi Everybody,
Things have been crazy for me lately! It\'s hard for me to believe that these are the first wallpapers I\'ve uploaded since August 21st! I was afraid that I wouldn\'t get any walls up this September.
It felt so good upload these just before before October 1st hit. Especially since in Michigan, where I live, a new day/date on Desktop Nexus starts at 8pm, my time!
As some of you know, I have been getting onto DN in bits and snatches, mostly to comment on wallpapers. Especially on Cow Wallpapers! Black & white cows, brown cows, cows on mountains, cows jumping over moons, cows on farms, a cow family in a rowboat, a cow riding a motorcycle! I never know what kind of a cow is going to come down the pike next! It\'s hard to believe that just a little over a month ago the Cow group only had a dozen wallpapers in it! Thank you everybody who has contributed to this group! It has now started it\'s 6th page! [URL=//animals.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2175986/][/URL]
So what\'s been keeping me off of DN? Part of it is that I got spoiled, I guess. I got used to having lots more time for DN because of my broken foot and being in a wheelchair. Now that I\'m mobile and back to work, much of the time I had for DN is gone. If only I could fit more hours into my day!
In spite of all of that, I know I have so much to be thankful for. It is so good to be able to get around again. I\'ve been taking all kinds of photos, mostly nature ones. Also I\'ve made a new friend at work who breeds and shows Pekinese dogs.
My top favorite breed is (you guessed it!) collies, but it\'s fun to get to know another breed. I went to a Pekingese specialty show to help my friend out earlier today. When those little long haired dogs enter the show ring, they look so funny-- like furry caterpillars running around! I took a few photos of them, some of which I hope to upload to Desktop Nexus.
DN is one of my favorite places to be, and I\'m going to keep right on trying to figure out how to get more time up here. I don\'t give up easily!
Elaine
PS. Thank you to all of you who\'ve been dropping by my profile page, & commenting on my wallpapers... even though some of you have probably been wondering where I\'ve been at! [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2175984/][/URL]
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[URL=//animals.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2140136/][/URL] July 3rd, 2016
I have been "winging it" a lot lately, in the sense that Winging it means improvising with very little preparation. I\'m not a particular fan of living life that way, but I haven\'t had much choice in the matter. It\'s been especially true at work.
After months of being out with a broken foot, I finally was able to begin working again in May. It was good to be back. Gradually I got the company books caught up & I settled into our new building...something everyone else had gotten to do months ago. It all kept me happily busy for about 3 weeks.
Then, I faced invoicing. My daughter said she’d kept it up with it while I was out. That was largely true. But...I discovered some piles of work shippers that had gotten buried and never been made into invoices. The day to day invoices had begun accumulating also.
The invoicing system had been changed when I was out. I needed guidance on the changes. The plan was for my daughter to spend an hour a day with me, so I could learn the new system.
First, my daughter went off on a well earned and much needed vacation. I had no trouble keeping busy while she was gone, but by the time she got back, I was ready to start relearning invoicing. She’d planned to spend an hour a day guiding me. But our laser engraving machines had other ideas. On the very Monday she got back, our best machine stopped working.
For a week she worked with a general machinist to try to diagnose and fix the problems. (The last resort was to get a pricey specialized man flown in from 5 states away.)
It was a happy day for us when the engraver finally started working properly again. We ran parts on it all morning, getting caught up on all of the jobs we could. Then, that afternoon, another laser quit working. We were stupefied. We take good care of these machines, yet, the 2 most dependable ones we have went out, one after the other.
As a result of all of this trouble, I\'ve been left on my own to get the invoices done. I’ve been limping through one at a time, reading through a lot of paperwork for clues on exactly how to bill each one. Invoices that used to take me 2 to 5 minutes, are now taking me 15 minutes…& often I have to lay them aside anyway because I can’t figure them out. Eventually things will get easier, but I’m really struggling right now.
Another area I’m having to "wing it" in is Desktop Nexus. When I was out with my broken foot, I was able to spend lots of time on DN. I got to know many of you better, post a lot more greetings and wallpaper comments, and really start having a ball!
Going back to work has been good for me in many ways, but I’ve lost so much DN time. Case in Point: I was able to upload 10 wallpapers in March, 16 in April, 14 in May-- and 3 in June. I’m happy to be able to get 5 uploaded today… (3 cheers for the holiday weekend!) But I have a dozen from June that didn’t quite get finished... I can almost see & hear them waving their little hands and begging, “Pick me! Pick me next!†I’ve had to put them all on a growing waiting list.
Don’t get me wrong… I have much to be thankful for. My foot has improved a lot, I’m able to drive again, I’m working again and earning money. It’s funny though… I’ve been posting a lot of quick notes for Puppydawg/Roger about his computer woes & how he misses DN. The funny thing is, I find myself identifying with him! Computer woes are keeping him away. Time challenges are keeping me away much more than I want to be.
The grass is greener on the other side of the fence, I guess. There are many of you who are facing health issues, unique circumstances, have kids out of school for the summer, etc. All of us are dealing with time constraints in one way or another. We all live on, doing the best that we can. I just wish I could be on DN more to encourage you all through your problems, and to share good times & laughter together.
When I started this part time job in May of 2013, I was working 4 hours a day. I’m up to 6 or 7 hours a day now. I’m hoping that after I’m back for a couple more months, things will get caught up so I can cut my hours back. In the meantime, I want you to know where my heart is, even if you aren’t see as much of me… Right HERE!
Winging it, but not giving up!
Elaine [URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2140131/][/URL]
[URL=//animals.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2140137/][/URL]
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| [url=http://www.crystalscomments.com/graphics/172/p/1/][/url] [URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2126933/][/URL] May 30, 2016
Hi Everybody,
Life has been busy for me lately! I\'m in physical therapy twice a week. I started driving again a couple of weeks ago, and I\'ve been back to work for almost 2 weeks.
I started back on May 17th. My daughter (who is my boss) was very happy to have me back. She surprised me with balloons, cake, and ice cream.
I found the first week back exhausting. Although I enjoyed getting back at it again, I came home every day feeling extremely weary but not knowing why. After thinking about it a lot, I finally decided that I\'d gotten too used to not working.
One good thing about it is that I am no longer having problems getting to sleep. (I struggled with insomnia for several months, due to lack of activity.)
During the past week, I did a lot better at work & had more energy. In fact, I was almost sorry about the 3 day Memorial Day weekend coming! Not any more though. It\'s giving me time to catch up on Desktop Nexus today!
Frankly, it\'s a struggle to adjust to living a "normal" life again. My biggest regret is having less time for DN. I\'ve gotten to know many of you better during my enforced time off of work.
I\'m longing to get around and favorite & comment on your wallpapers, and leave you greetings, and, and, and... all of that and more! Until I get more used to juggling & balancing my time again, I won\'t be able to spend as much time up here. Please know that I want to, and that you and DN mean a lot to me.
Thank you so much for being my friends! You rock!
Elaine [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2126934/][/URL]
[URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2126935/][/URL]
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| [URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2112591/][/URL]
[URL=//animals.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2112593/][/URL]
April 22, 2016
Hi Everybody,
Physical Therapy is going well. I\'m somewhat wobbly, but I\'m walking! This weekend, my husband and I are going to find a deserted parking lot and I will try driving again for the first time since my accident. The main concern, of course, is how flexible my right foot will be, since I\'ll need to be able to use it on the gas pedal and the brake.
I thought I\'d be back to work by now, but that hasn\'t happened yet. My daughter has to do some major "renovations" around my desk area before I can return. I guess I had better explain that.
We had just finished moving the family business to a new building the Saturday I had my accident. My daughter, being very busy, never got around to sorting through and putting away many cartons of things that got left around my desk. In addition, she tells me, my desk area has gradually evolved into a dumping ground.
She\'s been trying to clean up my desk area for the past month, but things keep getting in her way. A bunch of rush orders came in last week. Then her computer decided it was time to crash---permanently! (Thank goodness, she had back-ups of her work!) She\'s now trying to learn a brand new computer at the same time as she is trying to get lots of orders filled and out the door. I was supposed to start working again last week. That turned into this week. Now it\'s been moved to some time next week.
I have mixed emotions about this. I\'ve looked forward to going back to work. But I\'ve also loved having extra time to spend on Desktop Nexus and to create new wallpapers. When I first joined Desktop Nexus, I wasn\'t working and I had lots of time to be on DN. Now that I\'ve gotten used to having that kind of time for DN again, it\'s hard to think of giving it up.
When Lydia is ready for me, I\'ll return to work and make a go of it. Once I get used to working again, I\'m sure I\'ll enjoy it. Our workplace is a cheerful one, and Lydia is a great boss!
Once I do start working again, however, I\'ll have less time for Desktop Nexus. I\'ll likely be slower at returning your PMs & Profile greetings. I\'ll do the best I can, but it will be harder to keep up.
One thing\'s certain for me though. Whether I\'m working or not, DN will continue to be one of my top priorities. I absolutely love it here, and that won\'t change!
CollieSmile
PS. It\'s hard for me to believe, but as of this Sunday, I\'ll have been a Desktop Nexus member for exactly 4 years! (Where has all of the time gone?)
DN has been a real blessing in my life. I appreciate the existence of this website. Thank you to Harry, Bonnie, Barb, and the rest of the behind the scenes people who keep DN up and running. Harry, when you created this website, you created opportunities for so many people to experience joy and fullfillment!
I am so thankful for the many fans and friends that I\'ve made here. (Who needs Facebook when you have Desktop Nexus?) I also am very happy about being able to create & upload wallpapers, as well as being able to see and appreciate the beautiful wallpapers that everyone else uploads.
What more can I say? Well... In the words of a wallpaper I uploaded after being a DN member for 4 months:
[URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1154151/][/URL]
[URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2112592/][/URL]
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Tuesday, April 12, 2016
A week ago Sunday, my husband John took me shopping. He helped me pick out a new pair of shoes. We got them because none of my other shoes would fit. I had to try several pairs before we found one that fit my right foot. It\'s somewhat swollen and will be for at least a couple of months, since it\'s still healing.
The shoes were "buy one pair, get the 2nd pair half price" so we tried getting a 2nd matching pair in my regular size. But for some reason, my left foot slid around in my normal shoe size, and did not slide around in the bigger shoe! John ended up picking out a 2nd pair of (half price) shoes for himself.
I keep the left shoe laced tied up tightly and the right shoe laced very loosely. It works out nicely. But oh...if only walking again was as easy as wearing this new pair of shoes is!
I thought it would be simple. I was looking forward to making this journal post. I figured I\'d be reporting that I was back to walking again; no more wheelchair, no more ramp in front of our house, life back to normal! Instead I find myself stuck at a confusing midway point.
On Saturday, for example, I ended up staying home from a Potluck Supper that John & I attend once a month. Up until now I was quite comfortable attending it in my wheelchair. But now that I\'m walking around the house, I didn\'t really want to go to the Potluck in the wheelchair. For months people have asked me when I\'d be walking again. What would I say, that yes, I was finally able to walk again but I\'d decided to keep on sitting in the chair?
If I had gone to the potluck without the wheelchair, I would soon have had problems with a sore foot, as well as an aching back. So I ended up telling John to go without me, and to let friends know that I\'d be back the following month. True, that decision didn\'t do much for my social life, but it did solve my dilemna for the time being.
It isn\'t just my still-recovering foot that\'s the problem. It\'s also that I\'ve lost a lot of muscle tone & stamina from having to sit around for so long.
I found out about that lack of stamina fairly quickly. I\'d had the plate and screws surgically removed from my foot on March 16th. On Friday, April 1st, my foot was checked and the stitches were removed. I rested over that weekend to let the foot recover. The following Monday, I had the green light to start using it again.
I started by walking slowly & gently around my house for about 15 minutes. I had no problem with the foot, except for normal soreness. But less than an hour later, the herniated disk in my lower back started reading me the riot act. The lower back pain continued for the next 4 days! Not only that, I got severe pain in my upper back as well.
I\'ve had back trouble for years... it runs in my family. I\'ve dealt with it fairly successfully by working out at a fitness center 3 times a week. As long as I go there faithfully, my back does fine. But the last time I went to the gym was October 23rd. On October 24, I was in the car accident, and haven\'t been able to go back since.
Now I\'m learning firsthand, that if one part of your body goes down, the rest of the body can start sinking also. It\'s not only my back, but also my arms. They\'ve been overworked for months now. Although they improved when I got help for them in February, they still aren\'t back to where they should be.
So a couple of days ago, I went back to my primary care doctor. She gave me a script for physical therapy. As soon as it can be cleared with insurance, I\'ll be going to PT 2 or 3 times a week. My goal is to be able to go back to my fitness club and pick up where I left off last October.
All of this is more difficult than I ever thought it would be...would anybody like a pair of shiny new shoes...? No, no, I’m just kidding!
Eventually, I\'ll pass the shoes on to my son, who has bigger feet than I do. For now, however, I’ll do my best to put these shiny new shoes to good use; walking back into the life I used to live, one step at a time.
[URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2108680/][/URL] [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2108683/][/URL] [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2108687/][/URL] [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2108691/][/URL]
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March 8th, 2016 Kate Hatheway: Born: April 24th, 1940 Passed: February 27, 2016
I\'m sure that many of you who read this will have your own good memories of Kate. I thought that you might enjoy reading some of mine.
When I joined DN in April of 2012, I didn\'t know much about websites like this. I didn\'t (and still don\'t) belong to any other social websites. I joined DN because someone told me that I could share my homemade wallpapers here. I knew nothing about fans, Profiles, or anything else.
Kate was one of the first 2 members to send me a Profile greeting. She used a picture of a beautiful young lady for her Avatar back then. I thought it was her picture! I felt a little bit silly when I realized it wasn\'t her...after all, I use one of my collies for my Avatar, but it isn\'t me!
About a year later she changed her Avatar to a cute little puppy\'s head. I liked the puppy Avatar, but I wished she had kept the other one. I will always remember her as that beautiful young lady who left me Profile greetings 2 or 3 times a week. She was young at heart, and that original Avatar fit her well.
Kate used to PM me from time to time... her subject line was usually "Miscellaneous." It was always something interesting. Once she said that she felt she wasn\'t artistic enough to join one of the Groups that I started... I think she was talking about my Homemade Abstracts Group. That really surprised me, and I told her so.
Kate was very artistic. If you want to know just how artistic she was, go through her pages of wallpapers and look at the beautiful things that she chose to upload... there are many! She had a wonderful eye for colors, designs, and delightful illustrations...here\'s just a sampling.
Beautiful [URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1839668/][/URL]
Beautiful Fall River in Autumn [URL=//nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1678235/][/URL]
Learning to Crawl [URL=//people.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1967428/][/URL]
Mother Nature & Friends [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1912783/][/URL]
name ginger snap [URL=//animals.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1988842/][/URL]
pretty kitty in pink [URL=//animals.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1978107/][/URL]
fantasy flowers [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1891335/][/URL]
Beautiful Gorgeous Swan [URL=//animals.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/1672303/][/URL]
Kate told me that she wished she could create wallpapers like I did. That made me wish that I could go to her home state of Missouri through my computer keyboard and show her how. I have no doubt whatsoever that she would soon have been creating works of great beauty. She had the eye... she only lacked a bit of hands on help to get started.
One of the last things I talked about with her was the Nursery Rhymes Group that she had started. It had gotten off to a weak start, and she was thinking about deleting it. Happily, she decided to let it keep going, and added a Storybook Character option to the group as well.
I know that Kate was active in many groups. I think that this one may have been one of her favorites though. If any of you reading this would like to join it and add some wallpapers to it, I think it would put a smile on her face.
https://www.desktopnexus.com/groups/nursery-rhymes/
Kate, I will miss you. A lot of us will miss you. You added a lot to Desktop Nexus, and we appreciate it!
CollieSmile/Elaine
PS. I am so glad to know that Kate passed away peacefully in her sleep. May she rest in peace, knowing that she brought a lot of joy to DN members like me.
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| [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2082684/][/URL] February 16, 2016
Hi Everybody,
I\'m still living in my wheelchair & dealing with my fractured (but improving!) right foot. There are still a plate and a bunch of screws in my foot. I was supposed to have them removed on February 10th, but …
While I was in the hospital, I developed a blood clot. I was put on blood thinners temporarily, to take care of it. My primary care doctor insisted I had to finish the full round of b.t. medication that she\'d prescribed. The surgery could not happen while I was on them. So the removal of plate & screws got moved to mid March. I know it was for my own health & safety, but even so, my feelings about being wheelchair bound for yet another month were not exactly charitable.
My right foot didn’t mind at all. It had very little work to do, since I have to keep my weight off of it. It barely hurts anymore. But my arms were another story.
I spend a lot of waking hours in my wheelchair. But each time I get out of bed, go to the bathroom, move to a (rented) lift chair in my living room, or go to church or the doctor\'s, I have to use a walker. I have to haul myself onto it with arm strength only. Then I hop on my left foot and swivel around until I get to where I need to go.
My arms were getting more & more sore. It got so bad that they were constantly in pain. Everything that I tried to do hurt. I couldn\'t even type on a computer keyboard... all I could do was watch TV. I could only do that if I worked the remote control with my left hand. So my husband took me to the doctor. I was diagnosed with tendonitus, in both arms, but especially my right arm.
So for 3 weeks I had home physical therapy. It consisted mostly of moist heat, ultra sound treatments, a couple of gentle isometric arm exercises, and stopping just about all of the activities (like Desktop Nexus!) that have kept my spirits up since this accident. Not fun! But finally, my sore arms started to feel a little better.
Then last Friday, the 12th, I got some of the best news I\'ve had since I\'ve been wheelchair bound. The surgeon who mended my foot gave me permission to use the heel (only) of my right foot. This meant I didn\'t have to haul myself up totally with my arms anymore!
On Sunday, I realized that the worst pain had started to let up. Each day I’m feeling a little more better. I still have to limit my arm activity. For example, I’m having to type this journal entry a paragraph or two at a time & take breaks. But it’s a great improvement from when I could barely type a sentence at a time.
One of the main things I want to do as my arms improve is to spend more time on DN. I hope you’ll soon be “seeing me around†more often. Sometimes though, I still get surprised by some pain and I have to back off whatever I’m doing immediately.
If you contact me and I’m not able to get back to you right away, it’s probably because of my arms. Don’t worry, I’ll get back with you eventually! Now that I’m homebound 95 percent of the time, I appreciate you all more than ever. Take care, and God bless you all!
Thankfully,
Elaine [URL=//abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/2082682/][/URL]
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