Update on my fall in Dijon

Aloha.  Some of my readers have asked for an update on my progress since the fateful day I fell while entering the Galleries La Fayette in Dijon, France.

It has been a long recovery already.  Not that I'm counting, but to be exact:  69 days!

The third surgery, which occurred the day following my return to Hawaii, has been a long recovery.  I still am swollen and numb in my right foot and have very limited motion, but am assured by my physician that it looks "very good," actually.  He said that there was a lot of scar tissue and that it will take a lot of physical therapy but that I should be back to normal range within a year.  If I were to think in terms of the time frame for recovery, I think I would go mad.  Instead, I've devised a different methodology:  I measure my progress instead of time.  When my cast was removed nine days ago and I was told it would be another six weeks before I'm able to begin physical therapy to strengthen my leg muscles in preparation for learning to walk again, I could not wiggle my toes or move my foot in an upward or downward flexion.  Currently, I can flex my toes up and down approximately an inch and can move my foot up and down with ankle flexion about two inches.  This is huge.  I figure that if I can accomplish this in just nine days, if I continue to use my ankle/wrist weights and exercise daily, by the time the six weeks is up I will have accelerated my recovery!

I think mental outlook is as important to recovery as the healing process alone.  So, rest assured, my desire to be upright and packing my trusty suitcase for another adventure in France is all the motivation I need.  I'm thinking perhaps Bordeaux region?  Maybe Brittany?  Perhaps the north, near Lille?  Who knows?  I'm reading a lot (since I have a great deal of time on my hands currently) about personal accounts of the french resistance (there are some amazing biographical accounts out there on book shelves, with diary entries that are worth the read), and would like to venture to some of the places mentioned.

So, keep in touch.  Who knows, maybe we'll all be back in France sooner than within a year?  Happy Holidays and Aloha, Lennie