Sunshine and Hope

 

After suffering with my knees and other arthritic pain for a few months, I went to the doctor Monday. I wore my Alzheimer’s T-shirt that says “I Hope. I Fight. I Walk. The ortho doc  shot a different version of cortisone in my knees. I’ll admit that it was a little bit ouchy, but by the next day, I was feeling the difference in my knees. By Wednesday, I felt the difference throughout my body. My hands were not as swollen and felt better, and amazingly, I lost five pounds.

 

Wednesday was a warm, sunshiny day, and that alone would have been enough to raise my spirits. Another event that made Wednesday a red-letter day in this household was that Mike from MediEquip came and installed our custom curved stairlift. It was a bigger thrill than any carnival ride to zoom to the basement and back up without putting strain on my knees.

 

For the past year or so, I’ve been the one who traveled to and fro to the basement. For the past several weeks, I’ve ventured to the basement once a day to work on organizing my office. “You get the Wi-Fi in the basement,” I told Harold, “and I’ll move everything back to the basement and use my office.” The basement router had quit working about the same time my knees had. I’ve had a “temporary” going on permanent office on my kitchen table ever since.

 

“I can’t seem to get the Wi-Fi to do what I want it to do upstairs, much less downstairs,” Harold said. We’ve gone through three different brands of routers and even the most expensive one had been dummied down enough that it won’t do everything we want it to do.

 

Still, the stairlift gives me hope that the basement will be accessible for both of us. I’ve worked through the pain long enough.

 

I have real hope that I have as much protection against Covid-19 as possible. When I told a friend earlier in the week that I was getting my second vaccination, he asked, “Aren’t you nervous?” Not at all! Just excited to put an end to this yearlong ordeal. It reminded me of being fastened in a seatbelt on a long bumpy flight, and finally the seatbelt light dinged and the pilot said, “You are free to move about the cabin.”

 

My life has been filled with surreal periods of time and the past year has been the most recent. The outside volunteering and social activities I thought was necessary didn’t seem as important. I discovered new facets of my personality as I retreated to being a homebody. I have always craved quiet time. Unfortunately, I still allowed outside pressure affect me. These activities continued in conjunction with an unusual amount of household disasters, meal preparation, cleaning, daily tasks, new responsibilities, physical pain, and mobility problems interfered with my plans of more relaxation.

 

In some ways, this past year has reminded me of caregiving for Jim. Only the caregiving stent of surreal time was tenfold this one.

 

During the most difficult of times, I still find joy. Sunshine and vaccine gives me hope. I look forward to a bright, sunshiny spring after the long, dark winter.

 

I’m ready for life to return to normal. If we can all accept the new normal for a few more months, maybe this virus will disappear as other deadly viruses have in the past. We may all have PTSD when this is over, but the main thing is to do our best to turn our faces toward the sunshine and give ourselves reason to hope.

 

Copyright © February 2021 by L.S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

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