110 A NEW YEAR AND A NEW HOPE

Well that’s it, January 1, 2018 and to quote John Lennon “another year over, and a new one just begun”.  I’m into a year that for awhile was touch and go that I would ever see it.  But, I’m still here and with a resolve to continue working to get completely healthy again.  I’m a lot better now than I was in September, but I still have a long way to go.

Skating by Christmas didn’t happen, and it doesn’t appear that will happen anytime soon.  I still cannot find any shoes or boots to fit me, although I did come very close with a size 12 EEEE at Mark’s Work warehouse the other day.  Unfortunately, the were out of stock on the 13 of the same width.  Who knew there were other people out there with feet like mine.

Soon, into the new year, I hope to hear from Jay, my skate guy, some good news.  I’m hoping he will get word back from the manufacturer that they can custom build a pair of skates for me.  I have often said that I would consider myself fully healed when I skated in my first game.  I’m going to have to revise that for now, because even if I was able to skate tomorrow, I’m no where near healed.

Now that I can walk with a normal gait and without a limp, my first day back to Physio tomorrow, I think I will concentrate on spinal decompression for a bit to get some mobility and flexibility back.  I am stiff and sore all the time, especially when standing or sitting for any length of time.  After awhile I will go back to treatments on my hand and foot.

My foot is improved to the point I can walk without a limp, but it’s still swollen.  Walking with a normal gate will have to wait until it’s no longer icy as I’m forced to take much shorter steps.  My hand is drastically improved, but still not right.  I cannot completely close my fingers and it is still weak.  Much better than when I first got out of hospital and could barely move my fingers at all.

EXTENT I COULD MOVE MY
HAND IN SEPTEMBER

GREATLY IMPROVED MOTION

We got home here at 2:00 AM after a great New Year’s Eve crab dinner with friends in Vancouver.  This has become a yearly tradition, although a few years it has been later in January due to work schedules of our hosts.  There were 5 of us there and the crab was delicious as usual.  I brought desert consisting of pumpkin pie and whipped cream as well as my home baked mince tarts and my invention of Milky White Chocolate Chip cookies.

DINNER GROUP NEW YEARS EVE

RENEE AND I

DIGGING IN

It was quite funny as we were coming up the street, there was a car right behind us.  I was going to pop a U-turn and park on the street where I usually do, but they were signalling to go into the driveway as well, so I just kept going and they kept following.  It turned out to be my next-door neighbours also returning from an evening out.  They were followed in by 5 more vehicles all coming into the complex, so we were all coming from different places and arriving home at the same time.

I finally got to bed at 2:30 AM and fell asleep almost immediately and woke up at 7:30 AM just in time to have my shower and get my breakfast for the usual 8:00 AM.  Renee and Toby slept in until 9:00 AM and we headed out on our morning walk at about 9:30 AM.  We did the full neighbourhood walk which is just under 5KM.

We met several people also out for morning walks, most of us walking our dogs.  It was a chilly -2C and foggy and there was even one brave soul out running.  Everyone exchanged greetings with us of “Good Morning and Happy New Year”.  That’s one of the many things I love about Maple Ridge is that people out here are far more friendly and open than it was in The Big Smoke, Vancouver.

So, I will close this page, wishing all my family, friends and avid readers a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year in 2018.  While I don’t make or believe in resolutions, I do have a couple of goals.  One is to be healthy for the whole year, but especially for July 7 when my daughter Caitlin and her fiancé Trevor get married.  The other is to hopefully play hockey again before the end of this season and failing that to be ready for the start of next season.  I’m not ready to retire from the game just yet.