Strawberry Fields Forever

Greg & I visited Dowagiac recently. Here's me and Dad perched together in his driveway. Cousin Nikki lives next door with her husband, Farmer Tom. They are the proud owners of Blue Sky Farm. Blue Sky Farm is part of what used to belong to our grandparents, Joseph and Teresa Sedlar. I'll take more photos of it next time we are there. Here's Nikki with some of the sunflowers that Tom took to the market in Holland on Saturday morning. From his bountiful garden, Tom harvested white cucumbers, Russets, Yukon Gold, and Blue Potatoes, and other vegetables that I don't remember because I was still recovering from surgery and my brain was only functioning at 75%. When we visited Dowagiac in June (pre-surgery), Isaac, Elizabeth and I picked 24 quarts of strawberries from Farmer Tom's strawberry patch. He had a glut of strawberries and we made fabulous Strawberry Freezer Jam afterwards. Good times. Note to self: Take More Pictures(!). I wish you could have seen all the strawberries we picked!

Ziva

Here's a photo of our newest family member. She's a 4-cylinder, 4WD, SUV named Ziva. How did I choose this name you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. We (Amanda and I) were driving to Amanda's house and discussing possible names for my new toy. Amanda suggested that it should have something to do with fire since my car is bright red. Hmm. I started thinking. One of my favorite TV characters is named Ziva, from NCIS. She's pretty fiery - and her name actually means "brilliant" and "light of God". Seems fitting to me.

Notes

Dr. Cha performed arthroscopic repair of type II superior labrum anterior and posterior lesion, subacromial decompression, and extensive glenohumeral joint debridement of my right shoulder on July 13 and, finally, I am beginning to feel somewhat normal. It's been 3 weeks and my arm's mobility is around 40%. Typing is getting easier but other movements are still very difficult and, in some cases, impossible. For example, it's painful to lift my hand up to the right side of my face, ear, or hair. That means I can't dry my hair to my satisfaction and it probably looks a bit bed-headed. However, I really don't care because getting dressed and ready for work in the morning takes almost twice as long as it used to and by the time I'm done, I just tell myself that no one will even notice what my hair looks like, probably. Sleeping is still a challenge. The recliner is the best place because of the pain caused by certain arm positions. I still need to use my sling at night and when I'm in public during the day.

My physical therapy team at Beacon Orthopaedics West is awesome. I've had five therapy sessions with different team members each time. They are all very patient and kind. In case one of them reads my blog, yes, I've been doing my exercises. :)