Progress, One Step at a Time
When we left Alabama Susan had graduated to a lace up and Velcro brace to support her broken leg and a walker and had been to physical therapy five times. These were pretty basic PT sessions. How to use the walker and early efforts to begin to regain flexibility and range of motion. She had a long way to go. So when we got to Fredericksburg she found a Physical Therapy resource, got the necessary referrals and started seeing a therapist two or three times a week.
It started out with stretching and flexibility workouts, range of motion exercises and home work exercises for hips to help keep her walking straight. All of this is helping. When the ankle is sore she uses an ice pack.
Every day we walk in the park. Susan started walking without the brace sometimes a couple weeks ago. And trying these shoes or those for best comfort. We are at the point now where the brace has been retired and walking is pretty good. In the last week she has started walking without her cane, she still carries it along, sometimes twirling it like a baton or up and down like a drum major. Last week we walked around the park perimeter twice, no cane, 1.4 miles!
Progress is steady, Susan is working hard on making it a reality.
Vaccine
We had high hopes of getting a Covid-19 vaccine while we were in Alabama but like so many other places vaccine supplies were slow in coming, distribution mechanisms were confused and difficult to work with. In the end it just wasn’t going to happen. No word from home yet on them being available so we pinned our hopes on Texas. We had heard that the HEB grocery store pharmacy was giving shots so every day (usually more than once we checked to see if any were available. It was a frustrating effort and left us feeling hopeless.
We signed up at the Fredericksburg Hill Country hospital to be notified when appointments were available. This is where you go in Gillespie County to get notified if vaccines are available. We also signed up in nearby Llano (pronounced “yano”) County for the same thing. There was no way to tell how long the lists were, where we were on the lists or even how many vaccine doses might be available.
And then one morning we both got a text message from the Fredericksburg Hospital with a link to make an appointment for a vaccine shot. We were excited and relieved – all the reactions you can imagine, all the same ones most of us feel when this opportunity comes up. Within minutes we had appointments for the next morning at the nearby University Center. It was only minutes away, Susan’s appointment was just a few minutes ahead of mine, she went in, I waited a bit.
It was very organized, rows of individual tables spaced apart, fill out the paper work, answer a couple questions from the intake person and then wait a couple minutes for the injection giver to get to you. She was a nurse, not dressed like one, probably retired. Looked to be my grandmother’s age but probably only a couple years older than me, a kind and reassuring voice, a jab and it was done! What a rush of emotions. We were on the right path, the right one for us.
When we came out we looked out behind the University Center where there was a large pasture with a most curious looking horse. Actually several of them. The front end was tan and behind a very distinct line the back end was black. I took several pictures and when looking at them later realized the head too was black. Our friends here had been describing the Oreo cows they had seen. Were these the Oreo Horses? And then we noticed a large herd of deer in the background that we had not seen at all in person. These are Texas deer, about the size of a big goat. It was interesting that focusing on one thing, the tan and black horse, other details are just not seen.
After all was done we went to the Dairy Queen for a treat since we didn’t get the customary lollipop.
I hope all those we know will take advantage of a vaccine when it is available to them. Not just for you and your family but for all of us.
Walking
In addition to walking with Susan most of the time when she walks I walk around the entire campground almost every day, back and forth up and down each lane. Many days one and a half times around, sometimes twice. Two complete loops is about 3.5 miles. Since there is a slight slope west to east that means almost half of that walk is up hill. Our friend Mike who is here from Nacogdoches walks most days as well, sometimes we walk together and chat about the news. He listens to much more news that I do and on sources that I would likely not listen to any way. It is OK to get another perspective on occasion. And sometimes I get to take their small poodle Charley for a walk. Lots of start and stopping with that one but I like it. He seems to me to be a tiny dog but his buddy Clancy (their other poodle) is half Charley’s size.
Exploring
We will rarely take the direct route anywhere we are going. Fredericksburg is an interesting town and fun to drive up and down the streets to see what we see. Lots of nice old homes, lots of updated and gentrified old homes and some brand new ones made to look old. And lots of pretty normal new homes and town homes, filling the need for the growth spurt being felt around here. In general they are doing pretty well with style and materials to maintain the sturdy limestone look of the old German roots.
Who would have expected to find a giant tree house in someones front yard? Why not here?
More Later, Much Love.
Roger and Susan
Home2 with Roger and Susan 