1229 saturday

Steve K came by at 10am to pick me up for my weekend walking exercise. After loading up, we headed over to Liberty Park in Cerritos, where we walked for about an hour, including a ten-minute rest stop at my turnaround point plus a fall. In looking back at it, I think I took too big a stride with my left foot then didn’t compensate when I shifted my weight over. Fortunately, I landed on a grassy spot and a jogger stopped to give Steve a hand in getting me lifted up and back onto my walker. The remainder of the walk was uneventful.

We went to lunch at the CPK in Los Cerritos Mall. The mall was very busy but several handicapped space were open, so we drove into one and wheeled into the restaurant. CPK was packed yet we were seated at a table in just a few minutes. I had the full size original BBQ chicken chopped salad, with avocadoes. Steve had a half size of the same salad but also had a bowl of soup. The food was good. We finished in less than an hour and Steve had me home around 1pm.

Ching came by shortly after 2pm and picked me up. We were just meeting to catch up and chat. We headed for the shopping center at 190th and Harbor Gateway, grabbed some munchies at Starbucks and Sushi Boy, then settled in at one of the outer tables.

We chatted mostly about me, the stroke, and my long road towards full recovery. It’s been easy to become depressed, as I thought that I would’ve recovered by now. I was fully expecting to be walking around and being as independent as I was before the stroke. Being dependent on the wheelchair is a daily reminder that I still have a long way to go. Ching offered me some positive reinforcement. “Look on the bright side,” she said. “You could be dead.” She’s right, you know. Some people never fully recover from strokes; and some do die.

I am now counting the calendar days a second time, since I entered the hospital over a year ago. Ching suggested that I look at what I’ve accomplished in the last year. But from my point-of-view, the change is not evident. That’s because I don’t see myself on a periodic basis, like my friends do.

Ching dropped me off at SBCC, just as the evening service was coming out. I had a meeting scheduled with Mike F, to go over the Faith Lessons program, which will start in mid-February. Pastor Ken spotted me but had a puzzled expression. “Where were you sitting?” he asked. I realized that he knew I wasn’t inside the sanctuary, so I replied “I just got here.” He just smiled as if I answered a quiz correctly, then moved on.

Supper Saturday was serving up chili and rice, but I was full from munching on the sushi. That didn’t stop Ching from grabbing a bowlful, before heading home.

The meeting began around 7:30pm in the kitchen and lasted for about an hour. It was just Mike, Carlton, Judy, and myself; John, Kiyomi, Carol, and Steve T couldn’t make it. We finalized some of the format options and the meeting documentation. Mike gave a ride home after the meeting.