0830 a typical day - part 2 of 3

Then I head off to the bathroom for my morning ritual, which includes shaving with both hands, brushing my teeth and washing my face. I also use the support bar on the wall for my first standing exercise of the day. This includes shifting the weight back and forth to test the strength of the right knee after the injury. Sometimes, I’ll also use the toilet, but not every morning.

After the bathroom is breakfast. Before the injury, I would walk to the kitchen (with the walker) through the den doorway, but now I’ll either wheel the long way around through the front room (my wheelchair is too wide for the doorway by the den) or, if my parents are in a rush or have an appointment, I’ll find a tray in the den.

Breakfast is usually cold cereal and fresh fruit, which is fine for me and requires very little prep and clean-up. But I find that I actually miss eggs, bacon and pancakes. Maybe it’s all the IHOP commercials on the TV. Even that loco moco I talked about in the July 31 post is sounding real good right now.

The time between breakfast and lunch is spent on arm and hand exercises. I mix them up so they don’t become too routine. Exercises include stretching, curls with weights, rolling golf balls, typing on Word and writing practice.

I remember I used to laugh when I saw small weights at a sporting goods store as I used to curl with 15-lb. weights in both hands. Now, it’s a good day if I can successfully curl a 2-lb. weight in my right hand. Some friends and I used to joke about doing 12 ounce curls (the weight of a can of beer).

To be continued ....