Recuperating at my parents' house

Last week was a little rough. After the car accident, I was moved from one emergency room to another. At the second hospital, a surgeon inserted a tube into my right chest wall to re-inflate my collapsed lung. 

The next morning, I was fitted with a back brace that stabilizes my torso. It fits like a corset. I spent a lot of time resting in my hospital bed. The physical therapy team was amazing and helped me put on my prosthesis to get me walking. I walked down the hall and back, with the therapy aide lugging the container of my lung fluids behind us. I was sore, mostly from the chest tube.

On Saturday, my godmother, her husband, and Ken came to visit me. During the visit, the nurse practitioner took out my chest tube. It hurt much less than I thought it would. Removing the tape and bandages hurt more than taking out the tube.

I got discharged on Sunday. My father and brother came to pick me up. We drove home. Mom had a belated thanksgiving dinner waiting for us as we came inside.

Since then, I have been spending a lot of time in my wheelchair and in the hospital chair at my parents' house. I can get around with my crutches, too, but I cannot get my prosthesis on. The wiggly movements that I use to don my prosthesis are irritating to my back. They are also difficult to do while wearing my back brace.

Yesterday, I tried to lay on my belly. My left hip has gotten very tight with all the sitting. I could barely lay on my stomach for five minutes before the muscles were too achy to continue. I tried again today.

We also took off the bandages from the chest tube. The area is still tender. My brace digs into my side right above the scar from the chest tube. Athena helped me stuff my brace with socks to pad my breasts and sides from the harder edges of the back brace. It's much better now.

I am going to Hershey, Pennsylvania today with my mother and sisters. They had already planned the trip and it will be nice to have a mini vacation. I will be back to Philadelphia on Monday.

I feel so lucky to have walked, well, hopped away from the accident and that Athena and I are ok. The car is not ok; it is totaled.