My First Year...

Being postop:  The months since my Nov 28, 2011 surgery have literally flown by!  At the moment of creating this "Anniverary Update," I'm speechless (or shall I say type-less) at my recovery and the blessing God has given me.

Celebrating events without my mom:  I am randomly overwhelmed with emotions of missing Ma but find more joy than sorrow in my memories of her.  My triggers seem to be when I want to call her throughout the week as I used to then realize she is no longer there to answer the phone.

Being pain free:  Life is grand when not bedridden by pain.

Raising a German Shepherd pup:  Indi is growing like a weed and is an incredibly sweet girl.  I've trained her to hop onto a couch so I can easily slide her into the walking harness without having to bend over.

Living spontaneously:  It has been exhilarating living pain free which makes it possible to do many unplanned dates, trips, events, etc.

Believing I can try new things and actually doing them:  I've replaced my old pre-op view of life, "I can't do this/that because of my back pain," with, "I am going to try this/that because I can."

Participating in races:  Never thought I'd be capable much less inspired to want to race walk. What a difference a year makes!

Taking archery lessons:  Dr. Lenke approved me to do archery because it may help rebuild the atrophied muscles between my shoulder blades.  I actually won a contest too by shooting three arrows in the gold!

My postop collage has been updated and is listed under the August 14, 2012 blog entry.  

A quick recap:
Nov 2011 Preop

 

Nov 2012 Postop

 

Please pray that Dr. Lenke sees fusion on my next set of xrays in February 2013.  Notice how clear my February 2012 xrays look?  Fusion will appear as cloudy areas around the hardware, so I'm praying have a great cloudy xray!

Some recent pix and vids...

1st archery lesson - I'm the tall chick!  :)

1st trip to ice cream shop with Indi

Me and Lizzie, Nov 2012

At the park with Indi.  Notice how I keep my back straight when kneeling down?  Working with the "down" and "high 5" commands.