Keeping myself accountable…

I started this blog post last Monday. The days since then have been full of physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, art therapy, lymphedema therapy…you get the point. By the time the day’s appointments are over, my brain is tired so finishing the post was hard. But, I’m learning to be ok with things taking longer than they used to. So, here’s the blog I started, now finished.

If you follow @MugUpMermaid on Instagram, you may have seen I often include the hashtag, “#allvictoriesmatter”. Well, I’m claiming making cookies last week as a victory. The victory isn’t that I only ate one cookie while making them (that’s true). The victory isn’t that I could do the recipe from memory (mostly true and a good step in my neuro cognitive rehab). The victory is that I was able to stand up for about 2 hours to make them. Without a break. Cookies are therapy!

Victory? Yes. Since I broke my ankle (in three places aka “trimalleolar fracture”) I haven’t been able to stand very long. I’m in a walking cast/boot now and moving around better – barely using a cane and even able to stand a bit in my bare feet. Hopefully I can get my toes in the sand at the beach real soon and get back to being able to drive.

I really wanted to make the cookies as a thank you gift and I finally felt strong enough to tackle the project. I’ve been blessed by so many “cheer up” gifts in the past year that it felt so good to make something to thank a group of people I’ve missed since I broke my ankle – the women in my Tuesday night yoga class for cancer survivors. So, besides making the cookies, I got to deliver the cookies and go to my first yoga class since March. I had to use a chair and got help with modifications from the instructor, but it was another victory. I got to MOVE!

I love that pile of cookies. It represents a quantifiable result that was so satisfying. Sharing the cookies as a thank you felt more like my “normal” self. Being able to make the cookies and go to that yoga class was a victory that mattered to me… it was encouragement wrapped in love, steeped in healing.

All victories matter. Even short blog posts that take a long time to finish…

Until next time,

~Mug Up Mermaid

(PS – I’ve already started the next blog post – let’s see how long it takes to finish this one…it’s about MASKS and I’m hoping to finish it in time for my one-year anniversary of my double mastectomy on 6/1.)