Double

I pulled off back to backs yesterday. Since I had to cancel therapy Tuesday because of our SACS visit, it was rescheduled for Wednesday. I went in and the therapists had me do everything we did Friday plus some new stuff. When it was all over, I felt pretty worked out on the right side, and the shoulder really is getting better. I now believe, fully, that I will totally recover and be able to do some all-day swimming in the future.

Then she sent me to the back for "the good stuff" as she called it. Friday, "the good stuff" was some kind of machine she rubbed over my shoulder over and over and the thing slowly warmed making my deltoid feel loved. Wednesday it was some electrodes another person hooked up to the shoulder and then she began shocking me. I jumped like a cat with his tail stepped on when the first bolt hit me. Not that it hurt, but I wasn't expecting it. Then she draped a huge bag of ice over all that and turned the machine on and left. The whole thing was so relaxing that I snoozed pretty quickly.  

When I left there, I called John. He didn't want to swim. What?!?!? That is three times this week he has said, "No." But he keeps asking me when we can go three or four hours. Dude, I am thankful to be able to go forty-five minutes right now. The last time we swam together, he kept pushing me, and I swam too much and it set the shoulder back. I plan not to let that happen again.

At the pool, I swam an easy 2,300 meters with the last set being 1,300 straight. That is the farthest straight swim since Chicot in June, and I feel almost well enough now to begin dreaming again, to open up Google Maps and start planning swims. That is just one of the things about this injury: it killed my ability to dream. But the dreams are coming back. I am thinking of Chicot VII; I am dreaming of Lake Pickwick and the Tennessee River; I am scheming on the major watershed lakes of north Mississippi. It takes a certain amount of health and audacity to dream those kinds of dreams. At least for me it does. And a boat, it helps to have a boat. I have one but it is a project.

So I had a good day Wednesday and I plan a bigger one today. Not much larger but just 100 more meters at the pool and whatever the therapist throws at me. Thank you, Jesus, for healing and hope and happiness.