The Day

Today is one of two anniversaries related to my motorcycle accident. The first one, today, is the day after Thanksgiving. It’s a bit ironic to me that we call it Black Friday. The second one is the calendar date from 2013 which is November 29th. Neither day really means that much to me, but it does remind me of where I am today in comparison to then. I don’t really remember much reality from the first week and a half after the accident and the day of the accident itself is almost a complete blank, so there isn’t much for me to think back on regarding the actual day.

One thing that stands out in my mind is the progress that I have made over the past four years. It has been a journey that will seemingly never end. I remember that, from the time that I first became coherent until many months after the accident, my wife would tell me that I had been injured badly but I would recover fully. She would tell me this over and again in the hospital. Day by day I would lie in bed, endure the pain, work with the physical therapists, and work toward the day in which my body would return to “normal”. The day never came. One thing that I never considered was that none of the medical personnel had actually told me that my body would heal to the extent that I would function physically as I did before the accident. My wife always believes in the best outcome, and always desires to encourage me in every way possible. Consequently, she would tell me often that I would recover fully from my wounds. I remember asking her long after the accident to tell me who it was that diagnosed my full recovery. She told me that no one did, but she believed that I would be alright.

When I first realized that I would not be functioning physically as I did before the motorcycle accident I found it to be a little sobering. No one ever told me. It just became glaringly obvious because of my physical progress. I knew that the damage done to my body was too extensive. I spent months believing that that damage was not permanent but the truth remained that too much had happened to my body. I must say that I’m very much thankful that my wife consistently maintained such a positive outlook. Far from creating any kind of disappointment, her attitude throughout the first year or so helped me to maintain a strong position in recovering from the injuries caused by the motorcycle accident. I never gave up, and I continue to fight for my health and well-being to this day.

Earlier this morning I attempted to donate blood at the local blood bank. I thought that it would be a nice thing to do in order to commemorate a day in which I required so much blood from others four years ago. I made it all the way to the donation couch, but I was told that my veins are too small for the large needle used to extract the blood from my arm. They were afraid that they would do damage to the vein in my arm and gave me a fleece blanket as a gift for trying. I wish that it would have worked out, but as they told me, “your heart is in the right place”.  Maybe later I’ll get to work on the Christmas lights outside of my house. Regardless, it’s good to be active and healthy!