Life Update: Moving to FL, Continuing Recovery, and More

As you’ve probably realized by now, I’ve taken a little hiatus from making blog posts. But never fear! I am back, and plan to bring you better content than ever before.

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Life has been so good to us, but good doesn’t always mean easy. I posted about the hip surgery I had done in February (click here to see that post), and I have been continuing to recover and make progress. Hips are very complicated and take a long time to heal, so even though I’m walking and doing just about all of my normal day-to-day activities, I still have a little while until I’m fully recovered. At my last physical therapy appointment before we moved, I was able to lightly jog (trot?) a quarter mile at 3mph. It seems so slow, but I really felt on top of the world after that appointment. That was almost 11 weeks after my surgery, so I’m right on track for where they would expect me to be.

Timing is a funny thing. My husband, Nick, has been super-husband-dad since I had my surgery, trying to make up for where I lack. He was also overloaded with research and school work, and got a nasty cold that didn’t want to go away. Since he wasn’t able to allow himself to rest during this time his sickness lingered and his cough got worse and worse. Just about the time that I got off of my crutches, he broke a rib from the violent coughing that his bronchitis caused. He’s a trooper and took it all in stride, and is doing much better now.

Since I’m not technically “cleared” yet, I was given a packet of exercises to do this summer that will increase in intensity as the weeks go by. They said that I could find a physical therapist down here in Florida, but that if I’m feeling good and keep up with my exercises, then that wouldn’t be necessary. I’m not going to lie, it’s been hard to do them every day since there isn’t anyone I’m accountable to besides myself, but I know that it’s important, so I keep on trying my best.

There was a period of a few weeks where I got pretty discouraged during this recovery time. It started soon after I got off of crutches, and I thought that I wasn’t making as much progress as I wanted to be making. But I mean, you make dramatic changes the first month or so after surgery, like getting off of crutches, and then the changes after that don’t seem as dramatic. It started to be all about strengthening my core, quad, and glute. I tried to keep my chin up, but had one moment where I broke down and just had to cry it out. It had been about two and half years since I had really felt like a normal person and the end goal just seemed to be so far out of reach. This was also right before we moved, so I’m going to go ahead and say that the stresses of moving played a role in my emotions. But guess what? After I had my moment of weakness and let it all out, and expressed some of my feeling to my physical therapist, I felt a load lifted and felt recharged in taking on this challenge. What I’m saying is that we shouldn’t be ashamed to cry sometimes. Crying is therapy and will help you feel better than you did before.

Now that we’re here in Florida and are just about all settled in, I have been able to try out our apartment complex’s gym. I was able to use the elliptical on level 5 for about 10 minutes, and then jog another quarter mile on the treadmill at 5mph. I have missed this type of cardio SO MUCH, and it felt amazing to get my heart pumping. Things are getting better, people!

Our move to Florida went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Our first stop after we left West Lafayette was in Memphis to visit Nick’s family. It was fun to celebrate a bunch of birthdays, including Brynlee’s 4th! We decorated a Nothing Bundt Cake with a bunch of her favorite things. Something I’ve noticed about Brynlee is that when she gets a chance to do art of any kind, i.e. coloring, painting, or decorating cookies, they always end up looking unicorn themed. She loves using a variety of different colors, and sparkles and sprinkles are her favorite. We tried to make this cake all about her, and I’m pretty sure we totally nailed it.

After a few days in Memphis, we headed to Florida to move into our new apartment. We love the complex that we moved to, but we decided to find an unfurnished apartment this year. We are continually looking for ways to add some furniture here and there, and we just recently finished making a dining table and bench so that we’re not sitting on the floor to eat anymore! I am going to make a post about the table and bench soon, so stay tuned.

We loved our apartment complex’s pool!

The dining table we made with a hand saw, a drill, our Kreg Jig, and an orbital sander

Some of the fun things that we’ve done since we’ve been down here include: playing at the beach, going to the many splash pads, and visiting the Gulfarium on Okaloosa Island. It is one of my kids’ favorite places, and I love the dolphin show and the sea lion show that they put on. If you are ever visiting the Destin area, the Gulfarium is a must! This last time that we went, it was our 5th anniversary, so even though we haven’t done anything as a couple for our anniversary yet, it was still nice to spend the day together as a family.

A cute wedding at the beach!

The Gulfarium is right on the beach

More Gulfarium fun

Lunch at Tijuana Flats with a worn out toddler

I am so glad that I get to go through things that challenge me. Life would be boring if it were too easy. We all have our own struggles and challenges that are totally unique to us, and throughout this process I have been so extremely glad that my problems have not been worse. Something that I remind myself and others of often is that we can’t always downplay our problems because they are not the most extreme or the hardest out there. I don’t have cancer and I haven’t lost the ones I hold most dear, but that does not mean that this experience has been easy- it certainly hasn’t. All of the struggles that we go through are indeed struggles, and they bring us together as a people. I have been immensely blessed to be served by friends and family, and I hope that I can be there in similar ways if someone I know is going something that’s hard for them. People are what this life is all about.

I hope you have a great week,

-Whitney