A different shaped heart conversations about disability awareness
Welcome to A different shaped heart conversations about being awesome with a disability and raising awareness at the same time and absolutely Yes sometimes you have to say F…..CK you to your own mindset and especially your disability!
A different shaped heart conversations about disability awareness
When Injury Meets Determination: Balancing School and Healing
Ever wondered what recovery from a serious leg injury actually looks like? Spoiler alert: it's not the relaxing downtime people imagine! After taking a fall on my birthday, I've been navigating the strange new world of limited mobility, specialized medical equipment, and the frustrating gap between what I want to accomplish and what my body currently allows.
My newest companion is something called a Dynasplint—a massive metal contraption with pulleys designed to gradually stretch my injured leg back to normal. For someone barely five feet tall, this imposing device feels like strapping a small car to my limb! The physical therapists want me wearing it six hours daily, which seems nearly impossible when I can barely manage one hour now. Between hopping on one leg, keeping the other elevated, and trying to build tolerance for this medieval-looking stretching device, each day brings new challenges and small victories.
Despite these obstacles, life doesn't pause for recovery. I'm preparing to start online classes at Grand Canyon University on September 18th, which means scrambling to submit transcripts and coordinate with the Office of Disabilities while managing my physical therapy regimen. My podcast "She Is Her" about mental disabilities continues, though I've had to adjust my publishing schedule to accommodate my new limitations. Recovery has taught me that adaptation isn't optional—it's essential.
The journey of healing rarely follows a straight line, but I'm determined to make progress on multiple fronts simultaneously. Maybe I'll write essays while wearing my Dynasplint—killing two birds with one stone! Have you faced similar challenges balancing recovery with life's ongoing demands? I'd love to hear your stories and strategies for turning obstacles into opportunities. Subscribe to follow my recovery journey and upcoming interviews that promise plenty of the "mess beyond mess" that makes life interesting!
Welcome to a winning hunt, you guys. First of all, I have my camera turned off because I look like awful, awful. This is what you get when you have like injury and you're semi-bed bound you get awful, you get awful, you get awful. So it's easier. It's also truly easier on internet wise to turn cameras off and just speak. So for those of you wanting to be podcast guests, sometimes the podcast guests require cameras on or require cameras off. It's your winning heart.
Speaker 1:And when I start interviewing people on she Is Her talking about mental disabilities, which go check that out. I only have one episode out, but please go check that out and just listen to that. I need to do my second episode. Maybe that would be a project for small, because I said Tuesdays and Thursdays and I've already failed at that, so I may switch it to Tuesdays and Sundays. That's when I'll probably do switch it to Tuesdays and Sundays, because that's the easiest.
Speaker 1:You would think being bed-bound was interesting. You would think I have all this time on my hands, but I truly don't, and I have a huge project that needs to get done by the 18th actually two of them by the 18th, which will be my project for next week, because I need to get my transcripts in and into college believe it or not and get myself set up with that before the 18s. And then I need to get myself set up with Office of Disabilities at Grand Canyon University and do all that. So, yeah, that's fun, but you would think me being bedbound. I would have all this time on my hands. No, but to give you an update on how I'm doing, I'm actually progressing. Believe it or not, I actually have a splint that goes on my leg. As bent as my leg is. A splint goes on my leg and it's called the Dynasplint, dino sprint, and what it? What it does if I only got what it does is there's pulleys in the dino Dagen Dynasprint, which actually stretched my leg out. So I put the sprint on. I should do it today. Actually, I put the sprint on and my aides I can't do it myself, I wish I could my aides helped me set it to a certain number and it actually stretches my leg out. So that's been a fun and interesting challenge. Just that, because I didn't know that my leg couldn't completely collapse number one on itself, and I did not know that there was such a thing as a dino sprint. So, yeah, that's been a fun one.
Speaker 1:I mean, this big and heavy and metal sprint unwindled me and for those who know me, in the episode of my chair, for those who know me and for those who know me publicly and privately know that I'm only five feet, so a big, huge monster of a dino sprint and ugh, it's okay, I'll get through this. I'll get through this. A big, huge monster of a dino sprint goes little old me and I'm like, really, and I'm supposed to be wearing this thing thing six hours a day would look at it. Trust me, we're getting there and it's not easy. It's not easy dealing with a leg that doesn't want to cooperate, it's not easy. Nopping on one leg is not easy, and having legs up in the air is not easy, but I manage it somehow because that's what I have to do and I will manage everything else along with this, and now I have to put homework in, along with PT exercises. That's going to be fun, yeah right. So that's going to be, that's gonna be fun. Yeah right, that's gonna be, that's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1:Maybe I'll write my essays with the Dynasprint on, I don't know. I don't know, probably Because Killtubers with one stone start on speech, taking an essay and having the dinosaur on, I don't know, because that's the only way I can think of doing it, because I well, I don't spend the majority of my time in bed. I try to sit up at the edge of the bed with PT. But, yeah, the splint is actually helpful, don't get me wrong. As I said, it has a pulley mechanism built into it and it literally stretches my leg down. But don't know how I'm going to wear this thing six hours a day. Well, we'll soon see. I'm up to one hour, but I need a couple more. But six hours a day.
Speaker 1:We chose to sing and Dan the Yellow's saying yes and Dan the Yellow's thinking oh my God, what did the wind get itself into? And I got myself into this injury of falling on my birthday, and that's how this whole injury started. And we're recovering from this injury. So, as of September 18th, I am going back to school online. I couldn't do it in the other way. I thought about going in person, but it's too much. Too much to go in person, much to go in person. And so I, yeah, as of September 18th, we'll just see where we are with my exercises and, as I said, maybe I'll put the diagnosis band on and carry on with essays. I don't know, because it's the only way I can think of Two challenges at once. I love it, but we'll make it work and we'll just see where it goes. And so, with that, I'm going to let Danielle need us out and then we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 1:Oh, one more thing before we leave Danielle, when are you leaving for your vacation At the end of October, and how long will you be gone? I leave a chat, tell you more and be back on the show. Okay, so during that time, don't contact Dan the Yell, do not. Do not because Dan the Ye Do not. Do not Because Danielle's having too much fun. Do not have any desire to contact Danielle. If you need to contact someone, contact me, Contact me.
Speaker 1:And if you just Danielle's going to be having too much fun in Disney Cruise, which maybe when she gets back she'll want to talk about that publicly and to see how, to see how the Disney Cruise is. I don't know. But yeah, do not contact Danielle at the end of October because she'll be dancing the night away with Mickey Mouse. I know it, I know it, I know it and I know it, and she's going to have a lot of fun. Apparently, I've been told those Disney well, any cruise is a blast, but those Disney cruises, I've been told, are fun.
Speaker 1:So, yep, so that's it, you guys, and I need to post an interview for you guys and then we'll see what other mess we can get into. Mess beyond mess, beyond mess, mess we can get into, mess beyond mess, beyond mess is what we get into. Yes, we do, oh, yes, we do. Don't say that, don't say that, bff, yes, we do. And so I will see you guys next week, I will post that interview and then we'll figure out what messes we should get into, and I hope you enjoyed and thank you for following us. Bye, you guys, Bye.
