Cosima's story part 13

Jumping back but I'm calling it Story 13

This is after I went to mom's after the hospitals and the nursing home in April of 2009.

Gracia drove me up to Taos a few weeks ago and we picked up the bicycle, my helmet, one glove, and one shoe. I was disappointed that there was only one shoe. I had purchased a pair of shoes in Taos that were on sale along with a bright yellow green vest and a pair of black bicycle shorts that were much more comfortable then the ones I had been using. Tough stuff. The shoes flew off my feet and the rest the hospital must have cut off of me before surgery. I was hoping for 2 shoes at least since I finally had broken down after having sore feet and bought some good
shoes. Nothing like having dressed up for the event. No one could say I wasn't bright enough to be seen. Humor my friends, we need it for every turn of the corner.

The bicycle is bent pretty bad and the seat and handle bars are about the only thing to save. I didn't feel much by seeing it except wondering a little about how more of my body could have been broken and smashed and mangled.

I did want to celebrate by going for a apple turnover.

Sugar/apple comfort food speaks for itself. When in some distress it is back to endorphins for a quick release. Being aware of the distress on top of talking with the police officers who had been so kind and saved my bicycle for so long. It is silly but I really was hoping for both bicycle shoes. I dropped my bicycle off at Boe's the Bicycle Doc in Los Alamos and he was kind enough to take it apart and give me the handle bars and seat. Poor bicycle, I had it fixed up so it was a perfect fit for me and it had been so much fun to ride.

Actually all I remember about the accident was having had a wonderful time with so many wonderful bicycle people. They will always be dear to my heart. It is a good thing to remember the wonderful vacation and great places and time I had with these people and Taos. It was my first big trip anywhere since the accident. It helped being apart of a place again where I had had an adventure.

It also helped the feeling of a time gap. It was like making a patch work quilt. I now felt connected again with the place and space where I left one reality and moved to a different reality. I was healing very quickly - so quickly family and friends could hardly believe it. But I am like a different person now it is not just the titanium inserts. I may never be able to be the same active person I was before. Yes with years of effort I will be able to do some of the same things. But all of my spiritual work before this accident event was put to the maximum test. You can't lay in a hospital bed and wake up to find your whole life has changed and not have to use every speck of spiritual practice you have ever learned.

In Spiritual practice one thinks one understands gratitude. One can talk about gratitude but it is not the same as being so filled with Light that being alive at all is miracle and gratitude is the only word that can be spoken or heard.

To be continued . . .

Cosima's story part 12

Cosima's Story Part 12

Dear Friends and Friends of the Mountaineer's,

Thank you so much for your support and assistance in my recovery from my accident last year. If you were to see me you would be very amazed at how far I have advanced since that serious event.

I have moved from a wheel chair, to a walker, to a cane, to even getting on my trail bike a couple of times. I'm now driving my car enough that I have been able to drive my Mom, as well as a friend of mine who went blind, to appointments in Albuquerque. I have also gone back to doing massage recently, and am working on 3 to 4 clients a day (once in awhile). I still need to have surgery in January to get one long piece of metal and five screws removed from my right arm to have better use of it, but I am thrilled to be back to working, even if it is sparingly.

Everyone has been so very supportive, but I would like to give a special thanks to Gracia Coffin for her Reiki treatments and Light Blessings.

I especially want to thank Annette Weyrauch and Mari Jorgensen at Physical Therapy Plus in Los Alamos for the months of intensive work that brought me back to living an almost normal life again.

I interviewed about five Physical Therapists in Los Alamos looking for someone who would do 'hands on' work. Considering that I had to get a ride from my mother's house (it was about an hour and a half drive one way), I really needed someone who would spend an a full hour's time physically shifting the positions that my body was in, not just putting me on machines. One reason that I moved to my Mom's is that she had a stationary bicycle, a walker, an arm machine, a large ball, and rubber band accessories.

I needed someone who would work into the tissue since my right arm and hand could barely be moved. I could have applied for a legal disability, but I really just wanted to go back to work.

Presently, I can squeeze my hand into a fist, and my elbow straightens out almost perfectly. I can reach over my head, I am gaining strength in my back, and I can now almost balance on my left leg.

Since Annette is a bicycle person herself she was able to relate particularly well to my athletic tendencies, and love of nature. This made our time together much more valuable.

I so much appreciate the constant motivation and effort that Annette and Mari gave me, and their sparks of variety and patient persistence that helped my body change. I feel so grateful for their professional knowledge and compassionate friendship. I know that I still have a ways to go with flexibility, but it feels like a miracle happening in the here and now!

Thank you all so much for your loving thoughts and support, and supporting Jan and my family who had to spend so much time and see me go through so much pain and effort to recover.

Love and Light

Cosima

Cosima's story part 11

Cosima's Story Continued Part 11

I started going out to my new studio once a day and spending time painting. I painted on small card size sheets of paper and painted mainly animals. This was a great way to exercise my hands and sitting in a chair and walking out to the shop was a good effort. Making my bed and cooking everyday and exercising on the stationary bicycle and the walker helped out a lot. Jan brought down his stepper machine along with a big ball and stretchy bands. It was like having my own personal gym. I decided the physical therapy I was going to in Bernalillo was not helping my right arm and hand enough.

Sam came to visit and we went for a walk in Gilman canyon and saw fresh mountain lion tracks. Sam and I had a great time catching up and he could see that I was really improving fast. All that equipment and eating my own food made a lot of difference plus having such wonderful visits from my sons.

After Sam left I decided to have Jan take me to Los Alamos and interview all of the Physical Therapists in that area. I wanted to find one that would give me hands on work and who would continue the work like my occupational therapist Liz, who had had some special training, had done for me. Adam, who was also from the nursing home, had really trained me in what exercises I needed to do at home. Bernalillo had a great Physical Therapist but I really wanted more hands on work for the amount of time of driving back and forth. I decided on Physical Therapy Plus because Annette really seemed to know how to do hands on work and there were no machines. Besides Annette was President of the Tough Riders in the Los Alamos bicycle group and she could really relate to what kind of injury getting hit by a car on a bicycle would be like.

Jan and some of my friends helped out with giving me rides to Los Alamos for physical therapy. With Annette's work and encouragement I started practicing putting the key in the ignition and taking it out and stepping on the brake. In two weeks time I was driving the car around my mother's house. Even though it took 2 hands to turn the ignition on I was driving to the bank and post office and practicing with short drives.

Pretty soon I was driving myself to Los Alamos and a few wintry nights I stayed in Gracia's parents Condo in Los Alamos. Being able to drive myself was the most exhilarating feeling about being back to normal. The freedom of not having to depend on someone else to get you where you want to go is unexplainable. Even though the gratitude for having assistance is magical. Driving is so self empowering when you haven"t been able to drive in 8 months. Let's celebrate this empowerment with Joy.

Thanks be for all the prayers and glorious help I have had and the genetic inheritance of persistence from my parents.

To Be continued Story 12

Love and Light

Cosima