Rehab

                                      Well, I just spent the past two weeks in rehab!  No, not for drugs or alcohol!  I went each day to the Spine Rehabilitation Clinic at the University.  I reported as an outpatient at 8:00 a.m. each day and I was done between 4-4:30.  I was one of a group of five.  Each person had a somewhat different back problem.  We did about four hours a day of physical work--aerobics, weight lifting, cardio, and functional restoration.  We also had lectures and lessons from a variety of people.  We had Dr. Chen available to see us whenever we felt the need for med changes or whatever.  We learned relaxation techniques and studied about our different personalities and things we might want to change to lower our stress.  The effects of stress on pain was discussed at length.  Overall it was time well spent.  One nice thing is that I had an honest to goodness lunch "hour"!  What a luxury to take time to taste my food and not have 20 minutes until my next duty. Now I have to learn how to work all of the aerobics, cardio, and weight training I need to do into my everyday life.  I will be going back for rechecks at 1, 3, and 6 months.  

This is our first year of being in the new addition for Christmas.  I couldn't wait to hang our stockings above the fireplace!  We are hoping for more grandchildren in the near future, but I'm not sure where we'll  hang their stockings!