The light pours through the window of her room as Rachael patiently prepares for another day. She is dedicated to her recovery and is keeping focused on the task at hand. She has her ups and downs and has been absorbing lots of new information and lots of love. The long days have been leaving her very tired and while Rachael loves seeing everybody, it has been requested that you call her prior to visiting at this time. Best times to visit are from 4-6pm everyday and noon-6pm on Sundays but please do call first to make sure she has the time and energy to visit.
The new good word is that Rachael may be moving downstairs to another room next week, signifying a good deal of progress and a more stable condition. Her days will get even busier downstairs and from this new stage she could be moving back home to Carmel as early as the first of the year. Before that there is a lot of work to do. Almost everyday she drives her wheelchair down to the gym for some long hours of physical training (PT).
The workouts are tough and Rachael jokes, "Where are my muscles? I want my muscles back!"
Rachael was used to doing pull ups at her home on Apple Pie Ridge in Big Sur and though she cannot grip the bar yet, she is able to do lat pull downs with light weight. The motions of working her shoulders, biceps and triceps are strenuous but she is leaps and bounds further along than she was a week ago, doing an array of exercises.
The PT is not all weights and cardio. Trying to regain and fine tune finger dexterity is another big part of the puzzle. The cell phone is as intricate as it gets. Rachael looks forward to being able to use her cell phone again someday soon and is working diligently with a great team at SVCMC to speed up this part of the process.
We joked around about how the PT wasn't as hard as soccer practice when we were kids. I asked Rachael what her goals are for working out over the next couple weeks. She told me, "Getting my triceps back. Just more movement in my arms so I can have one of those manual wheelchairs to cruise around... We'll get there. I feel the burn."
We all have heaps to be thankful for and I know one of those things is to have Rachael be the light in our lives.
"Happy Thanksgiving. Thank God I can eat!" Then she looked up to the sky and said, "Thank you."
***Any donations can be sent to Rachael Short at her P.O. box 161 Big Sur Ca. 93920***
***************You can view Rachael's photographs at www.rachaelshort.com***************