Flexibility

If I had to give one piece of advice to new SCI-ers, it would be to remain flexible in all situations.  You have to be able to roll with the punches and deal with the unexpected pretty much on a daily basis, so it doesn't do you much good to get hung up on the little things that (inevitably) go wrong.  Oh, but this is easier said that done some days....like today.

I had today all planned for us.  Jason took a vacation day from work and, after two (supposedly) quick appointments in San Jose this morning, we were going to head to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the afternoon.  The morning went well.  We got out the door by 9:15...before that we'd gotten everyone showered and dressed, taken Sonja to the kennel (we were planning on getting back late, so thought she'd enjoy a day with other pups out in the country), and I'd even been able to make beds and fold a load of laundry.  Excellent.  Jason's first appointment was with Dr. Shem, his Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation doctor.  He was her only appointment this morning, so we expected things to go pretty quickly, as it was just a routine check-up.  She ran late.  It wasn't such a big deal, though, as we still had another afternoon appointment.  The meeting with Dr. Shem went really well.  She ok'd the plan for braces in the new year, and was really excited by all the progress Jason has made.  We also talked with her about having a new ASIA exam done on Jason at his next visit in late January.  The ASIA exam determines complete vs. incomplete injury.  She also answered all of our questions on clinical trials and things like that.  It was a very productive meeting.

After the appointment with Dr. Shem, we went to lunch and then headed over to what should have been a quick appointment with Jason's wheelchair vendor.  He's been having some problems lately with the height of his seatback, so we were hoping to get that resolved.  I expected this to last about 30 minutes max....it took closer to 1.5 hours...ugh.  By the time we finished there, there wasn't much point in driving to Monterey.  Savannah would have only had around an hour in the aquarium, so we came back home.  I was really bummed by this...I'm actually not sure why it's bothered me so much.  In the grand scheme of things that have occurred in the last 5 months, missing out on the aquarium is not that big of a deal.  This would have been, though, our first big family outing since the accident (we haven't really had a FULL day out of the house since Jason's accident), so I was excited about that.  I think I'm also irritated by the fact that these medical appointments almost always end up taking significantly longer than they should....it gets old.

Anyways, we're going to try the aquarium again on Sunday.  Hopefully, it won't be crazy busy (which is why I wanted to go on a Wednesday).  Savannah will love it, I think.  Sonja, unfortunately, will be relegated to her crate for the day.

Hope you're all doing great :)

Love you all,

Ashley