Once again I want to thank so many of you for keeping in touch with e mails, cards, phone calls and visits. Every day I realize how blessed I am to have so much support from my friends, family and especially my incredible husband, Mel. Not only does he take care of the entire household, he even tries to help me with my hair, which you all can imagine is a BIG job.

Now for my news………

Three weeks ago, my physical therapist promoted me to a smaller tripod cane! While I feel more secure with my clunky quad based cane, I am working hard at learning to walk and gain confidence with my new sleek black cane. Now I need to go online and find something with a little more pizzazz!!!

But please don’t think that my saying I need to go online to go shopping means that I’m not getting out of the house. In fact I now am really enjoying going out to restaurants with my friends and family, and probably will one day end up writing a guide to the most “handicapped friendly” restaurants in the Princeton area.

And yes, I have even gone out shopping! In the past month I have had three field trips to Chicos with my wonderful sister, Joan, and two of my best friends, Lillian Livingston and Nina Garcia Would you believe they even have a handicapped dressing room there? On all my outings we spent a lot of time and money, so hopefully, the stock should go up now!!The salesgirls know us there, so they treated my return as if I was royalty, which I naturally loved.

But the absolute highlight of the month was beginning my driving lessons. I felt like a 16 year old kid getting “wheels” for the first time. I have to learn on a car that has a spinner knob on the steering wheel so I can drive with one hand. It also has a device for the turn signals on the right too. I am hoping to take my driving test within the next few weeks so I can drive myself to school.

I am now teaching all my private students which has been wonderful for me! The practical issues are still tough like holding and writing in music or moving from my chair to the piano to demonstrate. But my students still can enjoy hearing their pieces as we play duets. They now must really master playing their pieces hands separately so I can play the other hand with them. I have actually gotten quite good at playing left hand parts with my right hand!

I keep busy going to physical therapy three times a week where they say I am doing great! I also do a lot of exercises at home plus use this amazing machine called Bioness which uses electrodes to help open and shut my hand! The therapists and doctors are intrigued that my finger independence has progressed faster than my ability to lift my arm. I must admit that the slow progress of my arm and hand is the most frustrating part of my rehab. But I will continue to think positively and I have many of you to thank for that!

Thanks for taking the time to check this out! Hopefully by the next update, I will be back at school enjoying being back to my regular life teaching at Westminster, as well as enjoying my private students, and most important continuing to enjoy spending time with my family and friends.

Thanks for thinking about me!

Ingrid

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