Rounding Third and Headed for Home

       Rounding Third Base and Headed for Home.

         It is now almost eleven weeks after the accident that ruined my left arm. And, it is nearly nine weeks after the surgery by a talented surgeon to reattach the muscles tendons in my arm. The bone fracture and break have healed. The tendon attachments to the arm have healed. I am on my way to recovery, rounding third and headed for home. For the last several weeks, I have attended physical therapy sessions twice a week, at the nearby Lee County Hospital facility on Coconut Rd.in Estero. Two very talented Physical Therapists have guided me slowly in the rehabilitation of the injured arm muscles. And as is evident, I have recovered my typing ability. It is like regaining the power of speech after a prolonged period of silence

       The arm had healed in the  a ninety-degree angle position, to allow for the muscles to reattach themselves to the bone. Now, we needed to stretch them, day by day, until I could return to full extension and contraction of the arm. It hasn’t come easy. Exercise after exercise, at the hospital and at home, extended the muscles length millimeter by millimeter. It was getting easier to bring my arm to my face. The stretching wasn’t overly painful, just uncomfortable and slow in the process.

      Then one morning, I could actually raise my arm to touch my face. I can’t tell you how much that small victory meant to me at the time. Putting on clothes and other simple daily tasks were becoming less of a struggle. You do tend to appreciate the small things in life when you are deprived of the ability to perform them,

      I had even begun practicing chipping and putting golf balls, utilizing my good right arm. As a natural left hander, with a dominant right arm, I was able to bring the club through an abbreviated swing, much like the motion of a back hand in Tennis. Every day, I get closer and closer to being “back to normal.” The injured arm still has no strength to it, nor is my grasping power any better, but there is hope I am on the road back. Every visit, I work with my talented rehab professionals to strengthen and lengthen the injured arm. And every day I see progress. I have a long road ahead of me, but finally, I see a light at the end of the tunnel, however far off in the distance it may be. As always, I am grateful for the professionals who have had the patience and extraordinary professional ability to help me along the day. May the roads rise up to meet them.

                                             -30-

                                    (455 words)

                              Joseph Xavier Martin