Who'd Have Thought

Okay, yes, I realize that I'm a little over 2 weeks overdue for an update on here. And yes, there's a TON of mementos to jot down, so much has happened/is happening.

First matter of business, my Ohio trip. HUGE SUCCESS. I went in not knowing what to expect or what was going to happen really, but 100% it was a great experience with some of the best people I've had a chance to meet in a while! The whole team at TouchBionics is simply amazing! I cannot say enough to fully give them credit. What they can do is unbelievably life changing. I haven't been able to wear my new prosthesis due to the heat and a vast majority of the nerve pain. But I've been biting through, I have only taken my meds twice (only for one day though). That's not to say how many times I've been really close to taking them. Coping with this round is not easy. I've not experienced actual pain like this since maybe the day of the accident, on the exam bed. But I just keep saying it'll go away, maybe I can convince myself. Maybe.

Back to the trip though, it was indeed a huge success. I have a 'hybrid' system that has combined the chastise for the i-Limb with the ProDigits fingers, when I send it back to be prepped for the LivingSkin, the new processor it was originally fitted with should have all the bugs worked out and put back into the system. It's all very exciting, I get to be the guinea pig. In the first day with the prototype, I'd gone through all the tasks usually accomplished by the third day. I passed all the skills tests, one of which the average was 50% completion. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I found that I can manipulate the individual fingers (that you're not supposed to be able to do, it's not designed for it, but any who...lol, that's just me for ya). Yes, so it soon became finding tasks for me to do.

Oh man, I cannot say enough. The folks at TouchBionics have become very close friends of mine. My OT, Helga, actually used to live on the same street as I grew up on. Small world. Just the hospitality alone was amazing, really everything was, I just cannot put into words this trip. Absolutely fantastic.

I also had a chance to hang out with DeAnna and my mom for the week, it was really nice. Ended up having a lot of fun. I also got to see my aunt and cousin, and her husband and baby girl :) It was a first time meeting her husband and daughter. It was definitely a good experience, I feel silly for ever being worried about it. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone in the same position as myself. 100% the thing to do, it is definitely worth it.

You'd never imagine how nice it is to sit down at dinner and feel perfectly normal, just having a small little bit of normalcy come back to your life, it's enough now to make me tear up. Unless you have some experience, you just cannot comprehend it. It's something else. I mean, it'll never be my hand, it's not meant to be, it is a tool, but a pretty darn good tool at that. It's just nice to actually see what I feel is there and am doing.

Definitely a good trip :)

And then we had our flight home...things went pretty well. My mom and I ended up running through the Charlotte Airport trying very desperately not to miss our connecting flight which was supposed to be taking off 5 min after our plane touched down. Thankfully it was grounded due to weather delays...for an extra hour and a half. It was all good though. Had some interesting company on that flight. We had the pleasure of sitting next to a world-class photographer. If you see any photos of the Daytona 500 this upcoming race, at least any published professionally, yeah, we sat next to the photographer who took them :) Just hearing about all the things he's done and gotten to see, it was amazing.

We touched down in Orlando around 11:30 pm that night. And after an eventful week in Ohio, dodging those bad weather spells, waiting out 3-4 tornados, having a productive week with TouchBionics, and running through a pretty large airport, I had one more event I had to get through (which I was rather looking forward to)...meeting Wes.

Okay. If you'd told me last year that all of this was going to happen, I would've told you that you were full of it. I never imagined ever to have gone thought half of what I did in the past year. Nor did I ever see myself having a boyfriend after everything either.

Oh yes, he does deserve to be put in this little memoir (I know I didn't spell that right...oh well). See, he has somehow managed to win over my entire family, a majority of my friends, my bosses (also family), and somehow in this whole thing, myself as well. Hopelessly so. I originally thought that he was too good to be true, had that happen before. But to be honest, he's proven to be 100% legit. He was down for two weeks and at the end, I hated to see him leave. You see, I am totally unaccustomed to a traditional gentleman. I'm not used to having every door opened for me, gas and dinner paid for, and pretty much just everything feeling so....right. I thought I cared for someone in the past, but that was way off. Now I know what it's like. Laugh if you want to all of my friends, it's perfectly okay. Now I get it. I will not admit you were right...but you have the right to joke and whatever else it is you feel entitled to. lol.

See, we met online. I'm not ashamed to say Eharmony works. I wasn't really looking for anything, curiosity got the better of me because all the people in life I'd met were jerks and...yeah, not going into it. He wasn't looking for anything either...funny how that works. When he first talked about coming down, I was silently freaking out, like OMG what if he's a crazy ax murderer?! It happens...

Well when he got in the car at the airport, it was like I'd known him forever and he'd only been away for a little while. My mom and sister also felt similarly. Nick and Wes bonded pretty quickly. You know something's up when you walk in the kitchen and the guys go 'shhhhh.' and tell you to leave and stay outside. Yeah. lol.

A few days in and it was official. Technically we've been talking since November. It just bites since he lives in MT and ND. Oh well, we'll find a way to make it work. Who knows what tomorrow brings anyway. It's just nice to have someone to talk to. He's already seen me at my worst, After all I passed out after taking my pain meds, almost publically. I was able to at least get back to his room. Don't think I would've made my house quite honestly. lol. Fun day, I couldn't even articulate a sentence. And I wonder why I did so poorly my first semester? (another reason I have not taken my meds again).

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the next time he'll be down. Only a few weeks away. And then the next time, I'll be visiting him. As for right now, my fish tank really needs to be cleaned, and so I'd better get to doing that. Random, yes, but important all the same.

Until next time <3