Nothing new...

I mean, I'm still in my old brace. We drove the 55 miles one way to the orthotics place (just one the perks when you live out in the middle of nowhere and have that fantastic scenery to drive through!) and got there and "Tom" told me that the brace had not arrived in the mail. Bummer!

But such a nice man. I told him my problems with the Aspen Collar, how it doesn't support me occipitally, and he went in the back room, I could hear grinding and sewing machine and he came back, he'd put a rounded firm foam pad under the foam rubber pad in the back at just the right place, it's attached by Velcro in case I end up not liking it, and he also replaced the worn out velcro tab that keeps the thing on.

I LOVE it. On the way home, I was able to fall asleep but not painfully. As I've written before, in the car or in a chair, my head now naturally rotates backward putting the weight of the skull even more on the occipital area and that puts me into a deep, painful sleep.

But with the customized brace, I slept on the way home in a normal sleep. It was wonderful and seemed so unusual after so many months...in fact, a year, of having it the other way.

I'll need to go back next week or something to get the new Marlin collar. I've really come to be more accepting of the brace now that I know I won't be having the fusion, at least for quite awhile. I wear it much more now.

I saw a purple crocus about to open yesterday in the front flower bed. I wish I could get down there and get out the dead stalks and leaves from last year's plants. I am thinking of getting my rolling desk chair out there and then using long handled "loppers" to cut those things loose, then use my "reacher grabber" tool to pick them up and put them into a light bucket to take to the compost heap. If I could do it normally, it'd only be a 15 minute job!

blessings abound