Today, I write my final GoFunMe update. Tomorrow I will be back at home, permanently, to focus on getting my life back together and healing from all this. I do not recall much of the early days (naturally) but from all that I hear from friends, family and doctors, this has all been quite miraculous and positive, my recovery that is. I feel blessed for that. I have a deep sense of positivity moving forward and I relish the chance to overcome the obstacles ahead. I have even sourced a helmet to protect my noggin while surfing off the Scarborough Bluffs!
I wanted to write to you all again en masse and say one final thank you and farewell for now. Without a doubt you will hear more from me through my more career focused writings and online persona. However, I wanted to share one last recovery post with all of you. Each morning for the last two weeks, after I did my laps of the hospital, I would turn on my computer. I logged into GoFundMe and wrote as many individual "thank yous" as my brain could handle that day. I looked forward to doing that each morning to test and push myself. It helped me get familiar with my computer again. Sometimes, I was able to take time to respond wittingly back to people. Most of the time I used it as an opportunity to attempt to express my deep sense of appreciation and share my emotions with people. I think all of this was excellent rehab. It was also the perfect way to start each day. Reading message after message from people who cared enough about me to reach out and show support really inspired me and lifted my spirits. The smile on my face from those sessions lasted throughout each day. Thank you for that. I finished my "thank yous" yesterday and so with that we will be closing the campaign and begin applying the donations to my post-hospital treatment.
What's next? Well from a medical perspective I still need to get a bunch of hardware removed from my mouth. Later in the month I have an appointment with the neurosurgeon (who saved my life). I am really looking forward to that, not only to give him a really nice bottle of wine but hopefully to get the green light that things upstairs are ok and I can move on with life. Of course there will be residual effects, which I will address with private treatment, but a green light on my health would mean the world to me.
Aside from that, I am looking forward to getting back to my life! I have missed spending time (outside of hospital) with my loved ones, marching in protests with my friends, and following the bike scene in Toronto. Re-engaging with all that will be such a relief. I look forward to getting back to my clients and working on their cases. I'm fortunate to have a very interesting and people's rights' focused practice, so I'm itching to get back to that. I think I have learned a lot throughout this ordeal, not only as a survivor of violence, but as a patient at a recovery hospital. I think that will all go a long way.
Here's to you, here's to life.