Hi Faith....good to hear from you. I guess I am upbeat, though my PT says I am very negative......in fact we have a code between us....If I think I am being negative , I meow. If positive, I bark. Not sure he has ever meowed to me or barked at me!!! As I've said, we have fun together.

Glad to hear you do try using canes. But since I don't LIMP as you do, I am not sure if that would work for you as well as it works for me. But is sure is worth the try as you become much more mobile.

The reason I have been in PT for over 3 years, is that because of that overdose of cortisone, I now have a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy.and they say I can never get better only worse and that started in 2016. However, my PT seems to think he can over "ride" that thought! I moved to this retirement community in 2010 and back then I could still walk well, Now I can still walk, but definitely not as well.....and a lot slower.

You are fortunate to still have some family. I have no living relatives, except for my Step Mom who is still alive, but is 96 yrs old and lives up in NY near the Canadian border..I was raised in Yonkers, NY, just north of New York CIty but was moved to Doylestown, PA just north of Philly during a company merger in 1986 and to here in 2010. "Here" is in Lancaster, PA as my college room mate lives about 4 miles from me. However, she is now legally blind and between the two of us, neither drives so we haven't seen each other for a while. Technically I am just north of Lancaster, in Lititz,, PA. ONe of the reasons I moved west from being above Philly is that in checking out retirement communities, I realized the further west I went the cost of retirement community living got cheaper....not cheap, just cheaper! I used to train guide dogs for the blind, so when I became disabled I trained my dog to be MY service dog, but he died back in Jan of 15 suddenly from an apparent stoke. He was an incredible dog. I think he laid awake at night thinking up things he could do for me, and he surely came up with some brilliant ideas on his own!!!!!!! FOr example, I did train him to bring me a portable phone in case I fell and needed help. ONe day I did fall and I was bleeding profusely, and I need help to get up, so I couldn't use my cell to call for help. So I asked him to bring me a phone, and after he handed me the phone while I was still on the floor waiting for help to arrive, he brought me HIS pillow! I would have never thought to train him that. That was HIS idea alone!

What do you do to keep busy.? DId I tell you any details of my "walking Project?" I'm ,afraid if I go back to look at what I've already told you, I may lose what I have written now! Gail