Daily Success April 17 – Mandatory Rest Day. I struggled mightily but had barely enough energy to get to Monika for physical therapy. A day off was simply necessary.

Yesterday

Yesterday was dominated by naps and struggles to stay awake. The good news was that my appointment with Monika went well. Even better, I walked down the hall to Dr. Swistak’s office to make an appointment and he was able to see me a few minutes later. He found some misalignments and started treatment. He also verified the piriformis issue, so that will be getting some slightly different attention from him.

I did manage to do enough Spanish to qualify for having done some. This is very important for the simple reason that, should my days hiking el Camino be over, Spanish fluency will be an important skill for hospitalero duty.

There was an interesting conversation with Monika as well. It began with me working to explain why the Camino is not an athletic event by making the point that, except for the very worst day or two last year, pain and fatigue have not been a factor in my Journey; that it has been the day off, as was the case yesterday, that seemed interminable, a burden simply to be borne for the greater good. She responded that such is the logic of an athlete, making the Camino my athletic event.

My “welcome packet” from the Confraternity of Saint James arrived in yesterday’s mail. Kind of a surprise, but a pleasant one. Pictures of Camino sights are eye candy for me. See “hospitalero duty” and Albergue San Martín.

Today

Today should be pretty good as last night’s sleep seemed mostly undisturbed by shoulder pain. Six weeks post-surgery and with lots of physical therapy and “shoulder as weather station” pain, it is the pain’s ability to disturb my sleep that is the biggest problem.

My only appointment is with Elaina for my six-week checkup.

With a good night’s sleep behind me and little on the schedule to take my time, meeting my exercise, physical therapy, and Spanish goals should be straightforward.

The Future

The future looks ok, at least from a “me” perspective. Not so from a “my daughter” viewpoint as she is clearly going to need support of one type or another for some days into the future and the hundreds of miles between us will make that challenging.

There is also plenty of planning to do. Our trip to France is now anchored by the river cruise schedule, but the “before” and “after” activities are totally open. Since we begin and end in Paris, that seems like the logical focus.