I was happy to get another 7.5 hours of sleep last night and even more pleased to not have woken up with lower back pain today.

The day started off slower than usual after spending the last several days prepping and cooking Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice to just sit around the kitchen table, relaxing for a bit. 

After having breakfast we pulled all of the Fall decorations from around the house and packed those up.  

Next up was unpacking all of the Christmas decorations which took the majority of the day. There are dozens of boxes dedicated to Christmas decorations so it takes a long time to go through them and set everything up. 

Christmas decorations were a bit frustrating for me since usually I carry all of the boxes upstairs while my father-in-law is at work. This year he got up early to carry up the boxes for my mother-in-law.  

I tried to help out by unpacking boxes and carrying the empty boxes back down to the basement. That was about as useful as I was able to feel with the restrictions that I’m dealing with. 

I was more tired than expected today so didn’t end up making it to the gym but am planning on going when I wake up tomorrow morning.  

Throughout the day I worked on shoulder mobility including putting my hands above a doorway to force my shoulders into 180 degrees of rotation. That hurt a lot less than I expected it to since it was the first time I tried it. 

For the second time since we’ve been back I also played pool. I was concerned about the feedback from hitting a pool ball but, with the exception of a few times, I didn’t feel any pain. 

Tomorrow I’m going to try letting myself hang from a pull-up bar while dragging my feet on the ground.  

It is something that my orthopedic surgeon mentioned a few weeks ago but I have been reluctant to try. After successfully stretching my shoulders in the doorway today I feel more confident about trying the pull-up bar. 

I am also planning on using the pool to do water exercises and the hot tub to help my shoulders loosen up after a busy week in CT. 

Tomorrow is Christmas tree day, including finding and decorating, followed by a big 13-person dinner which is only 1 less person than we had this year for Thanksgiving. 

While I have eaten far more than I should have this week and have not worked out as much as I would have liked, it has been really nice being back in CT.  

Not only have I been consistently getting more than 7 hours of sleep each night, I am enjoying spending time with family and friends. 

The weight of the past few months doesn’t feel so heavy this week. When we get back home we will only have a couple of weeks to make our decision about chemotherapy so this week has been a nice break for us.