Tag Archives: instagram

May – Nov 2011 Life Recap

You can’t really see progress when you take a recovery day by day. You really have to break it down in months.

May – Had multiple fractures and chilled in the ICU.
June – Sat up after being strictly bed ridden for a few weeks and took my first wheelchair ride with my stuffed penguin in hand.
July – Stood up (even if it was on one foot) for the first time in a month, stopped taking morphine, returned home from the hospital and stopped wearing my body brace just in time for my 24th birthday.
August – Stopped taking pain medication, had my stitches taken out and went to the beach (off-roaded in the sand with my wheelchair).
September – Got rid of my foot brace, walked on two feet (with a walker), attended my first Dodger game, started to drive again and J. Cole dropped his debut album (finally).
October – Decided to eat red meat and pork again after a few years.. oh, and ditched my walker.
November – Got rid of my wheelchair, walked my dog by myself for the first time in months and increased my overall strength.

Six months flew by.

I remember being in the hospital and thinking to myself, “when am I going to leave this place?” I remember lying in bed and thinking to myself, “when will the pain stop?” I remember sitting in my wheelchair and thinking to myself, “when will I be able to walk without assistance?” Now, I walk and think, “when will I be able to run again?” If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that time heals all.

I’m still looking for Ambrosia (Xena: Warrior Princess reference) to speed up the process though.

Previous: May – August 2011 Life Recap

#NP: Sinatra & Jobim – “The Girl From Ipanema”

Icicles at USC Hospital

I spent this summer in a hospital… yada yada yada. I was dying to Instagram but was stuck in a room on bed rest. To give me some IG content, my friends and family ran around the hospital and had a little photoshoot starring Icicles, my little penguin friend. Isn’t that what friends are for? Taking pictures of a stuffed penguin in different locations just so you could have something cool to update your Instagram timeline with? I’m a lucky girl.

This Week In Instagram – 10/30/11

If you don’t have the privilege using an iPhone as your primary mobile device, just know that you are missing out on a lovely app called Instagram. Instagram is basically a social networking app that uses pictures as statuses. Think of a twitter feed, without the words. Facebook, without the complexity. Anywho, here’s my week in Instagram. I’m only going to post 5 or 6 pictures that I Instagram’d that week. To see all my Instagrams, get yourself an iPhone and follow me (username: janicellamoca). All pictures are taken using the iPhone 4, by yours truly.

This week, I had my first cheeseburger from In-N-Out in years since I stopped eating red meat and pork. It’s good to be back! Just in case you were wondering, it had whole grilled onions, ketchup and mustard added and no tomatoes. Also, my sister dressed up as a chola for Halloween, pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks are back and I hit up American Apparel’s flea market sale which ends October 31st. Good times.

The Vaccines – Wetsuit (Instagram Video)

“We always talk about breaking down the barriers between the band and the fans. We like sharing music with them, meeting them, interacting with them, as most bands do. So this felt like the ultimate interaction. Instagram was suggested to give photos taken on people’s phone a nice warm feel.” – Justin Young, lead singer

Instagram is the reason I bought myself an iPhone (then I fell in love with it and ditched my BlackBerry). The social networking photography app, privy only to iPhones/iPads, is a great way to share moments with friends, family and strangers vicariously living through you. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Instagram also brings out the inner photog inside you and forces you to be creative, some more than others. With all that being said, indie band The Vaccines asked their fans to submit their summer festival photos through Instagram with the hashtag #vaccinesvideo. The final product gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. I loved it!

If you’re on Instagram, follow me at janicellamoca.

via mostlyjunkfood

May – August 2011 Life Recap

Too bad I don’t have some super cool artwork to go along with this post. If I did, it would probably be doodles of emotions scratched on notebook paper. Something simple and stick figure like. See exhibit A.

My stick figures would be cuter.

On May 30th, my friend fell asleep at the wheel, hit a pole which caused the car to flip multiple times. I was told that it took an hour to get me out of the wreck.

I really don’t remember the first few days because I was in lala-morphine-land and didn’t want to come back to reality. I do remember, though, the crazy amount of visitors I had when I was in the ICU. I do remember being rolled by the waiting room and having people cheer for me like I was running the last mile in a marathon. I do remember trying to make my teary-eyed friends laugh and smile with me. I do remember the moment my orthopedic surgeon walked in and told me that they expect a full recovery.

Multiple fractures, two surgeries and two weeks later, I found myself wishing I had listened to my mother and stayed home that day. Don’t you hate it when your mom is right? My legs didn’t touch the ground for four whole weeks. On the fourth week, I shed tears (of joy) when the physical therapist sat me up for the first time. Cheesy, I know. I was crying because I could finally see the houses, the neighborhoods, the cars, and the 10 freeway. It never looked so beautiful.

I entertained myself by instagramming (I’m just going to assume that you know what instagram is) pictures of my penguin, Icicles. Yes, I have a stuffed penguin and yes, he has a name. You tend to make new friends when you’re stuck in a hospital. See exhibit B & C.

After spending over a month at the LA County Hospital, I was transferred to a rehab hospital in a $900 ambulance ride, bar not included. Spent two weeks in rehab, where there were 90 year-olds in better shape than I was, and learned how to walk… kinda. It was actually more of a hop-on-one-foot-with-one-hand-in-the-air kind of walk. A hokey-pokey kind of walk. But it did get me from point A to point B, wheelchair to bed.

I’m home now. My stay at the LA County Medical Resort & Spa and Long Beach Memorial Hotel feels like it was so long ago. Too bad my vacation isn’t officially over. I can’t drive, I can’t walk, I can’t go in my kitchen and prepare myself a sandwich but I can hug my parents, I can kick ass in Cranium and I will be able to get up and walk again.

And for that I am grateful.

I appreciate and thank you if you ever sent me a get well tweet/FB post/email. Just wanted to let you know where I’ve been these past few months. The road to recovery has been a bumpy one and you can feel each bump on a two-wheeler. I’m sure I will cry again when I take my first steps. Tears of joy, of course.

Guess it’s time to roll back into the norm. We’ll see how that works out.

Xo.

#NP: Lissie – “Everywhere I Go”