Went on a beautiful 3 mile 600 ft elevation gain hike with my family. We drove two hours up to Angeles National Forest to hike Vetters Mountain which has a fire lookout tower on it. You can see a large portion of the San Gabriel mountains from there, though the elevation is only about 5900 ft. Besides fires, they used in during WWII to look out for enemy planes.

My lovely family really pulled it together to make it happen, as planning and doing this stuff is usually my job. I want to thank daughter (14) for carrying the family backpack, and son (3), for hiking like a true champ (with more energy than me for most of the way) and my dh for carrying the baby (16mo) in the backpack. My parents also came along and I'd like to thank them for being unusually well behaved, as they have been for this entire visit (since friday).

I haven't felt so normal for a really long time. It was great to get out and do something that was exercise but did not require my arms.

Mark- did you have a hearing today? I do hope that you can find some resolution. It is absurd that WC does not recognize surgery as an obvious part or TOS recovery.