The Motomed

On the Motomed

                                                   Total distance 5.15km in 22.04 minutes

October 27, 2011

Well, what a weekend!  Monica was here with Lachlan on Saturday and Sunday, and Sensei ML brought both her boys, Mav and Nash on Sunday afternoon.   It’s really great to hear kids’ giggles and laughs in this place.  I can’t believe how good Lachlan is for a 9 month old.  He didn’t cry once the whole time he was here.  I guess I have to stop thinking of Monica as my little 15 year old training buddy as she is now this incredible mother.

Thanks to everybody who came to visit last weekend and this week.  It was great to see you all.  Grandpa Bob was here on Wednesday and did his normal wonderful job of looking after me.  And Linda’s here on Thursday and she is typing this blog.

As far as therapy is going, I now do PT for an hour plus in the morning.  They get me sitting up a lot and stretching out my back and moving and stretching my legs.  In OT, they’re working my arms, my right arm in particular; and I am now curling 5 lbs.  They are working really hard on my left arm and they tell me my left hand is moving more every day.  It’s where my right arm was about 5-6 weeks ago. 

I had lots of fun with my left leg.  My foot got ran into a wall three times going for a shower, and then on Saturday we were all sitting in the lounge and an elderly gentleman, a stroke patient I believe, got out of his chair and ran right into my foot.  Not only did it hurt, but I was also concerned that he may fall but he managed to stay upright.  So needless to say, the old knee is still there.  All the weights are going up on my right arm but today it’s a bit sore.  I am also in the fitness program now and at 3 o’clock every afternoon I go to a fitness class and get to sit on the bike for 20 minutes, well the Motomed as they call it, but I get to pedal for 20 minutes.  I was so good today I got an extra 5 minutes on the Motomed. 

An interesting week started out on Monday with my flu shot in the morning.  Hard OT and hard PT and then on Tuesday morning I left for Toronto at 8 am on a stretcher in one of those medi-vans to see my surgeon.  So there was the driver, a paramedic, a nurse and Darcy and me on a stretcher.  Thank God for Ativan.  I had an appointment for an x-ray at 11 am and to see the surgeon at 12:30 pm.  When we arrived, x-ray said they had no appointment for me and that they didn’t make appointments.  Darcy visited the surgeon’s office and they said someone had called but we didn’t know what number they called and they certainly didn’t let Parkwood know.  So I eventually did get my x-ray and did see the surgeon at around 1 o’clockish and the good news is that I can take my neck brace off.  After the visit with the surgeon it was back in the van with some Ativan for the ride home.  Thankfully, we missed the Toronto rush hour and we were back here about 4:15 pm in time for dinner and a shower at night.

Medication is very interesting.  I am on a time release Hydromorphine and I had been getting 6 mg in the morning at 8 am and 9 mg at 8 pm, and I am allowed what they call a “break-through” every 2 hrs as needed which is 2 mg.  I have been trying to wean myself off the break-through and only take them as necessary like after a very hard OT workout when everything seems to be hurting.  I spoke to the doctor on Monday about my pain and they reduced my time release from 6 to 3 mg and from 9 to 3 mg.  Last night at about 2 in the morning I had this very strange feeling with my whole body tingling and I was sweating and just generally feeling miserable.  I couldn’t figure out what the problem was.  It could have been the combination of the trip to Toronto, the flu shot or a withdrawal from the Hydromorphine.  I asked for 2 more mg of break-through and my sleeping pills kicked in and I managed to sleep through until 8 in the morning.  We’ll see what happens tonight.

As mentioned previously in other blogs, I have bowel care every night which means I get to sit on a commode and I think my worst fear has happened, I think I am a bit constipated.  I met with the dietician.  It seems I need to drink 2.6 litres of fluid a day which I haven’t been doing, which I have started today.  I think the ride to Toronto I probably drank less than a litre the whole day.  So the dietician says I need to eat soluble fibre, which is oat fibre, and not wheat bran which is an insoluble fibre.  So I am going to be looking for foods with lots of soluble fibre.  It seems all the stool softeners and other meds they are giving me aren’t working.  So I am going to try and go as naturally as possible.  Oh yes, I get 30 ml of Milk of Magnesia every morning.  It seems that all the pain pills and medication and the fact that I am not moving around slows my bowels down.  I will see what happens tonight at about 8 pm.  Maybe I should just get them to squeeze my head – perhaps that would help.

I will be losing my roommate next Tuesday, so perhaps they will move me to the window side of the room and I will have a beautiful view of London.  I have learned a lot from my roommate about the issues of preparing a place to go.  Darcy has been doing a great job in getting the right people to the house and we know what we have to do to make it accessible for me when I arrive home.  We are looking at worst case scenario and that I will be in a wheelchair.  Better to be prepared than not.

Talk at ya later..

October 21, 2011

October 21, 2011

Oh yeah….blog time again.

Last one came out on Saturday, I believe.  So I had a boring Sunday as usual.  It is nice to have visitors as they certainly do break up the day.  A little bad news, my left knee got hurt again with all the rolling and turning I do as there is not enough muscle anymore to hold the knee together.  So it is all swollen up again and hurts like hell….but I guess I am used to that.  I talked to the Doc here and he suggested perhaps another cortisone shot and I agree because the knee is shot now and more cortisone really can’t do anymore damage other than taking the pain away.  So the left knee at this point in time is the show stopper.

As mentioned before, they have spoken to an orthopedic surgeon and they are looking into a knee replacement but ‘when’ is the question.  But Grandpa was here on Wednesday and we didn’t run over any more pee bags and he was quite happy about that and we had a good time, and he really is a “care giver.”

Trivia question:  “Guess what part of care giving Grandpa did do? “  (1) He put saline solution in my nose; (2) He cleaned the snot out of my nose with a Q-tip; (3) He cleaned the gunk out of my eyes with a Kleenex; (4) He put eye lube in my eyes; (5) He waited around until they put my pooping suppository in; (6) He wrapped me in my blanky; (7) He worked my fingers on both hands; (8) He massaged my feet; (9) He massaged my left knee; (10) He stayed with me from 10 am until 8:30 pm; (11) None of the above; (12) All of the above.   (Circle all the correct answers.)  Thanks Grandpa….you’re wonderful.

So 5 days of physio this week, half hour on the MotoPed, had my maximum mileage which was about 7k if I remember correctly, and today I had my minimum mileage because my knee is so sore.  I did under 3k today by myself.  The good news is that the left knee did almost 40% of the work for the mileage I did do.  Hopefully, with 2 days off because there is no physio or OT until Monday, my knee will recover a bit.  OT was really interesting this week.  Doing a weight lifting program, working on biceps, triceps, pecs, lats and traps; exercises with my hand from squeezing about 12-15 lbs and I want to get up to Neil’s (retired AirForce Colonel) weight who is just a little guy and he is squeezing 70 lbs……it’s inspirational.  I am also leaning forward while sitting in my wheelchair which is strengthening my back extensor muscles which I will need when I am going to stand.  In OT, they are strengthening my arms so I will be able to lift my butt out of my wheelchair and sit up and get into bed, onto a chair, onto a commode, etc.  So my right arm is getting stronger and my left arm, according to the therapist, is improving every day. 

The x-rays that I had on my shoulder indicate there are some arthritic bone spurs that prevents it from moving a lot.  The physiotherapist has taped my scapula which is giving me a lot of relief from the pain in my back and my neck….yeehaw!

A neat thing that happened is when I came back from my shower on Monday night the nurse said there was a present on my bed and of course I asked what it was and who it was from.  And of course she said she did not know.  When I looked at the bed there was a washcloth (a Wilson) with a smiley face on it which will remain near and dear to my heart for a long, long time.  My roommate had one of the nurses put a smiley face on the Wilson.  There were 4 nurses in the room at the time getting me out of my chair and into bed and the 5^th one stuck her head in the door and asked if they needed any help.  So, all the nurses on duty that night were in my room.  It was a hoot and a moment to remember.

You meet some very inspirational people in this place.  In the cafeteria today, I met a gentleman who has had both legs amputated due to poor circulation.  He always has a smile on his face and I believe he is in here for life.  His mind is still sharp and I found out from his wife that he is 95 years old.  She is with him all the time.  He is in a wheelchair and she uses a walker and she is 91 years old.  She was very curious about what happened to me and when I was going to get out of the chair and get rid of my neck brace. 

Next week should prove to be interesting as I will be off to Toronto leaving at 8 am on Tuesday morning for an x-ray and to see my surgeon to see what he has to say about my progress.  It should be interesting being in an ambulance on the 401 leaving here at 8 in the morning……I hope I get to Toronto before midnight. 

Two things are happening here, either I am getting used to their routine or they are getting used to mine.  I don’t think I have upset any nurses very much this week.

Thanks for all the support.  I love having visitors as long as there aren’t too many at a time.

Talk at ya later.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Hey, it’s been a while. 

There hasn’t been one for a week mainly because Meghan or Kelly wasn’t here to type it.  So there have been some good things happening.  It does seem everyday that a little bit more is moving.  I’m getting some movement in my left hand, as little as it may be, but I can move all the fingers on my left hand and my thumb.  According to the physio and OT I do have some movement in my wrist.  I find it hard to detect because I can’t move it myself against gravity but when she supports if properly I can flex it backwards and forwards.  So this may mean that the nerves are waking up in there.  The left leg is moving a little better since I had the cortisone shot.  I can do little leg extensions with it and it’s nowhere as painful as it used to be.  On the bike in OT, it measures how much work each leg is doing and on Friday after pedaling for “6 km” it did 40% of the work.  And at times it was doing more than 50%.  I think that means that there is some muscle there that is receiving messages from somewhere. 

I was on the incline board which is almost the same as David Letterman’s Velcro board and his Velcro suit …. Oops I guess I’m dating myself……that he would jump and stick to a velcro patch on the wall.   This was when he was filling in for Johnny Carson.  The incline board has big wide belts that they strap you in with and then they slowly stand you up.The problem is when you have been laying on your back for two months, when you get your head up your blood pressure tends to drop and you get dizzy and could possibly pass out although that hasn’t happened to me.  To help prevent this from happening, they put an elastic belt around my waist (like a girdle) that keeps all your guts in.  I was up to a 60 degree angle for about 10 minutes and the total time on the board was about 20 minutes.  The biggest problem when I was at 60 degrees is I had to have the therapist make the Sarge move because the glare off his head was bothering my eyes.  I do get a half hour every day on the bike in physiotherapy which I really like…..they now use it as a tool…if I am a good boy they let me on the bike.  Just wish I could get into pedals so I could start using my calves.  But hey, that will come.  I think once I am able to sit by myself I will be able to get into a recumbent or some other device.

OT which mainly works with my arms and my hands and gets me properly positioned in my wheelchair which is another story.  I am curling two sets of 20 with 2 lbs and doing triceps with the same weight just on my right arm.  My left arm I am still just working against gravity…but things are moving. 

Grampa Bob came and stayed with me all day Wednesday and gave Darcy a rest.  Bob did a very good job.   He has magic hands……I mean as in doing physiotherapy stuff on my hands and feet!!  We had an interesting little mishap in OT.  They took my urine bag off my wheelchair as they were moving the arms around so I could do more exercises and then asked me to move my wheelchair back which I did and ran over my pee bag and popped it,which was a little humourous at the time as Grandpa Bob was standing there holding a leaking urine bag.  Not a big deal, they cleaned it up and gave me a new bag.  We also had an interesting procedure called urodynamics and what they do is they put a catheter into my bladder which has a sensor on it to measure pressure and they also put asensor up my bum….felt like a lightbulb because they need to know what’s doing the movement down there.  There were also a bunch of electrodes attached to my butt and then they fill my bladder full of water and I had to tell them at what point I felt like having a pee and at what point I couldn’t hold it any longer so it measures how much I pee and how much I retain in my bladder at the end.  I don’t know the units for measuring pressure in my bladder but normal is around 40 and my was at about 80 which really explained the urgency when I do have to pee.  The main problem with high pressure in your bladder is that it is hard on your kidneys so I am now on medication to lower the pressure to help my kidneys and eventually I will be able to control my bladder to get off this condom catheter that I am wearing now.

All in all it was a very interesting test and I think most of that was due to the nurse who was doing the testing as she was just a hoot.  The bad thing is that my left shoulder has become a pain as I was having trouble with weak rotator cuff muscles before the accident and now they have become even weaker which means that my shoulder blade has started to wing a bit (stick out) and this is where the problem with the wheelchair being too big for me really shows up.  The seat back of the wheelchair hits right at the bottom of my shoulder blade and pushes it up a bit which creates lots of problems for all the muscles at the top and around my shoulder.  So it is very uncomfortable to stay in my wheelchair for any length of time.  They are looking into getting a new wheelchair that will fit me properly…….can’t be soon enough.

Parkwood is a fantastic place and they do work wonders with people but there are some hard truths that people have to face when being here.  They set a schedule for you and when your rehab is completed you have to move out and for you to move out to your own home you need to have all the assistive devices in place.  Some people do not have them in place when they have to leave, so they cannot go to their own homes so they either have to go to another institution or a hospital if there is a place for them.  It is very difficult for some people as assistive devices and home renovations are very expensive.  For example, if the person needs a wheelchair and can’t afford it they may have to go into a local hospital which makes it very difficult for them. 

My tentative release date is December 22^nd.  The problem is we have no idea what condition I am going to be in on December 22^nd.  Am I going to be in a wheelchair, will I need a device or ramp to get into the house, will I need a wheelchair accessible toilet facility, shower facility; or will I be using a walker or will I be walking.  It is all up in the air.  We have started working with the CCAC and we have had the house looked at by an occupational therapist and we have an idea of what we will need if I am in a wheelchair.  The therapist has suggested a lift in the garage and gave us the name of a supplier but the problem is they need about 2 months’ notice and 2 months from December 22^nd is right now.  So the conundrum is what do we do now?  Do we order a lift that I may not need or do we wait and not order it and I may need it but I’ll have to wait two months to get it….decisions, decisions, decisions.  I certainly wouldn’t want to be released from here and sit in the Tillsonburg hospital for a while so I guess what I’ll have to do is work my butt off and walk out of here.  This just gives a little added incentive.  But you never know as everybody is different.  I feel good about the way my legs are reacting as the left leg seems to be coming around.  I don’t have an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in my knee and the doctors here are talking to an orthopedic surgeon who is looking into replacing my knee.  But I would certainly like to have my left leg in better shape than it is now before I think about any surgery but we’ll see what the experts say.

Oh yeah, last but not least, I have learned a very good response to people who ask “How are you doin’?”

And that is:  “Better than yesterday but not as good as tomorrow.”

My plan was to learn Dragon today but it is 3 o’clock already and we’ve been sort of busy and we haven’t started yet but perhaps we’ll be able to get it done in the next 2-3 hours. 

Thanks for all the encouragement and thanks to all the people who have come to visit….much appreciated. 

Talk to you later.

Ho hum weekend...no time on the bike

Its been an interesting couple of days. On Friday I had this neat test called uro-dynamics, which measures the pressure in your bladder. Don’t know if I have said this before but I’ll tell you the way it is.  I am wearing an condom catheter which means every day I get a condom on which is attached to a bag and that’s how I Pee.  And I have had one on ever since I have been here. The issue with my bladder is I have a big urgency to pee, and I can probably hold it for a few seconds to a minute. But having the catheter saves me the bother of someone rushing  around to find me a urinal.  From the Uro-dynamics they found that the pressure in my bladder is about twice normal, which causes the urgency. High pressure in a bladder is also hard on my kidneys, so I am now on another drug to get the pressure down in the bladder.  If they do get it down, the condom may not be required as I’ll have time to get a urinal in   I have to pee.  That would be a great relief as I would then have a lot more control over my peeing.  But a really interesting test as they put a sensor in your bladder via a catheter and they put a sensor in my bum, which really felt like a light bulb but I don’t think it was. Then they put electrodes all over my bottom. Once they had the sensor in place they fill the bladder with water and then ask questions about when I have to pee, and when I can’t hold it any more.  I guess from that data they determine how much medication I need.  The big problem with the uro-dynamics was  I missed physio and didn’t get to ride the bike on Friday and I won’t get on it again until Tuesday…..Grrrrrr.

I was going to talk today a little bit, about the things I used to take for granted, and they are very very simple things, such as casually wiping your eye.  I don’t know how many times  I used to do it before, but I sure need it done quite a bit now, particularly when I need someone else to do it.  Since I am getting a little better use out of my right arm,  I am able to wipe my eyes quite well, rub my nose and clean my moustache I have now named a wash cloth  “Wilson” from Tom hanks, movie castaway, The volleyball. Seems now I have to take Wilson everywhere I go.  I named it Wilson as I really didn’t want to call it blanky like Shroeder ( I think that is the characters name) in Charlie Brown.  So at night time I ghave to have 2 Wilson’s because I may drop one in a place I can’t retrieve it and I would really hate to call the nurses, just to give me a Wilson.

I have been thinking about nursing types and before I start this I just want to say that all the nurses and PSW that work here are fantastic, and we should tell Mr. McGuinty they should get a big raise and we need more of them.  I have found there are several nursing types and it goes on a scale from being very efficient to being very caring and bonding.  Since they are busy all of them have to have a certain percentage at the efficiency end or they couldn’t get the job done.  But the more efficient nurse is concerned with getting the job done as quickly as possible, with out really connecting with the patient.  Caring nurse or a bonding nurse on the other hand, spends a lot more time talking to you and finding out exactly what your needs are, and how they can best address them. For example I have a number or things I need before going to sleep, and that is about the toughest time for me is about 8 o’clock at night to about midnight when I get my sleeping pills. Since I had the cortisone shot in my knee its not quite as finicky now and once I get it positioned properly its usually good for the night.  But, now there is  another nagging issue, and that is my left shoulder as the rotator cuff muscles are very week.  I am now have a winging scapula.  It appears that the back rest on my wheel chair has slid down and when I sit in the chair the top of it slides my shoulder blade slightly upward causing some muscle pain in my back.  Now before going to sleep at night I have to get the scapula/ shoulder positioned properly. The nurses have been very good at positioning and repositioning my shoulder as needed. 

I am on hydo-morphine, I take the time release one at 8 in the morning and another one at 8 at night. And at any time during  the day or night I can get 2 mg of hyro-morphine every 2 hours. For a few days when my knee was really bothering me I was taking it every 2 hours during the day and once or twice at night which Is a way to much.  Since the cortisone shot I have been able to cut back to once or twice a day, for example its about  2 o’clock now and I haven’t had a pill since midnight last night….yeehaw.  As you know I have mvoved to room 487 and I have a new roommate named Denis and he is a great guy to talk to.  And he should be leaving  in a couple of days. We have the same philosophy that we aren’t bossy or demanding we are simply directing our own care….hehehehe.  A new movement this pst week is I am sitting much straighter in my chair and I am able to hold my head up even when driving my wheel chair.  And I can now flex my body left and right and forwards and backwards, which means I can actually hold myself  straight up in my wheel chair, it also helps the nurses  when they roll me as I can now roll my shoulders over to assist them.  Since it is a long weekend Monday will aslo be a ho hum day with no time on the bicycle.

Thanks for all the visits! much appriciated

Talk at you later.

The Good News

I got my new brace yesterday and a cortisone shot in my knee. My knee was actually pain free last night, the brace really holds my knee in place and I can do leg extensions with it as well. They say the cortisone will take a couple of days to really work but it’s great not having a sore knee all the time. The only problem I am having with it is, it’s been on since 10am this morning and my leg is getting a bit sore – and it may not come off till 10am tomorrow morning unless the nurses can figure out how to put it on and off (have time to take it on and off). 

I am on pain pills, I take a time release at 8am, and another at 8pm at night. Then I am allowed to have a ‘breakthru’ pain pill every two hours as needed. I had one last night at 10pm and I had another this afternoon at 3pm because I had a hard OT session. Hopefully that is all I’ll need and I’ll stop taking them every two hours and hopefully start reducing the amount in the time release. We’ll see. I don’t like taking them, but they really help when needed.

I have been moved, I am now in room A487, which is just next door to where I was. Thank God it’s not a ward, as I would not be able to handle that (4 ppl to a room). However I can’t worry about that now. I have met my new roommate, he seems like a good guy. He has had knee problems in the past so I think they put us together because of a common interest!!

I told you I was going to tell you what it was like being here. Here is the things that really bother me: since I can’t get in and out of my chair myself and I need a lift I have to be in my bed by 6:30pm otherwise the nurses are way too busy and don’t have the time to get me in. So I get into my chair at 10:30am for physio and stay in my chair until 6:30pm now. Which is probably a bit too long, but that’s the way the schedule works(Will be nice when I can get in and out of my chair myself).  I stay awake until about 11:30pm flicking through the channels, when I take my sleeping pills at 11:30 and I’m usually asleep by midnight. Wake up at 6 or 6:30 in the morning, then I wait for breakfast at about 8:30 and then I am in my chair by shortly after 10, In time for physio. So I guess the problem is once I am in bed, I am sort of stuck there – but I am getting use to it, and I’m sure they wont change the schedule just for me. Tonight is shower night and bowel care, so I should be out of my chair for a half hour around 8 or 8:30 tonight. It’s good that the world series play offs are on now, that gives me some sports to watch, sometimes up until midnight.

Thanks for all the visits, today Kelly and Vickie brought the dogs. It was good to see the little puppy again, even though I didn’t really want her on my lap, it was good to see her. Don’t know if she remembers me, but she was trying to get up on the chair to say hello.

My physio remains at an hour and a half a day, my OT has been upped too 1 ½ or 2 hours a day, depending on what I can take, or how tired I get. They really want to start working on my left hand which is slowly starting to move. I’ve had some major gains in finger movement this week - by major gains I mean I can now move my thumb about a half an inch to an inch and all my fingers on my left hand move a little.  On my right hand they are now starting to do fine motor skills, such as rolling things over in my hand, taking a chip rolling it over in my hand and changing sides and putting it down again. Using plasticine stuff to squeeze and make different shapes out of -All sorts of fun stuff. It’s surprising how hard it is to focus on fine motor skills, when your starting from nothing. I actually started sweating during the excercises. But that just shows that I am working.

Talk at you later, thanks.

Another Day

As I said before I am starting to get into the routine here. I know why they call people who are in the hospital patients, because you sure have to have a lot of it. My biggest problem is, I can’t get out of bed and into my wheelchair by myself. . .yet. I must rely on staff to hoist me out of bed and plop me into my chair. That would be fine if I was the only person here, but they do have other patients they need to look after, go figure.  I really have to plan my chair time, problems are I can’t sit on my butt too long or I will start getting pressure sores, so I try to limit my time in the chair to four hours.  I get in my chair about 10:15am so I can be at physio by 10:30am. I get done physio about Noon – then I have my lunch in my chair, then I have to be at OT by 2pm so there is no time to get me out of the chair after lunch and before OT. OT is suppose to go from 2-3pm but it sometimes goes longer, so if I get back to my room after 3:30pm staff doesn’t have time to get me out of my chair and back in so I can be ready for dinner. So at the time of writing this blog (6pm) I have been in my chair since 10:15 this morning. I probably wont get out of my chair now till 6:30, if I don’t get out of my chair at 6:30pm I’ll be in my chair until 8pm – which is probably way too long to be sitting in one spot. I have found that this amazing chair that I am in does tilt a way back and I can in fact take pressure off my butt, by titling it. Right now I’ve been in my chair for 6 and a half hours and I really need to get out of it.

PhysioTherapy

Physiotherapy went well today. They got me sitting up, with one physio kneeling on the table behind me and one in a chair in front they stabilized me and they stretched open my back and made me sit tall. The physio in front has a towel wrapped around my back just below my kidneys and she pulls so that I sit up as tall as I can. I am now able to keep my head up and sort of hold my body up. So they say I did very well but that could be the line they tell everybody. But, it did feel good to sit up tall. I am now keeping my head up straighter for longer periods of time. Then they put me on the bike for 30 minutes and I did my usual spin forward for 4 and half minutes, 30 second rest and 4 and half backwards. I got a kilometer further then usual today. . .5.5 km Yeehaw! But, when I do work harder then I should, I do suffer a bit after as now my right leg feels like it wants to go into spasm all the time. I guess I’ll just have to remember that for next time I’m on the bike.

Occupational Therapy

I am in a GRASP study and they test my hands every three months as they are trying to design a tool to try and measure what function will return to hands. Test involves all sorts of neat things, they check my hands with little nylon probes that give a range of pressures they start with the finest one which I couldn’t feel at all. They touch you at various spots on fingers to see if you can feel. My right hand works quite well, but I don’t have a lot of sensory feel yet. My left hand I think has a little better sensory feel, but very little movement.  Then they do strength testing, how strong I am in pressing down my thumb and curl resistance when lifting up my arm. They log all the information and then do it again in three months. They also check some fine motor skills, I have to take 9 pegs of one side of a board and put them in holes on the other and it’s timed, they count the number of misses or ones I drop. I think I dropped two or three and did it in 59 seconds. You are only allowed one practice session. I think I could do a lot better with a little practice.  The next test was a little more difficult, I had to pick up keys off the table and put the key in the right position and put it in a lock and turn it 90 degrees. I was able to do it in the practice session, but in the timed session I dropped the key before I got it in. The next one was really difficult, they put 4 nuts on the table and I had to put them back on the thread and screw them on. There was a big one which was atleast 3/8 of a inch but I wasn’t able to thread them on.  The next task was I lad to pick up a loonie, a quarter, a nickel and a dime and put them in a slot.I dropped the loonie, I was able to get the quarter the nickel and the dime in the slot. If I Had a lot of practice I could do a lot better – but I guess that’s not the purpose of the study, it’s to see what my fine motor skills are now. So hopefully this data will help them and getting a good tool to measure hand response.

I finally got to bed. And I’m laying a little bit on my right side waiting for bowel care and a shower, which should happen sometime around 8 or later, probably later.

Visitors who are coming now I put to work as I need my left hand worked on quite a bit, it’s called ranging where they move the fingers of my hand to put the tendons through the whole range of motion that they normally go through. Problem is with the left hand it has been moving much, so it is very painful when they push my fingers down. None the less, it’s needed. Some people have magic hands, some don’t. Fortunately today and yesterday there were people here who did have magic hands – Cathy from work did a great job and so did Grandpa who was here today. Linda also did a great job and I really liked the cheese cake, even though I couldn’t eat it all. . .Kelly says it was yummy. All the cookies I have got have been great, Nancy’s rice krispy squares are fantastic, and the peanut butter cookies are wonderful – but I have to be careful or I’ll be weighing three hundred pounds when I get out of here.

Next blog will be about all the little things that bug me in here.  There are one or two.