It's been a Year

Well I guess I’ll keep this format for a while…

Sunday Aug 12^th:A rest day, for the most part. Spent most of the afternoon writing the blog, takes a little while to type, I use the Columbus system, first you discover the key then you land on it. Watched the closing ceremonies…the Brits did a great job. Did the usual routine in bed…that is exercise routine!

Monday Aug 13^th: PT at  11:00 had me standing and I found it a little confusing as there was a Physio, a Physio Assistant and 4 students with most giving me direction…relax your hand, chest up, relax shoulders, tighten the gluts, tighten your left quad, straighten your left leg, put weight on your left leg etc.etc. Just a little confusing for the ol’ brain that is trying to think the signals through to the right parts. Don’t get me wrong the Physio is fantastic.  Felt very strange after PT, body is all tingly but, missed noon meds perhaps that was it.Don’t even want to go on the bike as it would tighten me up even more.

Tuesday Aug 14^th:Good session with Yonna and Grandpa worked left arm and doing sit-ups and standing at the commode. Don’t get quite as straight as at PT as there aren’t enough people to keep my legs straight, bum tight, but I try.

Did ½ hour on the bike in the afternoon, first time at tension of 12 watched and the legs went around okay.

Wednesday Aug 15^th: No physio as Laura was away, the nerve of her taking vacation, only had Occupational Therapy. Way back when, I signed up for 4 studies and one was the GRASP Study and it is to determine if the tool can predict how well hands will work after a SCI. I’ve done it at 3, 6, 9 months and 1 year after my injury…yikes the anniversary is coming up. The test is very simple, pouring water from a bottle into a jar, taking lids off 2 jars, putting a key in a lock and turning it, putting coins through a slot, screwing nuts on threads from ½ inch, 3/8 inch ¼ inch, 3/16 inch and then moving 9 small pegs from one side of a board to the other. I did better with the right than the last time but lefty still can’t do any of the tasks.

Still felt crappy, did only 15 minutes on the bike and couldn’t spin and the RPMs were way down. Really getting into the Curiosity Rover on Mars…absolutely amazing…I even opened a twitter account to get tweets from the rover. Interesting the conspiracy groups are already seeing UFOs in the pictures being sent back. It is going to be an interesting 2 years as Curiosity looks for past life on Mars.

Thursday Aug 16^th:Went to Cultures for coffee with Darcy then to the Optometrist, Jonathon Arnel to get my glasses fixed. Then coffee in the afternoon with the guys. My trunk was really tight and the bike tightens it up more so I had an easy day.

Friday Aug 17^th:  Had PT with Emily who I thought was a student but she is permanent fulltime PTA. Laura, was still on vacation and left instructions for Emily. She did very well and to boot she is from Tillsonburg and Yonna taught her in Grade 7 PhysEd. Felt great today came home and did 2x15 minutes on the bike and matched my best times. Guess it is just like everything, all days are good, some are just better than others, the legs and body just felt tight and tingly. The OT said it could be some nerves coming back to life…hope so.

Saturday Aug 18^th:The Karate Club, Martial Arts Canada had summer camp where students get some seminars on Mai Thai kick boxing, Judo and Kubudo (weapons-Bo, Sai, Tonfa). The participants were broken into five teams and competed in ‘gladiator games’, a quad pull and some mind games. One accident occurred in the Judo seminar when Byron got his foot caught and ‘snapped’ his knee and broke a bone in his ankle. He will need Surgery to bolt the bones back together. Wish Byron a speedy recovery.

There was a fundraiser, an anonymous person donated a treadmill, and Minuteman Press in London printed the tickets free of charge. The tickets were distributed to the Karate Club members and the Silver Spokes Cycling Club.As mentioned on FaceBook thank you to all the sellers and buyers the $1209 will be used to replace the patio doors so I’ll be able to get into the back yard.

Some friends that I played Rugby with a way back when in Brantford dropped into see me. The surprise was Russ Cairns, a Kiwi who was on a world tour in the 70’s and stopped in Brantford played some Rugby and stayed for about 12 years. For those who don’t know, rugby in New Zealand is like hockey here. The Harlequins Rugby Club had the Annual George Jones Memorial Golf Tournament and they also did some fundraising and I got a cheque for 300 bucks that will go towards the door. Thank you Quins! Oh yes, Russ mentioned that he still has a picture of my moon.

Sunday Aug 19^th:A rest day. I hope all this tingly legs and body is nerves coming back to life. Don’t know if I should be taking pain meds or not. As mentioned before I dropped the hydromorphone from 15 a day down to 9 mg per day perhaps I should put it back up. I see the Physiatrist, Dr Potter in September; perhaps he can shed some light on this condition.

Monday Aug 20^th:This is the anniversary of the fall, I’ll talk about that in How I Feel

PT with Janelle…did side lying with a bolster under my right side…had my left arm straight, Barry worked my left leg, a deep massage in my IT band…felt good when he stopped…need to break up the facia holding the muscles together…body still working as a block but the brain is ‘starting’ to differentiate the difference between my shoulders and my legs…my traps are big because I turn them on for everything I do

Tuesday Aug 21^st:  Yonna came over and did her thing, stretching and getting me standing. Trying to get weight on left leg. Legs feel tingly as mentioned several times …no bike. Perhaps the tingly is the new norm.

Wednesday Aug 22^nd:   Started off with a session in OT that loosened up my left arm which I really needed then to PT where they re-enforced the need for me to sit up straight 24-7. They never want to see me with my head down and my back not straight, must keep my chest up all the time… I’m trying, sitting here typing.  They also want my left arm away from my body so the brain gets the idea that my arm is actually an appendage and separate from the body. It is a lot of work trying to sit up straight all the time when you must think about every move and keep checking to make sure the arm hasnot  moved back to its original position beside my body.

Met with the psychiatrist today and everything seems to be going ok. She says I can start weaning off the sleeping pills. I take 15 mg of zopiclone (Imovane) and I am going to cut it back to 10 mg for a week or 2 and see what happens. She also mentioned that I shouldn’t be in ahurry to get off the pain meds as pain may lead to depression and I don’t that to happen. It’s back to 9 mg of hydromophone in the morning and 6 mg at night…don’t want anything to do with depression.

Thursday Aug 23^rd:Yonna stretched my hammies and then I stood up without using my hand to pull myself up. I managed to stand by just using my legs and was able to balance without holding onto the chair…yeehaw….then I was able to stand for almost 2 minutes without any support and then sat down with no arm support…yeehaw again. It was by no means a perfect stand, the left knee was still bent, left heel wasn’t on the floor and the bum was sticking out a bit…the good things were my back was a little arched and my gluts, both left and right were turned on and I was standing unassisted…wooo hooo. Hey all this and it wasn’t even noon yet. I haven’t been able to repeat it, but I keep trying. Told the girls and they immediately put it on FaceBook. So much for old news.

Friday Aug 24^th:Grandpa Bob and the Sarge drove me down to Pt. Rowan for a coffee with the guys from the cycling club. My friend Etienne was there…he did the same thing I did on the same trail about 150 yards from where I fell. He was looking good and is walking with a cane and was able to walk into the coffee shop on his own. Thanks to Ken for bringing him down.

Saturday Aug 25^th:Went to my first Karate class in over a year. Just sat and watched as Sensei Linda put the class through their paces. I’d like to teach but I’ve always taught by leading, it will be a little difficult not to lead by example…guess I’ll have to figure that out. The inspiration is that Frank, 78 years old is still taking Karate. It seems that he has a little trouble remember his Kata and self-defenses and gets a little frustrated, but who cares…and then there is Godelieve who at 79, still rides with the cycling club.

How am I feeling?

A good feeling was standing unassisted, which I haven’t been able to repeat, close but not quite. Another good feeling was standing at PT, when Barry, a hard-assed PTA said ‘good job’ when I stood up. Ya know it’s hard not bonding with the OTs and the PTs as they do so much for you, then you remember it’s their job…but what the hell, I’m going to bond anyway!

First anniversary of the crash on Aug 20^th…it’s seems a very short time ago yet, it seems very remote…things I remember the most…the 2 hours spent on the trail preparing to stay all night…being found…8 hours on a spine board…being in ICU for 5 days…then 20 more in acute care…the move to Parkwood…most of all I remember the support from friends…and how Darcy, Meghan and Kelly were always there…all my friends who came to see me…and have kept in touch…writing this blog…little did I know how therapeutic it would be...it seemed when I a first started writing it was a connection to the ‘outside’ world and probably said some silly things…going into depression...coming out of it…trying to figure out how I got there in the first place.

There are friends, whom I have not met that became very supportive, Marj who helped me through the bad time and JerryAnn who wrote notes about the blog and Meghan’s and Kelly’s notes to name a couple. Not going to start naming more names as the list would be 10 pages long. Then there was the fundraising by Martial Arts Canada, The Harlequins Rugby Club, Tour de Norfolk, Silver Spokes Cycling Club, several individuals and most recently the Karate Club with the draw on a treadmill that was donated anonymously and thanks to the printer…Minuteman Printing in London…who did the tickets for nothing, and Sensei John who put it all together…humbling indeed!

Meghan and Kelly probably said it best on Facebook on Aug 20^th.

copied from Facebook:

One Year ago today, my dad was riding his bike, as he loves to do, when something unimaginable happened.  He fell of his bike. A stick got caught in his spoke and stopped him in dead in his tracks, he flew over his handle bars and landed on his head, a stick, so small, yet life changing…. 

He lay on the trail unable to move.  My dad suffered a spinal cord injury. Instantly his life was changed, and so was our family’s.  But, in true Steen style, a style learned from my mom and dad both, we have marched through this crazy year, tough times and rough times, we have seen trial upon trial, only to see that perseverance and dedication really, truly pays off. 

Good things don’t come easy, progress doesn’t come easy.  My dad has worked his a$$ off, every single day.  He gets up and keeps on getting up when most would say screw it, and when he felt like saying screw it because there were some tough days, really tough days, my mom was there saying don’t you dare… you get up and get going, and when she felt like saying screw it, friends were there saying don’t you dare…keep going.  And although we are only a year into this long journey, we have only just begun; learning, growing, and becoming stronger. Day by day, inch, by inch.  Dad remember

 

because after this year you have turned all of those problems into opportunities, opportunities to grow, to teach, to adapt, and to learn.   That’s what you always taught me, So make sure you remember that.

This past year was a year where I learned how important it is to have good friends, because my dad has some pretty amazing friends.  And all I can say is THANK YOU, to everyone!

   

                           

                                               Keep growing dad,

                                               And we will ALL

                                               Grow with you.

Love you, Mom, Dad, and Kelly.

~Meghan Steen                                               

                                           

I’d like to say to Marj, stay strong as you possibly can, thinking about you always. 

Another Two Weeks

Another 2 weeks:

Monday July 30^th PT this AM worked left arm while in the standing table, stayed up for 20 minutes.   Worked on opening my left hand…they say the movement is there to initiate the finger straightening and moving the wrist back so it seems there is some nerve impulse getting thru. Meghan makes fun of me when I write the ‘problem is’, but the problem is as mentioned previously my knee bone is attached to my left arm bone. When I stand on my left leg my left arm, hand and fingers are so tight it is very difficult to open my fingers…they do work hard to get the fingers open, the wrist straight and the arm extended.

They are trying to arrange another time slot so I get 3 sessions per week. It would be 2 with the physio and 1 with a physio student, Monday, Wednesday Friday….yeehaw and a woooowhoooo

At home did some launches off the bed and the usual exercise routine and Dr Ho on the finger flexors, triceps and quads.

Tuesday July 31:  Yonna and Grandpa came over and they warmed up my leg and left arm did stretching on hamstrings and then I stood up several times. Can get from sitting to standing by myself the hard part is getting in the proper standing position…you know the drill bum in, chest out shoulders back and head up chin in.  Grandpa mentioned that there was some separation of left arm from left leg.

Have Dr. Ho on my forearm while typing this and the fingers are opening a third of the way and I close them and they open again don’t know why it is working today.

Taking a urine specimen to the Doc today and hopefully get some anti-b’s. Used norfloxicen the last two times, want something different this time. Would also like a sensitivity test done to see what anti-b will kill the little suckers.

On the bike for ½ hour and it tightened up my arms.

Wednesday Aug 1^st:  In PT did prone lying to prone standing…stretched legs wide apart, haven’t been that far apart for a long time a good stretch of the hip abductors or is it adductors well anyway a good groin stretch. Stood straight up for a minute from prone standing which is very hard on my tight hamstring and there is a little relief if they/I tuck my tail bone in and my butt under. They say I am getting better at standing and my arm is starting not to tighten up as much. I guess that is like Sir Winston Churchill’s statement about the war….’it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps the end of the beginning’. Hmmmm….perhaps I shouldn’t be using Sir Winnie’s quotes in this blog.

Anti-b hasn’t kicked in yet, as my bladder is still burning and cloudy and burning pee.

Thursday Aug 2^nd: As mentioned the lift is still broken and they won’t have the part for another 2 weeks. The outdoor splash pool is like the beach, the water depth goes from zero to 4 feet. They have a small wheelchair and they wondered if I could transfer to it from my electric chair. I’d stand, by holding Yonna’s hands and they pull my chair out and push the little chair in…it worked. In case you don’t know The Sarge and I are always zinging each other. The Sarge took great delight in rolling me into the water very slowly as it rose to chest depth…yikes! Note the outdoor pool is several degrees cooler than the indoor pool. Once into the 3 foot depth they tie the float on and I float for about ½ hour with Yonna moving my legs to stretch the hamstrings, quads and hip muscles. It is then time to stand up in 3 foot water which isn’t very buoyant and off comes the float. I have found that standing in the pool is hard on my feet as I have no calluses left on them and my toe next to the big one rolls under. Yonna and The Sarge both say the pool bottom is smooth…well it isn’t to my prissy feet. I think I’ll look into some aqua shoes. Oh yes, we share the  pool with about 25 ladies doing aqua fit and they are very supportive and some come over at the end of class to give me some encouragement.

I think the anti-b is starting to work

Did ½ hour on the bike in the afternoon once finished I stretched the left arm by getting Darcy to open my hand and slide it on the handle bar and then I sit back and it straightens the arm out as it is very tight even though I did the chicken dance. Did 4 sets of 10 launches…had to pull with my arm very hard to get a foot off the saddle, oh yes, I am still on the bike then again I realized I was doing it wrong. To stand I must put my nose over my toes, keeping head and shoulders up…surprising what a difference it makes…almost stood up straight about 2/3 of the way up quite easily. I must remember that while sitting here typing, to bend from the waist and keep my head up and not be all hunched over the keyboard

Friday, Aug 3^rd:Coffee with the guys at 10 this morning, then another massage by Jeanie at 1. Then lying on my right side for 45 minutes, which stretches me a different way than lying on my back. Should actually sleep on my side for 4 hours and then go on my back, not going to happen as Darcy would have to get up and help me get on my back. Friday we were told that we would have 3 new people coming in on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Being a long weekend and vacations, it is understandable they would be short staffed. However, no one showed up on Friday night so Darcy had to do my bowel care…oh joy oh bliss. We managed ok but Darcy hurt her back lifting my legs into the bed. The workers not only do bowel care they have been trained to do 8 exercises on my arm back and ribs so I missed the exercises, which I need.

Did 2 sessions on the bike, first one for 15 minutes, then 25 minutes. As Darcy says, I always overdo and 40 minutes was just a tad too long and really tightened up my arms and trunk.

Anti-b’s are working, pee is clear, not the kind of clear like when you drink too much beer…eh Marnie!  I mean not cloudy, no burning bladder, no burning pee and fewer muscle spasms.

Saturday, Aug 4:   Woke up very tight with lots of muscle tone everywhere, arms legs and back muscle spasms are back...not as bad but there. Hope it is the hard workout that caused it all and not the bladder infection acting up…still on anti-b’s ‘til Monday. Did a very light workout on the bike and still tightened up. No worker showed up at 8:15 as stated and no phone call to say they weren’t coming. Darcy had bowel care once again, sore back and all.

Sunday Aug 5^th:  Again too tight to do much. Didn’t ride the bike as it tightens me up more. Did some leg extensions and pelvic tilts, and lying on my side…pretty much a rest day.

A worker actually came in at 8:15 and did the bowel care and she had only been on the job for a week. She asked for direction and people tell me I am pretty good at giving direction, Darcy calls it being ‘bossy’. She did a fine job. The regular workers have been trained to do 8 exercises on my arm, back and ribs. The operative word is trained so no training, no exercises, even though I could walk them through it quite easily.

Monday Aug 6^th: Woke up looser or should that be less tight. Rode the bike for 40 minutes, 2 sessions, one for 25 minutes with a 3 minute cool down and an easy spin for15 minutes. I am really missing therapy and the exercises from the workers. A regular worker came in at 8. Note she usually does mornings and even though she had been trained several months ago I had to direct her through all the exercises…hmmm…why can’t I do that with new workers. I understand there are rules but there is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. The supervisor of the agency says she is going to get more workers trained but she doesn’t know the exercises and I will have to train them all…what a waste of time and money when I could do training on their first visit…grrrrrr

Tuesday Aug 7^th:  In the splash pool with Grandpa Bob and Yonna. Did stretches for ½ hour with grandpa working on my arm and shoulder. Then off comes the float and I do squats by sitting down on Grandpa’s and Yonna’s knee and then stand up and hold it. Again, my feet are tender my feet hurt when I get up. I tend to twist as my right side is so much stronger than the left. Must work on standing straight.

Learned a new trick. As mentioned, Darcy hurt her back putting my feet into bed. She has to lift my legs from the floor and push them into the bed. I haven’t been able to lift my legs and swing them into the bed as my butt sinks into the bed. I had a brain wave that I could sit on my slider board that I use to slide in and out of the wheel chair. I sit on the board and can easily lift my legs and swivel my butt on the board and put my legs into the bed. It even gets me in the right position so I don’t have to slide up in the bed so my feet don’t touch the bedboard. The PSW’s appreciate it as well.

Wednesday Aug 8^th:  Wow got back to phyisio with a bang. Laura and Marion were working on my arm and posture and I mean head up shoulders back chest out, sit and stand tall, all the time…then we got into standing with 4 physios, one in front keeping my arm extended, one on my right making sure my leg was straight, one on the left stopping my left side from collapsing and keeping my leg straight as possible and my heel on the floor and one behind making sure my tail bone was tucked under and my gluts were on. When I stand, my right leg does all the work and the left goes along for the ride. If I put weight on my left leg the whole left side collapses, knee, and hip. They said I must do 8000 reps a day of putting weight through my left leg and tighten my left glut (bum). The work Yonna and I have been doing on stretching the hamstring is helping as I can get the knee straighter without pulling the hamstring i.e. no pain. They like my ‘stamina’ as I was able to go from sit to stand many times without a rest.

Darcy and I have a standing bet of 25 cents depending on whom is right. As physio wants me to stand and practice putting weight on my left leg I needed something to stand up to from the bed. I need to be on the bed as I can raise it up higher than a chair. Darcy suggested I use the handle bar on the commode. I said the commode was too light and wouldn’t work…she won the quarter. With a PSW standing beside the commode and Darcy sitting in it, I grab the handlebar, keeping my chest and head up, put my noes over my toes I stood up, 5 times. I was a little wobbly but managed to stay standing for a couple of minutes each time. Darcy doesn’t feel comfortable doing it alone as I wobble to the left and she is afraid I’ll fall….note I’m not afraid as if anything gives out I’ll just sit on the bed.

Thursday Aug 9^th:  No swimming pool as it was quite cool and raining. Yonna did lots of stretching of hamstrings and the hip flexors. Did some stands from the bed trying to tighten my butt and tuck tail bone under and putting weight through my left foot. Hard to keep gluts tight. Must get a leg press machine to work the legs and get the butt working. I was not so wobbly this time and my left side did not collapse when I put weight through it. Darcy now feels comfortable doing itby herself.

Friday Aug 10^th:  PT today as a replacement for the civic holiday…yeehaw. They had me standing for45 minutes at the standing table. They put some weights under my toes to lift them up that really stretched my hamstrings. I could only tolerate it for ½ hour.  Again trying to keep my legs straight and pressure on my knee, again my left arm bone is attached to my left knee bone and the ol’ left arm tightened up. They tried to get my fingers open and they did extend my arm with a lot of difficulty. Then they got me into side lying and stretched my quads i.e. bent my knee and pulled it back to stretch the quad and the hip flexors, feels good when they stop.

Came home and had another great massage from Jeanie and she commented on how much more flexible my ankle was.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the Tillsonburg Rec Department for all they did in getting me into the pool.

How am I feeling?

The long weekend was not good. It was too hot to go outside and there was no therapy for a week. Rode the bike but even with the air conditioner on, I was sweating a lot. Started to doubt what I am doing but the therapy on Wednesday got me over that hump. Being able to get my legs into bed is great and standing at the commode is fantastic.

I have stopped setting goals for when I am going to walk. I’ll keep doing what physio says and I’ll walk when they tell me I am ready. There is so much that has to happen before I get there. There is the whole balance thing and just picking a foot up with the weight entirely on the other foot must be learned all over. Then there is stepping. I know I was walking in the pool, don’t get me wrong, that was a great feeling but, two people plus the water were holding me up as I have no balance and I need to stand straight and shift my weight from one foot to the other all the time keeping my leg and butt muscles turned on. It’s tough to have the brain send the signals to the right spot at the right time, that’s the unknown learning variable which may take time…will take time.

Oh yes I watched a lot of the Olympics…yeehaw Canada…well done. Some great performances, Damian Warner in the decathlon and our only gold and the soccer team and last in women’s triathlon… and…and…and…and damn about the relay, rules must be followed…oops did I say that.

Thanks for listening….

Two Weeks In the Life Of...

Here’s what I’ve been doing for the last 2 weeks:

Sunday July 15^th:  Rode the bike for 2x15 minute sessions, just a spin ride with the cadence in the 40’s and hit 50 once. Cadence = Pedal RPM. That becomes the competition; try to go faster in the second session.Really stiff today. I think I have a UTI, bladder burns but no cloudy urine. Did some launches, that is, sit on the side of the bed, put my nose over my toes keeping head and chest up then lift my butt off the bed like I am standing.

 Monday July 16^th:Very tight in the morning before and at physio.  Got up in the standing table for another ½ hour. Stimulation on my left arm with Dr. Ho as their expensive machine didn’t work all that well. Disappointed with prone standing which is standing with my trunk over a table and my face in a face toilet. Couldn’t get my arms out and my legs weren’t strong enough to keep me up, I have several excuses, oops reasons 1. Legs tired from the standing table 2. Legs tired from the bike and launches on Sunday. 3. Damn UTI. Couldn’t get my arms out because they had my left leg stretched out, remember, left leg bone is attached to the left arm bone.

Disappointed as this was the first time I couldn’t do what they asked

Saw the respirologist in the afternoon, and I do have sleep apnea.Need a new machine that records some more measurements. What happens now is the face mask goes on at 10:30 to 11 and I wake up at 4 or 5 with a dry mouth and I take it off and snooze and snore ‘til 7. The respirologist can download the info and see what I have been doing.

Something creepy happened in the parking lot when we were getting into the car. Darcy was getting me into the car and a guy pulls up in the next space and asks if we need help, which we didn’t. He got out of the car and came around behind our vehicle and asked again if we needed help, we said no again. I got loaded in the car and Darcy put the chair away, and as we pulled out he drove away. Perhaps he was just a Good Samaritan but we were a bit leery.

Tuesday July 17^th: In the rec pool with Yonna and Grandpa and did lots of stretching of arms and legs, lots of hamstring stretches then squats, to standing. Just about peed in the pool but thought I could hold ‘til I got home, made it out of the pool, then a mad dash to the change room…peed a little on the deck, just a little. Went to lunch with Grandpa, Yonna and The Sarge at Ambrosia House. Had a chicken pie and a bowl of fruit,Yonna left without paying…..she did go back and pay a couple of days later.

Wednesday July 18^th: OT worked my arm for an hour and used Dr. Ho on my left triceps. Then in PTthey put me in prone (lying on my tummy) and then slid me off the end of the table to prone standing…have to work very hard at turning muscles on and off. When they stood me up I was feeling quit nauseous. It is amazing how fast the physios can move when they think I am going to barf. I now know what Procol Harum meant by ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’…. How many of you remember them? That was the first time I have been nauseous in a long time.

Thursday July 19^th:Another great massage from Jeanie today. Yonna came over and I got up to almost standing straight up about 7 times…felt good I was a afraid at first to stand with only one catcher but Yonna reminded me that she is bigger than me or at least as big as and could easily hold me up and she could probably bench press me as well. Of course I want to stand more on my right leg and since I can’t get my left heel on the floor I tend to rotate to the right. Still tight and having spasms, and it feels like a bladder infection AGAIN. Guess I better see the Doc. Since I sleep on my back and don’t move all night, I am very stiff in the morning and it takes a good hour to loosen up. I know I am stiff when the PSW has to help sit me up on the edge of the bed in the morning.

Friday July 20^th:Supposed to go in the Rec pool but the lift is broken, still waiting for a part. Yonna, Grandpa and Karen came over. Yonna stretched my left arm and Bob worked my left leg then went from sit to stand 6 times with very little help,that is I basically stood up with very little help…yeehaw. The bed was up a bit higher than a normal chair but I got up straight and then everyone let go andI was able to stand on my own a couple of times and stayed up for a minute+ even with weight on my left foot.Grandpa was on the left arm, Yonna was in front holding my hands and Karen was behind making sure my butt was tight which is a very important part of standing and walking. Then Yonna stretched my hamstrings, my quads and hip flexors…yikes. It felt so good when she stopped, but it needs to be done.

More good news, the indoor Rec pool is closing for the month of August not good news,but there is an outdoor wave pool that has an adult swim period,with no waves.They will take the lift over, if and when the part comes in, so I won’t miss a month out of the pool…another yeehaw

Saturday July 21^st:A rest day, went to Karen and Terry’s for a BBQ, felt good to get out. Again everyone drank wine and I had water…should have taken some wine gums…. hee,hee.

Sunday July 22^nd:Peed on Darcytoday. You know how baby boys sometimes create a fountain when gettingtheir diapers changed, well it was something like that as she was positioning the urinal.

Rode the bikefor ½ hour. Watched the great escape on TCM. Did exercises in bed, pelvic tilts, leg extensions, crunches and used Dr.Ho on my forearm and on my triceps. I usually do about an hour exercise routine in bed in the evenings.

Monday July23^rd:No physio today as Laura is away. Yonna came over and did some massage and stretched the hamstrings and stood me up 5 times. Stood just holding Yonna’s hand and then I let go and stood by myself with Darcy making sure my bum was tight. The legs got tired and form fell apart so we quit. My heel was on the ground but it doesn’t hurt the calf as much as standing in PT. After lunch went on the computer and watched several episodes of Cosmic Journey…neat stuff.

Tuesday July 24^th:A rest day, watchedmore stuff on the origin of the universe. Did exercise routine at night in bed.

Wednesday July 25^th:In PT did prone standing, need to take some more pain pills so I can straighten out my knee and flex it more. Straightening my knee hurts the calf and hamstring and when they hurt I tighten up my left arm and it won’t come out to the side. They want me to actively sit up straight, that is, head up shoulders back, chest out. I have never sat up so straight.

Rode the bike for ½ hour in the afternoon and tried moving my arms like in the chicken dance and kept pedaling. Trying to separate the body parts and have the arms and legs move independently. The brain needs to figure out what to move. I don’t stop pedaling when I do the chicken dance but the cadence does fall off.

Thursday July 26^th:Rode the bike for ½ hour did chicken dance and the arms and legs were moving independently. It’s like rubbing your tummy and patting your head

Friday July27^th:PT got me sitting straight up and got me thinking about separating movementsand I must do it all the time, move the left arm without tightening shoulder. Must move left leg without moving left arm. Same as sparring when I move, I must not lead with my head must start to lead with my chest.Had fastest speed to date on the bike, first time over 20 kph in a 15 minute ride and distance over 5 K.

Saturday July 28^th:Thanks to all the Karate club members who came over and weeded the gardens and trimmed the shrubs etc., it looks great. Wow can Marianne chug a beer.

Backvery tight and sore did 30 minutes on the bike…easy spin. Tired and I slept most of morning…damn UTI, must see the Doc.

Sunday July 30:Went to Coffee Cultures and met Sensei John and some guys from the cycling club. I drove the electric chair and Darcy rode her bike and I knocked her off it. No she wasn’t hurt…much. I was in front and turned to miss a pot hole and hit her front wheel and she went down and got a little road rash on her knee.Did  ½ hour on the bike and kept the speed up over 20 kph

How am I feeling?

Went surfing for spinal cord injury (SCI) and perhaps I shouldn’t have. The literature says what you have at 6 months is what you get and after 9 months you plateau. I’m now at a little over 11 months and let’s see what I have. Right arm has about 40 – 50% function and I have to see what I am doing as the sensory is not all there i.e. can’t feelwith my fingers. Left arm moves a bit but it is very stiff at the elbow and I can’t straighten it out. The wrist won’t bend much and stays at about a 30 degree angle most of the time. The index finger and thumb move a bit and there is very weak pinch strength.The other 3 fingers are usually curled up in my palm. Sometimes they are soft and can be straightened easily, other times they are very stiff and it takes a lot of work to straighten them. When they are soft I can wiggle them a bit but nowhere near opening my hand. Since there is some movement it means some message is getting through…perhaps it means I need to get the extender muscles on the back of my arm stronger. Sensory on the left hand changes and some days it is numb and sometimes it is hypersensitive…very strange. Sometimes when I connect Dr. Ho (electrical stimulation) the fingers open a bit and sometimes they don’t move at all….again very strange.

The legs are getting stronger and they tell me all the motor muscles are there, I have to stop moving as one big block and strengthen my core. The goal is to walk, the question is ‘When’?

I guess it is like any training plateau you just have to work harder to get off it.

Thanks for listening to two weeks in the life of….

                                                 https://www.facebook.com/LASCIonline

July 14th

July 14^th

At physio I am really focusing on my body parts and not kibitzing with the therapists. They like my progress but I have to concentrate on not tensing my left arm every time I move my left leg. If I try to move anything my traps (neck muscles) turn on. I was in the pool at Parkwood on Wednesday, July 11 and the thing I heard most was ‘Glen relax your neck!’ I must consciously think about my neck as well as what I am doing with my legs.  It takes a lot of energy for me to multi-task. For those of you who saw the video of me walking in the pool I found out there was quite a bit wrong with it. It felt great to be moving on my own but my bum was out and I was not over my feet. To walk I must turn on my gluts (bum) first and then put my weight on one leg and step with the other with my butt under my shoulders and this is where I must concentrate on relaxing the rest of my body. That’s the kind of rewiring the ol’ brain needs to do. The brain ain’t got it yet.

I was in the pool with one of my old, oops, former roommates. He was told that he would never walk again as he had an infection in his spine and had several vertebrae fused in his lower back. He drove in from St. Mary’s and walked in unassisted, talk about encouragement. He mentioned that he was where I am 3 to 4 months ago.

Grandpa Bob was in the pool with me at Parkwood and one of the physios showed him what I should be doing in the pool. They seem to be pleased with the way I am standing both in and out of the pool. I need to do a lot of core work and get my bum back…do lots of pelvic tilts…I am doing them right now. 

Got a great email from a friend’s mother, I’ll call her Marj.  Note I have never met her and we just started communicating via FB when I fell off the wagon in January and February. She would send me these subtle notes just at the right time, now I find out that she was/is a psych nurse. Now I’ve had 4 professionals, 3 psych nurses and a psychiatrist telling me to stay on the antidepressants. Marj explained it the best, I am good at healing my body but my mind and brain have taken a beating in this whole event and I have to take meds and give my brain time to heal as well. I have to let the people who know how to treat my brain do their job.  I am on the meds until they say I can come off.  Marj gave me the perspective that I understand. I need to heal my brain, simple as that. Perhaps if I had sought help for my claustrophobia, anxiety and panic attacks prior to the crash I could have been cured a long time ago.

Things you learn along the way. We thought it would be great to get one of those nice curved, ergonomic pillows that would keep my head and neck in a comfortable position with a notch in the side so I could lie on my side and use the CPAP…the face mask that I wear for sleep apnea. After several tries it just didn’t work. The reason was a Homer Simpson ‘Doh’….my neck is fused and doesn’t bend so the curved support becomes a pain in the neck. Someone was also being a smart ass, since I can’t drink wine she bought me a bag of wine gums.

Last Monday, the 9^th, I stood at a standing table for ½ hour. The standing table is just that, a table that you stand up to. The interesting part is getting up. Wheel up in the chair and belts are strapped around my butt and the machine pulls me up to a standing position and I put my arms on the table and stood like that for ½ hour. They also tried stimulating my arm but the unit didn’t work very well. I took my Dr. Hoh unit that I used to relax my legs after a hard ride, to the physio for her to see if it’ll work on my left arm. I’ll find out on Monday.

My left quad is very weak and I was told to put a ball under my knee and straighten my leg and hold for 5 seconds and do 3 sets of 10. I cheated a bit, put a ball under my knee and did 5 sets of 10 with a 5 pound weight on my foot and held it as long as I could.…yup as Darcy says, I overdo everything. Speaking of overdoing, on Wednesday, July 11th, I had OT for an hour to loosen up my arms and then an hour of physio in the pool. I was invited to watch Le Tour de France at John’s with The Sarge and Grandpa Bob. Came home from London at 1:30, ate lunch and went to John’s at 2:30, but of course we had to wait for The Sarge. Oh yes, Grandpa Bob came to my place and pushed me over to John’s in my manual chair about ½ a K. Needed the manual chair so they could get me into the house and I had to train them to do that. John taped Le Tour and we watched it commercial free. It was good time watching them drink wine and eat snacks while I drank water…just kidding it was great to be out. Since I don’t move around too much and burn any calories, I watch what I eat so no snacks. I digress. About ½ way through le Tour I started to tighten up, my arms and legs started to tingle and I was very uncomfortable but stayed for another two hours got home at 6:30.When I got home…again Grandpa pushed me home, I was absolutely pooped, had trouble eating supper and getting into bed. I will never learn.

If I did every exercise that PT and OT wanted me to I’d be working out from 6 to 6. I do work out and I was on the trainer for ½ hour and did 8.3 K at an average speed of 17.3 KPH, average heart rate of 102 and a maximum of 125. The trainer helps my left knee a lot as it bends the knee from about 15 degrees to about 95 degrees and it strengthens my quad and gluts. Hopefully this will get my bum back!

I was in the pool again on Thursday the 12^th, and Yonna had me floating around to try any relax my body from my Wednesday escapades. The water helps a lot. I was standing at the edge of the pool hanging on to the edge trying to shift my weight from one leg to the other. An older lady who I see in the pool told me I am getting better every time she sees me, that was great encouragement. I got home at 12:30 ate lunch and had a great massage from Jeanie who comes to the house once a week. She loosens up everything with a deep muscle massage, painful at the time but feels good after.

How am I feeling?

I am feeling good about OT and PT. The pool is working well both at Parkwood and at the Rec centre and as mentioned the massage is helping a lot. The email from Marj was uplifting as she says, ’Acceptance is not defeat!’ Marj was very active as a runner, cyclist, yoga instructor, loved working in her garden and as mentioned a psych nurse.  Marj is in a power chair too and she helps me out a lot.

Constipation is gone for now and you don’t know how good that makes me feel. I am eating a tablespoon or two of hemp hearts and then I smoke some and that makes me feel real good….just kidding.

I am not feeling depressed as things seem to be heading in the right direction.  My mood is good and Darcy and I have had a good couple of weeks.

Thanks for listening….

Happy Canada Day

July 1^st

It is surprising how fast the time goes, hard to believe it’s almost 3 weeks since the last blog and lots has happened. On June 14 Darcy and I got a Red Cross van and went to Meghan’s School, Worsley Public School in Wasaga Beach. The students, 500 of them did laps, 0.8 k around the school for equivalent distance of the Rick Hansen 25^th Anniversary of his Man in Motion ride across Canada. The students did 15,000 laps, 12 000km, in 4 weeks and completed the distance on May 22 the same day the Hansen Relay of Many finished in Vancouver. I was supposed to have been there on May 22 but there was not a Red Cross driver available. The van picked up Darcy and me at 9 am on the 14^thand we arrived at the school at 12:30. Meghan teaches grade 2 and her class had won a pizza lunch. They all agreed to have the lunch on the day that I was there.

After pizza, Meghan had arranged for the entire school to go out and do as many laps in 20 minutes to get points for their teams. They got 10 points a lap. Note: the rest of the school didn’t know that I would be there and they seemed genuinely excited to see me. As mentioned there were 500 kids, kindergarten  to Grade 8. I did 2 laps with them and many stopped to say ’hi’ and one little fellow stayed with the entire first lap and didn’t stop talking the entire lap.  One student in Grade 8 did 200 laps, that is 160 k in the month and another did 151 laps, 124 k. I had a Rick Hansen medal and a touque that Kelly, my daughter received doing the Hansen Relay in Tillsonburg. First place got the medal and second place got the touque.  Got a little surprise as the grass was a little rougher than I thought it would, just glad the 20 minutes was up after the second lap. Then back into the class room to say good bye to the kids.  I was under the impression that kids were out of shape but, I was impressed with the condition of these kids as even the kindergartens did laps and surprisingly the Grade 8’s did as well. Back in the van by 3 and home by 6 pm. A rather long day but well worth it. If you ever ride 500 k in a van in a wheelchair, being tied down in front of the back wheels is a lot better than being behind the wheels.  It is quite amazing how high you can bounce when behind the wheels, the chair needed 4 tethers and a seat belt to hold me down.

It seems you can make a difference. Meghan is receiving letters from parents about how her program of walking for Rick Hansen’s Relay of Many and keeping them updated on my condition and the visit has had a positive effect on some of the kids. 

a letter Meghan received:

    

"Miss. Steen,

Thank you for all you have done for E----- this year. It is very much appreciated! I really admire how your family has turned your father's accident into such a positive and inspirational learning experience for the kids.  I think it will be one of those 'life changing-life lessons' that they will remember all their lives.  thanks for sharing your lives this year.

-love the L---------- family"

Ya know it isn’t very often we  get to see our kids at work but watching Meghan with her class and organizing the 20 minute laps made the ol’ heart go piter-pater. It is nice to know that we got 500 kids aware of spinal cord injuries and got them walking. Perhaps when I’m walking I can go back and do a lap with, just for fun….a goal!

Mom and dad @ Worsley

    

Walking around the school

the bumpy ride around the school

Next on the agenda was the Harlequins Rugby Club in Brantford. They had a Family Day with all the kids playing, both boys and girls under 8 to under 18. I got there in time for the Senior Men’s game against Stoney Creek, a club that I played against. It was great getting re-acquainted with guys, some I hadn’t seen for 30 years or so. I had to leave before the end of the game but Brantford tied it up as we were going out the driveway.

Yonna and Grandpa Bob have been taking me to the Rec Centre Pool at least once per week….

working out in the pool with Grampa Bob, and Yanna

standing in the pool

Being in the water loosens me up and the physio at Parkwood commented on the improvement while standing…it was the straightest I have ever been, that was on Wed. June 27. I should describe standing. A physio is in front of me sitting on a stool with her knees pushing just below my knees to keep them straight. A Physio on my left side, holding my arm/shoulder.  A Physio Assistant on my right with my arm over his shoulder. They all heave ho and I get into a standing position. Once up they have arch my back by pushing my butt forward and get my gluts turned on and then my quads and then my core. Once everything is on, they release me a little but they all stay in position. I stood up by myself for couple of minutes, I would guess. It is important to get up straight as those learning to stand and walk again, want stick their bum out and lean forward, we have all seen elderly people in their walkers walking with their bums out leaning on the walker. Just need to get the muscle memory to stand straight. It is strange as my core used to be very strong.The additional pool work and massage seem to be paying off. The Physio I have, works 2 days a week and I see her on Mondays and Wednesdays. Since Monday is a holiday she is going to see me on Friday…. yeehaw!Yonna is retired and I have become her second job.

As you may or may not know I ran a Karate School in Langton for several years. My knees and hips got so bad that I gave up the school and started long distance cycling. My reason for leaving was I felt I had to lead by example and I could no longer do that. A friend told me it was my ego that made me quit. Well I missed teaching so much that I was going to open another school last September, in Houghton a small community out in the boon docks of Norfolk County.

The kids in the Langton Class wanted come and weed the gardens and clean up the yard but since I had someone doing that, we had a pool party and BBQ at my brother in-laws back yard last Wednesday. It was great, about 25 people…kids and parents showed up.  The students, aged 5 and up put on a little demo of their Kata and Weapons Kata, they had been learning. The adults showed me some of their Kata as well. Then it was 8 o’clock and I had to run, well ride home for bowel care….grrrr!

There is a lot going on now and I should start writing a blog a week then you wouldn’t have so much to read…we’ll see if that works.

How am I feeling?

Hmmmm….I am getting off some of the antidepressants and I haven’t noticed any changes in mood etc. The psychologist was here on Thursday and she seemed to think I was doing ok. I am feeling good most of the time and being busy helps a lot. Weekends are a little slow and I am glad when Monday comes. As mentioned in other blogs I get up in my chair usually by 8 or 9 and then fall asleep at the computer and even this AM while watching the Tour de France I feel asleep. I think it is a hangover from the sleeping pills. I am on a high dose, 15 mg and have been since September. Most people go on 7.5 mg or less for a couple of weeks. It is time to start weaning off the pills. The psychologist says it should be in 2.5 mg increments since I have been on them for about 10 months. Iam starting to get off the laxatives as everything at that end seems to be coming out ok…hahaha… next is to get rid of the suppository for both Darcy and me.

I don’t know what is happening with the ol’ body, that is the muscle tone is not going away. The Baclofene has been increased to 80 mg per day and there is no difference. Last Monday I did find out I had a urinary tract infection…UTI. A UTI can cause muscle tone. Started antibiotics last Monday and they will be finished on Saturday, June 30^th. I still have a lot of muscle tone and my neck and right arm look like I have been lifting weights.

I still can’t work my left leg without tensing up my left arm. I can work the left arm without affecting the left leg. Just gotta get that circuit rewired. Riding the bike is difficult as the left arm, stomach, back and ribs go into spasm so I haven’t been riding much. As they say if you don’t use it you lose it. Well I am losing my butt and it is getting uncomfortable to sit very long even in the wheelchair….gotta get doing bum exercises or start eating a lot more.

Grandpa Bob and I played a nasty trick on the Sarge. They were loading me in the car and the Sarge has always been concerned that he is hurting me. As soon as he touched my leg I let out a yell. It was a YouTube moment. The Sarge dropped my leg and started to leave the garage. Grandpa Bob and I could not stop laughing. The first words from the Sarge were “There will be retribution!”. I didn’t think he would be so vindictive. Oh yes another improvement is, I can get my leg in the car with very little help and very little pain.

    

  It's July 1^{st ,} Happy Canada Day…

  I am very glad that I live here!  

  

  Thanks for listening…..

the pool

June 12, 2012

What’s New:
On Monday, May 28, I went into the therapeutic pool at Parkwood.  They said it would be good for me to relax.  I was a little apprehensive at first as the lift was a little different. l had to move from my wheelchair to the hoist chair to lift me into the pool.  I am a little taller than most so they had to take my legs up and over the step railing.  I had a flotation device attached to my back and one around my neck and a pool noodle under my butt. The words I heard the most when I was in the water….. “relax Glen”.  It’s not that I thought they would drown me but l wouldn’t really put my head back and relax into the flotation collar.  However, it was nice being in the water with three ladies.  One was working my legs and the other two were working my arms and my neck.  It seems my core is weak and it’s creating more of a problem because my right side is strong and my left side is much weaker. I tend to curl to the right whenever l do anything.  They are trying to loosen up my hips, core, and ribs and open up my left side.  Getting out of the pool was as interesting as getting in.  The chair was put into the pool and l was strapped in and hoisted onto the deck. The chair was put on its set of wheels and they rolled my in for a shower to get some of the chlorine off.  I was rolled into the PT room where Yonna and Karen dried me off and got me into my clothes and transferred to my wheelchair.

For those of you who have never dressed a ‘para’, and that’s not a paratrooper, here’s how it goes. First l roll onto my left side and my bathing suit gets pulled down past my butt. Since the two ladies undressing me aren’t related to me they put a towel over my privates. Then l roll over on my right side and they pull the bathing suit over my left cheek. Roll back to centre and the bathing suit is pulled off. A thorough drying and then its dressing time. Undies and shorts pulled up passed my knees then roll left, right then back to centre. If l have my shoes on, my feet don’t slip and l can bridge, which decreases the amount of rolling. Shirt goes on when l am sitting at the edge of the plinth, bad left arm first, then over the head then good right arm.T-shirts are easy, long sleeves are a bit more trouble getting the right arm in….try it.

 When I am pedaling the bike my chest, ribs, tummy and arms tighten up. I haven’t quite figured out how to relax other muscles while pedaling. Someone said l should try to visualize the impulses moving down my nerves then visualize the routes l want them to take. Perhaps I need an increase in my Baclofen, here I go self-medicating again.  Baclofen is used to control spasms and I take 60 mg a day, 20 at breakfast, 20 at lunch and 20 before bed.

I had my 5 ½ week checkup with the surgeon and everything is good with the knee.  I saw the X-rays and it looked really neat.  The piece on top of the fibula is cemented in and you could clearly see where they cut the head of the femur off and glued the steel parts in place.  I initially thought that they would be screwed in but I guess it’s very good crazy glue. I’m glad l had a good carpenter. Exercise is unlimited, I can stand on it, ride on it, lift weights with it.  The leg is really weak of course because it hasn’t been used since August but the carpenter ooops surgeon said it would take at least 18 months for full recovery as the muscles have to remodel themselves around the new parts.  The knee is swollen but that is normal for this stage of the healing. The scar needs to be massaged to prevent it from becoming lumpy and hard. Learned something, I had the scar from my 1968 menisectomy when they removed the cartilage from my knee and the scar is located to the right of my knee cap and when they made the cut to get at my knee they have to go over the old scar because if they put two scars side by side, the skin will die in between them.  I now have a big lazy ‘S’ scar on my knee.

I’ve had two massages by a very talented and strong massage therapist who comes to the house. She does deep muscle massage in my arms and legs which is painful at the time but feels good the next day. I need at least one per week….yikes. The deep massage separates the muscles from the fascial sheath and moves the body of the muscles around as they have become attached to each other due lack of use. This may help with the spasms and high muscle tone.

Friends:   I cannot believe the support I am getting from my friends.  A friend, Bob Gordon drove from New Jersey just to see me.  Five years ago I met Bob Gordon in Arby’s in Simcoe when he was hypothermic after riding his bike in the rain.  At the time he was riding from New Jersey to Los Angeles to attend a friend’s daughter’s wedding.  We took him out for dinner and gave him a couple of tires as he was having a lot of trouble with flats.  We have stayed in contact ever since.  His visit was very much appreciated. 

Karen Rice has been kind enough to spend a lot of time making up a schedule for friends to drive me to London for my therapy and give Darcy a rest.  It’s a bit of a task as they have to disassemble the wheelchair and put it in the car and then reassemble and get me out of the car into the chair which last week it took two people to do as I needed to be pulled back in the seat because my knee wouldn’t bend far enough. But now it only takes one person as my knee is bending much further now.  Actually bends from under 5 degrees extension to over 100 degrees flexion. 

Yonna DiLella is a kinesiologist and has been a trainer and knows a little bit about massage but the scary part is she was a body builder and still has really strong hands.  She has been coming to my therapy sessions and getting direction on what to do with me at home.  She comes over a couple of times a week to get my left hand and arm moving, stretches my ham strings and works on my core.  She does a really good job massaging and stretching.  Yonna also was in the pool with me at Parkwood and she took me to the Tillsonburg pool and Grandpa Bob came along as well to help out.  Being in the pool makes it a lot easier for me to stand due to the buoyancy of the water and the Tillsonburg pool has the same basic flotation devices as they do at Parkwood and the hoist is the same except it is a portable one. Feels great to stand and attempt walking in the pool. I must learn how to stand straight and not look at my feet.

Darcy and I are having our moments as we have never spent this much time together.  We try to work it out and we are getting some counseling to help us though the tough parts. I have asked the psychiatrist to get me off the medication but she states it may take 2 years to get off the two antidepressants. She wanted to know if l had any questions #1 was, can’t l get off the drugs sooner. The answer was no as l may go into depression again and drugs may not get me out again. Question # 2 was, how am l doing? The answer is….it seems l am not supposed to ask that. I am not recommending that anyone get off their drugs without a Dr approval. I just don’t like taking pills….note l take 17 every morning at breakfast, 4 at noon, 5 at supper and 6 at bedtime.

How am l feeling?

I am feeling good but geta little frustrated at the slow progress even though l know it has to be slow. As most of you know I’m a ‘little’ independent and now l must rely on people for almost everything which is frustrating as well. l could do more for me if l planned better but then you get a lazy and it is faster if Darcy gets my water or anything else rather than me getting it. That is something l need to work on. An example is the PSW’s putting on my shirt. I can put it on if it is large enough. The PSW’s always help when l begin to struggle as there is a time constraint and they have said it is hard to stand and watch me struggle.

A pet peeve is everyone ties my shoes too tight. I have high insteps and l like my shoes very loose, it doesn’t matter if l tell them, the next time they crank them up tight…..grrrrrr! Am I being picky or what?

All in all l am feeling good and my therapy is going well.

Thanks for listening…..the p

The Rest of the Knee Story

The Rest of the Knee Story

As you know I had my knee replaced.  For the two weeks prior to the surgery I was a little apprehensive and quite frankly scared to have the surgery but I had been yapping so much about it there was no way I could turn it down because this was my last chance.  Fortunately the surgery was scheduled for 1:30 on May 2^nd which gave us lots of time to get to the hospital by 11:30 for all the pre-op stuff.  The night before the surgery I had to have a shower using an antibiotic sponge and on the morning of the surgery I had to use an antibiotic sponge on my left leg.  What I remember now is being wheeled into the operating room and seeing all the tools they were going to use on my knee.  The resident physician was getting me prepared and I had my spinal and they held up my leg and I asked them whose leg that was because I felt absolutely nothing….”good thing.” 

It seems I slept through most of the surgery and the only thing I remember is waking up near the end and hearing them hammering on my knee.  It sounded like they were taking a hammer and using a punch to hammer something into my leg, which they probably were.  According to the resident I hadn’t done any talking during the whole procedure….”another good thing.”  I was out of post-op recovery by about 5 o’clock and the surgeon told Darcy that the surgery went very well and he took a little extra time to clean up some of the stuff that was in there.  Darcy was so happy, she gave the surgeon a big hug much to his surprise.  He came and saw me in my room on Wednesday night and explained that the surgery had gone very well. You could not ask for a better surgeon.

I had a roommate on Thursday who was a professional baseball player in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  For those of you who are baseball fans his name was Mike Kilkenny and he pitched for the Detroit Tigers in the late 60’s and at the time of Denny McLean, while McLean was making millions, Mike was very happy to get paid $6,000 a year.  He was a starting pitcher with Detroit and then went to Oakland, San Francisco and finished off his career in Cleveland after spending 15 years in the majors. He and Ferguson Jenkins were the only two Canadians in the league.  He said Cleveland at the time was a place where you knew the fans by name.  The reason I am talking about my roommate is because, it was a little upsetting, that he had his surgery on Thursday, was walking on Friday and went home on Saturday.  Meanwhile I had to stay until Monday.  The same surgeon did both our knees and he came in again and explained to Mike how his surgery went and then to me and that is when I found out that he took extra time doing my knee.  He says he usually does a knee in an hour plus or minus a few minutes but he said mine was such a mess he took an extra ½ hour to fix it up.  He said there was lots of old injury stuff, arthritis, etc., and there was a lot of recent injury from the crash. An interesting thing is he told me that when he was finished he could straighten my leg out to under 5 degrees which he never expected considering the condition of the knee……….yeehaw!!!!

Rehab in the hospital was interesting to say the least.  Thursday wasn’t bad because, I still had some of the effects of the hydromorphone that they used in the epidural, and the physios bent my leg to approximately 55-60 degrees without too much pain. For the rest of the weekend, Saturday, Sunday and Monday physios came in twice a day to torture me and once to put ice on my knee.  They eventually got it to bend to 70-75 degrees but in doing that there was a lot of whining and crying and all I can say is “Yikes, it hurt.”  It’s a good thing they told me after the surgery that knee replacement was one of the most painful operations that is done.  If I had known that there would have been a little more apprehension prior to the event.

I knew there was going to be pain and I thought I could handle pain very well and I wasn’t using my pain meds correctly because I thought I was a tough guy.  I would wait until my knee was hurting and then take the pain medication to try and catch up.  The reason being I was afraid of being addicted to hydromorphone.  I have since learned to use the medication prior to any activity to stay ahead of the pain.  I take a long lasting hydromorphone of 9 mg in the morning and 6 in the evening and I have 2 mg of breakthrough which means if I have pain I can take 2 mg every two hours and my pain has decreased.

I started occupational therapy and physio on May 7^that Parkwood and they arranged it to have OT and PT on Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 and  11 which saves me a couple of trips to London a week.  I assumed that in OT they would be working on my left arm and in PT they would be looking at my left leg.  Given the pain that I had when moving my knee I was almost petrified to go to PT, instead of taking 2 mg every two hours, I took 2 mg every hour prior to the therapy.  When I got to PT, the physio had told me that she had spoken to the OT therapist and they had agreed since they were both using the same protocol on my arm, that the physio would also do my arm until my knee healed and they were able to work on that…..whew…..  Physio was also taking some time to get me to transfer from my wheelchair to a table unassisted.  Haven’t quite reached that point yet as I need more leg strength in both my right and left legs and I’m working on it. With OT and PT doing my arm the Physio from CCAC is working on my leg. Under their licensing two physios cannot work on the same patient on the same body part at the same time. Note: above one is a physiotherapist and one is an occupational therapist.

Here’s just some ramblings about what’s been happening at home.  Had a couple of bouts of constipation and I guess I have described that enough that you know what it’s about.  My pharmacist recommended an over the counter laxative called RestoraLAX.  It acts by absorbing water from your blood stream and putting it into your intestine thus eliminating constipation.  It is a natural product and you take it as much as you want, however if you take too much, it may go from hard to too soft very quickly. The natural ingredient is polyethylene glycol which sounds like plastic or antifreeze to me.  I take ½ teaspoon with my breakfast and it seems to do okay.  Of course I am still taking my other laxatives, Milk of Magnesia, Senekot and Soflax.  You get the picture.

The knee created some problems at home as I was in ‘pain’ when anybody even thought about moving my knee.  Note this was before I learned how to use my medication.  The PSWs who came in to shower and do bowel care became almost afraid to touch me as I can yell quite loudly. We made arrangements with the agency to send two PSWs, one to hold my leg and one to move me.  I was having trouble moving and sitting up in bed because I had so much muscle tone (spasms).  We looked at my medications and the resident physician had decreased my Baclofen (antispasmodic) after the surgery from 50 mg daily to 15 mg daily.  I couldn’t sit up and when I moved my legs my arms would spasm and tighten up and I had difficulty moving anything.  After some time and a doctors’ visit I got my Baclofen increased to 60 mg daily and I am able to sit up and move much better…….jeeez who would have thought that one drug would have that much of an affect.

Now back to the two PSWs at every visit…….after taking the Baclofen and being able to take my pain meds correctly, I could sit up by myself and move my leg around very easily. One worker does most of the work and the other assists or does other things around the house like making my bed etc. I felt  embarrassed having two people and the money that is being wasted on me but I was told that it is a safety issue and the cost to repair me  after a fall far outweighs the cost of a PSW, that’s the system I guess.

Darcy was having problems moving me around.  When I get in and out of bed she has to lift my legs in and this is more weight she can handle.  And when there was one PSW, Darcy would assist in getting me to sit up which meant she would have to assist lifting my body weight of 170 lbs or help moving my leg and she got very upset when I would say, very loudly, well ok, yell ‘NO…NO…NO…NO…PLEASE...STOP’ and I was not even on the commode yet.  Needless to say, Darcy was at her breaking point and on Wednesday, May 9^th, she was having some problems and I asked her to check her blood pressure which is usually around 118/84; this time it was 173/104.  She was afraid she was having a heart attack or stroke because she was having pains in her chest on the left side and her fingers were feeling numb and tingly.  She was also afraid of what would to me if she was not here. We called a friend who came over immediately and took her to the hospital and his wife came over to look after me.  To complicate matters I was very constipated at the time and while removing the stool my hemorrhoid started to bleed. This frightened me a little bit because I am on blood thinners.  More friends came over and one went and bought some Depends as we didn’t know if I would be bleeding through the night or not.  A friend who is a nurse came over and checked my Depends before I went to sleep and there was no blood….worry ended.  Now the problem was Darcy was in the hospital and I needed another friend to sleep over night and she slept on the sofa.

Darcy was released from the hospital in the morning her pain in the chest was gone, her BP was down and the ECG was good and the blood work showed nothing. Since she has been home, we have tried to limit her lifting. Having 2 PSWs coming twice a day helps alleviate some of that. One reason for a lot of lifting was that I was told that I should not keep my leg in the same position for more than an hour. I was in and out of my chair several times a day which meant that Darcy had to lift my legs and spin me into bed several times a day which contributed to her back pain and stress. 

My knee is getting better and now it bends almost 90 degrees without any pain and it seems to have happened overnight.  On Tuesday I was at a friend’s place and my knee was bending 60-70 degrees and I couldn’t get my foot on the foot plate of the wheelchair….today, Thursday it bends almost 90 degrees and I can put almost half my foot on the foot plate…hmmmm…good progress.

In physio on Wednesday, I had acupuncture in my left leg for an additional 20 minutes.  Acupuncture takes some time to have an affect, I’m just hoping it’s a good one as I had when I was in the hospital. The other good news is I tried to ride my bicycle today but I didn’t have the courage to spin the pedal all the way around due to anticipated pain.  I spent about 20 minutes doing half pedal strokes without turning the pedals all the way around…a workout nonetheless.  After my pedaling session Darcy suggested that I put my both feet on the ground to see if my left foot would sit flat on the ground……it did. I tried to do some standup launches which means I hang onto the handlebar with one hand and try to get my butt off the saddle.  I tried several little launches which I got my butt off the saddle about two inches and then I tried the big one and I almost stood up……..yeehaw.  I tried several more and it felt really good, however I really needed my right arm in pulling and holding myself up.  I couldn’t do it without my right arm. I will be doing it many times in the future hopefully after half an hour of proper cycling.

As mentioned the lack of Baclofen causes a lot of spasms plus the sore knee didn’t’ help either and last Saturday, May 12^th I was on 15mg of Baclofen and was very stiff and sore. I could not move very well and was very disappointed in myself that I missed my Karate Club’s Shai-club tournament – after the club has been sooooooooooooo supportive of me. However some friends came over and got me out of bed at about 2 and took me for a coffee.

Wow, if you’ve read this far, thanks for listening.