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 22nd. The problem is we have no idea what condition I am going to be in on December 22nd. 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 22nd 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.
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