Well I guess I’ll keep this format for a while…
Sunday Aug 12th: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 13th:
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 14th: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 15th:
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 16th: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 17th: 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 18th: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 19th: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 20th: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 21st: 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 22nd: 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 23rd: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 24th: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 25th: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 20th…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 20th.
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.
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