Sun Sept 9: An
easy day did some stands and some stuff in bed and watched Serena win 1.9
million dollars…by winning the US open tennis tournament, somehow that ain’t
right.
Mon Sept 10: A
good day at PT. Jody the OT was there as well. Laura wanted to show Jody how I
can stand. Laura was on my left and Jody on my right. Laura whispered in my
ear…you better not screw this up, and I didn’t. Got up quite easily and stood
for about 10 minutes, sometimes holding the table and some of the time
balancing. The problem is the left side collapses and my left hip goes out when
I put weight on my left leg. My homework is to strengthen my left side but I
haven’t figured out how to do that yet.
Got home from Parkwood and did 25 minutes on the bike. Just
an easy spin since I hadn’t been on it for about 2 weeks. Since there was not a
lot tension my arms didn’t tighten up too much. We had forgotten about a
massage with Jeanie and she showed up at 3:30…the massage felt great after the
bike.
Did some standing before bed trying to figure out how to
strengthen the left side without losing the proper posture….Hmmmmm…ended up
doing 1/2 squats trying to put weight on the left leg while holding the left
hip in.
Tues Sept 11th:Remember
exactly where I was on 911. I was at work and when I heard about the planes
hitting the buildings, I took the day off and went to my former boss’ home and
watched it all unfold. The only good thing George Bush ever said was when he
called the terrorists ‘faceless cowards.’
Got up at 8:00 and went on the computer and fell asleep
again. You’d think I’d learn that sitting with my head down on my chest and oh
yes drooling out of the corner of my mouth and causing my neck to ach would be
enough to smarten me up. I need to start working out first thing in the
morning.
Yonna came over and we went to the pool. Grandpa Bob wasn’t
available as he and Gord took the train to Windsor and will be riding home and
will do some trails and site-seeing as well. Floated around in the pool for a
while and Yonna did the usual stretches. Seems the legs are loosening up a bit
as the legs are getting further apart. Rosa a lovely Hungarian ladycame over
when I was standing and told me that when I am walking she is going to take me
dancing.I told her I couldn’t dance but I would hold her while she did. I was
standing and running on the spot and getting my knees up. This helps in getting
me to shift my weight from left to right foot. Surprising that the stiffness in
the left knee prevents me from moving quickly.
Wed Sept 12th:
On the way to London with the Sarge driving, I thought I may have to pee.
That is when Darcy mentioned that she forgot the bag with the urinal. I thought
I might be able to make it to Shoppers on Commissioners Road, but I couldn’t.
Darcy improvised and emptied her clear plastic makeup case and we used that as
a urinal with only a little spillage. The Sarge was very thankful Darcy was
there as he paced around the car while Darcy looked after things.
In OT Jody stretched my left arm and did some work on my
right. In PT, did hamstring stretches and hip flexor stretches and on the
treadmill with 40% body weight on my feet. Went for a little more than 3
minutes and some rest and another session for a total of 6 minutes. I found that the treadmill does the same
thing to my back and arms as the bike does, that is it turns them all on. They
push my leg back thru the stepping motion and it wore the skin off my knee.
Guess no more treadmill until it heals.
Thur Sept 13th: We
had accepted an invitation to Eric Clifford’s and Robyn Heuther’s wedding on
Friday Sept 14th. Eric is the son of my longtime friend, John
Clifford. I remember when the boys were living with their Dad and Eric was
about 8 or 9, he would sing Beatle songs to me whenever I called.
This was the day for making the list of everything we needed
for a night out as the wedding was on Friday night in Toronto. Since I
couldn’t/wouldn’t miss PT at 10 on Friday everything had to be packed and ready
to go on Thursday night.
Fri Sept 14th: Eric and Robyn are two of the most
adventurous people I know so it was fitting the first overnight excursion would
be to their wedding. All the stuff actually fit in the car that is, the
wheelchair, two suitcase, and you know a commode, suppositories, drugs,
condoms, the CPAP machine, the kind of ‘stuff’ everyone takes to a wedding. We
were a little leeryat first about going andthe questions remained: Would I be
able to get in and out of the bed? Could I sleep in a normal bed? Would the
commode fit thru the bathroom door? Would it fit over the toilet? Would we have
to use the potty? The hotel, Days Inn in the Beaches said they had a
handicapped room which turned out to be just bars on the walls in the bathtub.
We arrived at the hotel at about 3:30 after a wet drive;
traffic wasn’t too bad as everyone sloweddown as visibility was poor from the
truck spray. Only got stopped in traffic a couple of times. The hotel was home
base for all the wedding guests, John and Roy helped us get all the stuff into the
room. The wedding service was at 6:30 so we had to be ready to leave by 5:00.
Since the bars in bathtub weren’t too useful, Darcy had to give me a sponge
bath.
Just hope everyone appreciates the work that Darcy did to
get meto Toronto and getting me ready for the wedding. Giving me sponge baths,
putting my pants on, putting the shirt on and the suit jacket. We found a new
method of getting pants on. I described previously how I got dressed by rolling
side to side. Well, the bed was too soft and there were no bars to help me
roll. Darcy couldn’t roll me over and pull the pants on at the same time. We
devised a new method. I sat at the end of the bed and Darcy put my underwear
and pants over my feet. I grabbed the handle of the commode and stood up and Darcy
was able to pull up the underwear and pants. Note, the pants were borrowed as
it seems my waist is no longer the svelte 33/34 inches which it had been since
high school but ‘my George’ has now blossomed to 38 inches….yikes…it’s diet
time but I’ll start after the wedding.
The wedding was in an 1848 School House in downtown Toronto
about 15 minutes from the hotel. I had a front row seat. A great ceremony with
a lot of laughs and after the service everyone moved to an adjoining room for
some drinks before dinner. Yes, I had some wine and my first mouthful of wine
in over a year was with John. Darcy
actually allowed me 3 mouths full of wine and at dinner, she put the wine glass
just out of reach. I toasted with water.
Everyone was very helpful but Darcy likes to be independent
and pushes me around, in the wheelchair that is. She wants to make sure that
she can handle me when thereare not a lot of friends around to assist,
Eric and Robyn did a lot of work setting up the tables. Our
table consisted of two a cyclists, go figure, Linda Clifford’s parent, whom we
know, JerryAnn, the Groom’s Aunt/John’s sister and as well as Aunt Gene,who was
88 and is planning on making it to 90 but I figure she’ll make it the 12 years
to 100. She had some interesting stories as she had worked for Bomber Command
during the war and drove the crews from the barracks to their planes. She said
it was very difficult as life expectancy of the crews wasvery short and in
particular for the tail gunners.Crews would be driven to their planes and many
times she’d go to pick them up and they weren’t there. There was a 44% death
rate for Bomber Command.She had many interesting stories to tell. The evening
went very well with the speeches being the right length. The meal was great and
there was a nice touch as Eric had proposed to Robyn at an ice cream stand and
dessert was chocolate ice cream from the stand…it was yummy.
We left at 11:00, way past my bedtime and bowel care and Roy
led the way back to the hotel. Darcy started to worry once we got into the room
when the bag containing the pills, the suppositories, the condoms and the night
bag seemed to have disappeared. After a few minutes of frantic searching the
bag was found under a jacket on the floor. It was time to transfer from the chair
to the bed and then skooch to the middle of the bed. The bed was so soft I
couldn’t skooch. I stood up and Darcy put the slider board under my buttand I
was able to move to the right position in the middle of the bed, roll over and
get the ‘silver bullet’. Transferring to the commode was interesting but I was
able to grab the handles of the wheelchair, stand and pivot to sit down on the
commode.All went well as the commode fit over the toilet….and…this was the
first time I slept with Darcy in over a year.
Sat Sept 15th:
Slept well and was awake by 8:00, loaded the car and then off to Eric’s
condo for a continental breakfast in the party room. Then it was time for the
drive home and the Gardiner was closed. It was up the DVP to 401 which appeared
very busy so we continued north to the 407 which was smooth sailing to
Hamilton. In the past I’ve had problems sitting in the car for more than ½ hour
but the butt was no problem for more than 2 hours, hopefully it is some muscle
coming back and not a layer of adipose tissue that is providing the comfort.
Sun Sept 16th:Pretty
much a rest day.
Mon Sept 17th:
An interesting morning, probably too much info for most of you but in the
shower we noticed I had a bit of diarrhea and was immediately moved over the toilet
and had some more ‘movements’ and then got dressed, had breakfast and got
undressed as more ‘movements’ were coming and back in the commode and over the
toilet again. Didn’t know if this was going to be an all-day thing or not.
Robert and the Rocket were coming at 9:45 to take me to Parkwood. We called and
cancelled then as mentioned didn’t know if it was all day or not. They must
think we don’t want them to take me as this was the second we cancelled them
but I don’t think they would have wanted me in this condition. We decided at about 9:30 we would risk going
to Parkwood but to be safe, Darcy put a pair of Depends on me…they are quite
comfortable actually. I didn’t really need them but they were there just in case.
PT was good, at the standing table for ½ hour then some
hamstring stretches and trunk twisting. Laura got me to stand and pivot to get
into my chair. Seems I have been doing it all wrong, I should be standing up
tall, shift my weight to my right leg, move the left, stand tall again, move the
weight to my left leg, move the right leg and repeat enough times to pivot far
enough to sit down. Just need practice
Tues Sept 18th: A rest day, think I am still tired from the
weekend and from Monday’s workouts.
Wed Sept 19th:
In OT, Jody did a lot of work on my
left arm and worked my back. PT, did prone lying, some stretching and sit to
stand. Was able to shift from right to left and back again, several times. Was
able to put weight on right leg and move the left foot, not far but nonetheless
the foot moved…yeehaw.
At home I really had the hungries…just want to eat anything,
but I patted‘my George’, and settled for a couple of pieces of crusty Italian
bread, I wanted more but don’t get any as I patted‘my George’ once again.
Thurs Sept 20th:A
lazy day, my back was very stiff but I didn’t take pain meds and just put up
with it.
Visit to the chiropractor and had 12 electrodes attached to
my back and left arm. It seems to loosen up my back.
Fri Sept 21st: My
thermostat is broken as different parts of my body will get cold. I can have
warm feet and cold hands or visa-versa or one foot will be cold and the other
warm, my leg will be warm and Darcy will find a cold spot on it. The biggest
problem is that for the most part I can’t tell if I’m cold or hot. I can tell
if my right hand is cold by touching it to my face or I know it’s cold if it
gets very stiff.
Emily, does my therapy onFridays but when I arrived got
there Emily had called in sick. I was going to leave but Janelle and Shannon said
they could squeeze me in. Stood at the standing table for 1\2 hour and on the
mat for another hour. Instead of going home, I got 11/2 hours of therapy.
Shannon was trying to get me to move my left arm and straighten it without
turning on the rest of my body. Her instructions were that I don’t need to
tighten my stomach to straighten my arm…that is how badly I am wired now. As
mentioned before my left side is weak and I must not let it collapse when I
move. Got into standing and stoodwith no assistance. I was up for several
minutes, so long that my legs got tired. When I sat down my legs just gave out
half way down. I was able to shift my weight from one foot to the other. When
shifting to the left, must be conscious that the left side doesn’t collapse….all
in all a good day.
Another great massage by Jeanie in the afternoon and…coffee
with the guys!
Sat Sept 22nd:Felt
a little down, just no energy and stayed in bed most of the afternoon. Karen
came over with the boys and that got me off my butt. Did ½ hour of light
spinning on the bike.
How am I Feeling?On
the way to Toronto it was raining and as mentioned the spray from the trucks
made it difficult for Darcy to see. We took our time and everyone else slowed
down as well. We got stopped in traffic as per usual on the QEW. In the past, I
would have had a panic attack. It was so bad that at times I’d stop the car and
pace up and down and try to get off the road at the next exit. Several times
when working I’d have to attend meetings or conferences in Toronto, but I’d
have an attack and turn around and go back to the office. Try explaining that
to the boss. To miss the traffic I’d leave at 4 AM and have breakfast in
Toronto. I had absolutely no problem this time, not even a twinge of an attack.
I think Darcy kept waiting for it to happen. In the past I may have turned down
the invitation for fear of Toronto
traffic.
Looking at Eric’s and Robyn’s yearlongback packing
itinerary, (Note: the tables for dinner were named after the countries they had
visited) I now realize my mental illness caused me to be a homeboy…wow did I
miss a lot.Hmmmm…but I guess there is still time to catch up. Although riding
solo at 3 AM under the stars seemed pretty good at the time. Jeez, now I’ll
have to catch up and probably Australia will be the first stop. We also
know that we can go to hotels now so I
think our next stop will be a weekend in Collingwood.
Thanks for listening….
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