Nov 11 to Nov 26

Nov 11 to Nov 25

Holly shit it’s the middle of November and it’s dark by 5:30.

Mon Nov 12:  No therapy as it is a stat day. Did my own stuff...1/2 hour on the bike and my exercise routine for about an hour. Went for coffee with Grandpa and got caught in the rain on the way home. Darcy brought over a rain coat and we had some plastic bags to put over my feet and the wheelchair  control. The weatherman was wrong. It was supposed to start raining at noon and it was only 11 o’clock….grrr. Wasn’t too wet but did get a little chilly.

Tues Nov 13: In the pool with Grandpa and Yonna and after stretching, got up and did some walking. I was really tight in the trunk and twisted to the right when I was floating. Grandpa had to keep me straight.  Yonna stretches my legs by getting in between them and pushing them apart to stretch my hip flexors. Sounds kinky eh? It’s not! Do you know how hard Yonna can push? I am supposed to say ‘when’ when it is far enough but Yonna has learned that I shut my eyes when it hurts. I get even if I have a spasm and if she is between my legs it squeezes her ribs. She stretches the hamstrings by holding one leg down with her legs and pushing the other one over her head…yikes!

Wed Nov 14: OT and PT in the morning, again the trunk was tight and we did a lot of stretching to try and loosen it up…didn’t work too well and I was tight for PT. My right leg is the strong one and it started to give out while I was standing…don’t know what was going on there. 

Thurs Nov 15: In the pool with Yonna and Grandpa, trunk was very tight but loosened up a bit. Got some bad news…Grandpa called and said he couldn’t go in the pool anymore as he is allergic to the chlorine. I am really going to miss him as he and Yonna worked very well together.

Had an interesting event on the way home, had a big pee AFTER I got out of the pool…it was a big one more than 600 ml. There was nowhere to dump it. Darcy put the lid on the urinal and put it in the bag, loaded me in the car and took me home. At home the bag came out of the car first as it had been sitting on the back of the wheelchair (note: the back rest comes off to get the chair into the car.) Darcy wanted to know how we got the back wet implying that we somehow got it wet at the pool. It wasn’t until we got into the house that we realized that the urinal was empty…it was strip the covers off the wheelchair back, take the cover off the cushion, change my pants and get everything in the bag and the bag into the washing machine…just another day in the life of…

Fri Nov 16: PT with the physio. Laura works Mondays and Wednesdays but if there is a stat Monday, she comes in on Friday. Did some stretching and got up in the standing table for 15 minutes.

Sat Nov 17: The PSW was here early enough to give me time to go to Karate class. I got to look at and critique some of the katas. I was very nervous about doing it as I hadn’t done kata or instructed for a while. I must learn how to instruct verbally to get across what I want. Demonstrating was so much easier. Then it was off to a Black Belt workout which I just observed the class. Very interesting to watch the Black Belt technique.

Sun Nov 18: Went for a 2 hour coffee break with the guys…almost like being back at work. Did some reading and ½ hour on the bike. Did some more reading. One of my friends who broke his leg is using a bike trainer to recoup and rides most days. Being a competitive nut I challenged him to a competition of total miles per week. We report every Sunday night…I’ll let you know who wins the first week.

Mon Nov 19: PT with Laura. Usual stretching and standing. Good news, I will be getting another hour of OT on Fridays from 11 to 12. 

Wed Nov 21: OT, PT and a massage. First time Jeanie, the massage therapist got me over on my tummy. Jeanie brought a satin sheet. I got on the sheet and rolled onto my right side and she pulled me to the side of the bed. Darcy got the ‘face pillow’ and put it into position. Then Darcy and Jeanie flipped me over and I got a great massage on my back for the first time in a year+.

Thurs Nov 22: Swimming pool with Yonna...stretching, standing.  Stand on right leg and put left back to stretch the quad then switch legs. Mimics walking.

Fri Nov 23: PT at 10 with Emily got there a little late. The ol’ left arm got a workout. Shannon got hold of it and put my arm in positions it had been in for a long time. All this while lying on my tummy with my face in a face pillow.  Felt good as Emily was moving up and down my spine pressing hard on each vertebra. The left arm was much looser than it has been for a while. The pillow is soft material with a plastic base. When they push on my back the cushion moves out and the cheek hits the plastic and my long nose hits the bed. When I get up I have red cheeks and a red nose….just in time for Christmas.

Then off to see Jody in OT. As mentioned, I am now getting an extra hour of OT a week….5 hours of therapy a week...yeehaw. Jody worked on my left arm and again was able to get it into positions it hasn’t been before. That was partially due to the fact that Shannon in PT had loosened it up quite well.

Sat Nov 24: Got to Karate class a little late but got to look at some of Brown belts. This time I looked at them one at a time and it was much easier than working with them as a group.  Thoroughly enjoyed the class. Need to get better with verbal instruction…practice makes perfect…..sooooo be careful what you practice.

The guys came over and cleaned up the yard and the eave troughs…thanks to Nancy, John, Eric, Annette, Chris, Andy, and Roy…the yard looks great. 

Sun Nov 25: Well I got my ass whipped on the bike. Byron did 64.5 K and I did…….45.5 K. Started reading a book about the Second World War written by a man, Charles Kipp who lived about 5 K from here. It is very interesting as he mentions names of people that I recognize and knew of growing up. 

How am I Feeling

I am a year and a ¼ from the accident. I keep reading about you get what you have after a year. I must admit it is a little negative thinking but I may be in a chair for the rest of my life. Those thoughts do occur. I am writing this on Tuesday, Monday I was in the pool with Laura the PT and Emily the PTA. We did some neat exercises that, if I can remember them all, Yonna and I should be able to repeat at least some of them in the Tillsonburg pool. At the end of the session Laura asked me what we were going to do on Wednesday…I had no idea…so it was going to be back into the pool again. At home on Monday afternoon, I got a call from Laura; she remembered what we are going to do on Wednesday. She has asked Janelle a Physio and Barry to assist in getting me up in a platform walker. Since I can’t hang onto a normal walker handle with my left hand, there is an adjustable table/bench that I’ll be able to rest my arms on. 

I am very excited about Wednesday. My goal of course was always to walk, but it seemed to be getting further and further away and the ‘failure’ on the treadmill seemed to re-enforce, in my mind, that walking may not happen. Now on Wednesday, I get to try the platform walker. I have tried my walker at home but have a lot of difficulty hanging on with my left hand. The knee doesn’t straighten all the way so I’m up on my toe.  Perhaps with a physio holding my hip in and keeping my knee as straight as possible….I will be take that step.

Got to be careful not to get expectations too high. I’ll let you know next blog, how it went.

Oh yes the blank page was me learning how to post a blog. We got it there but couldn’t remove it.

Thanks for listening….