Jul 1 to July 21, 2012

Well here goes, writing a blog without jotting down any notes. This may bounce around a bit. Therapy has been going as usual…well, except for one day. More on that later. I attended a Brown and Black Belt grading at the Karate Club. They all did very well…makes my ol’ heart go ‘pitter patter’ watching them. Especially when a 55 year old Lady did some amazing stuff to get her Black Belt. That’s the end of my Sunday morning Karate Classes…hmmmm….time to trike ride? It has been a little too warm to go out on the trike, particularly with my broken thermostat. I have been doing more on the indoor training and last week rode 47 k indoors, I lie, 7 of that was outside.

Stephanie, my physio, had a vacation last week (July 8 to 12) and I only had one therapy session which accounts for the higher than usual bike mileage.  The tonal overflow is still happening after exercise but riding the bike on consecutive days didn’t seem to make it worse, well there was one day I did something stupid, now that I think about it. Last Thursday, July 16 my back was so sore when I woke up and I could hardly move. Virtually every move would put my lower left back into a spasm. At therapy I couldn’t do ‘sit to stands’ and definitely couldn’t walk. We did some stretching and then 20 minutes of hotpack on my back and then some acupuncture. Since I am not very good at going prone, I was lying on my side for the acupuncture. While lying there my entire body went tingly and I felt very strange. It passed when I sat up. Sitting up was no fun with the back spasming.  A wasted therapy session as there was no walking…grrrrrrrr! 

I do like to keep busy and here’s an example of the busiest day.  On Wednesday, there is no therapy. I go to the gym to lift weights with Yonna and Grandpa at 9:30. Hmmmm…good thing there is spell check…just spelled ‘weights’ as ‘waits’….lol! Yonna put on the transfer belt and I walked into the gym with my cane and Yonna making sure I didn’t fall over. Didn’t use the chair in the gym, walked between all equipment. Stay at the gym ‘til about 11. Head home to get the bathing suit on to get to the pool for a swim with Yonna at about 11:45. Say hi to my girlfriend Rosa at the pool. Yonna does a great job relaxing me in the water and stretching me out. Darcy was in the water as well she said it was training but I think she just wanted to cool down.  Yonna is going on vacation and Darcy is being trained to look after me in the pool. After stretching it is time to walk. The good news is that I can walk unassisted in the pool that is without hanging on the side of the pool or hanging onto Yonna. Walks are about 15 meters and I have done as many as 2 laps…yeehaw! The water buoyancy is almost too much as I walk on my toes on both feet. It is then to the deep end for some water walking, that is the best part. Just getting the legs moving in all directions feels soooooo good. 

After the pool, it’s time for the hour massage… it is a deep massage on the shoulders, arms and left quad. It feels much better when she stops.  The massage is over by 3. An hour rest then onto the trainer. On the trainer there are programs to choose from. I use program 1 because it has 2 pyramids and I usually do tension 3 to 4 to 5, then back down again then repeat. Back 6 months ago I was at tension 5,6, 7 then 6,7,8 and even 7,8,9 and getting maximum distance of 5+ k in 15 minutes. I thought I’d try upping the tension again to see what would happen and turned the tension up to a moderate  4,5,6  for 15 minutes, a 3 minute cool down and another 15 minutes at tension 3,4,5 the 3 minute cool down. 

As with most trainers there are handlebars beside the seat to hang on. I usually don’t hang onto them as the physios don’t want me pulling with my arms. However, since the tension was up a bit and I was feeling good, I used my right hand on the handlebar to push harder on the pedals. Remember the sore back.  As I can only hold with the right hand, when I pull the lower left back muscles tightens as I pull with my right arm and push the right pedal down. I just figured out what I had done while writing this blog. I must have just fried those lower back muscles and they went into spasm/cramping  every time I tried to use them on Thursday. Went to the Dr. on Thursday afternoon as the physio thought an anti-inflammatory may help. The Dr. agreed and gave me a prescription of Celebrex for 90 days. Took one at supper and one at breakfast. The back was a lot better on Friday. Still needed help getting out of bed but it didn’t cramp up at all. Don’t know if it was the Celebrex or the rest that was doing the job…whatever…long as it is going away. Next time, on the bike I will have Darcy put my left hand on the handlebar as well, that will be a struggle but it will even out the pulling!!!!!!!!!!! We’ll see!

I don’t think I had better tell the Physio about the cause of the back problem, or she’ll put the kybosh on all bike riding. Must be very careful that the bike riding doesn’t interfere with the walking as walking is the ultimate goal.  I believe the bike/trike riding is strengthening my gluts and my legs which I do need for walking, to me that is a positive, but bike riding can’t interfere with my therapy.  Just need to find that happy medium…eh?  The ol’ Catch 22. Good for the legs but bad if you do too much and how much is too much? You are dating yourself if you remember the movie…Catch 22! Now, here’s the good thing about the sore back. The experts say to make a muscle stronger you must work it so hard that it hurts the next day after lifting. The pain is from all the torn muscle fibers damaged while lifting. The muscle repairs itself in a day or two and becomes stronger. Now my back muscles will be stronger as they hurt like hell on Thursday and were a lot better on Friday. That’s my story and I am sticking to it!

I signed up for Le Tour de Norfolk and will attempt the 40 k ride but realistically I think I can do 10 to 15 k. On Monday,  July the 8^th we, Darcy and I did 7 k outside down Quarter Town Line Road. There are a couple of hills that I had difficulty getting up. The last time I did the hills a couple of weeks ago, I had no problem.  

Oh yes, I had to cancel my therapy on Monday, July 15^th for a Dr.’s appointment with my surgeon in Toronto. The bummer was that we had to be there by 7:45 on Monday morning. Grandpa Bob had agreed to drive and we were up at 4:00 AM and left at 5:10 AM. To get up, Darcy set 3 alarm clocks and asked Bob to call us just in case the alarms didn’t go off. Grandpa called before the alarms went off. There were no cars on the road until we got the Scotland. The QEW was busy as usual but since we had 3 in the car we used the express lane. That probably saved us a good hour. Made it to Toronto Western Hospital at Bathurst and Dundas by 7:20 in lots of time for the x-ray. Sat in the lobby waiting for Grandpa who went to park the car in a city lot…cost 12 bucks a day. Parking at the hospital is at least 56 bucks a day or at least it was 2 years ago. Well worth the walk to the city lot.

Sitting in the lobby sure brought back some memories. Oopps I guess it is called an Atrium. Darcy used to take me down there in a huge wheelchair that she couldn’t see over. We must have looked good me in the chair lay way back with my head in a headrest and my left leg sticking out. Spent lots of time there drinking apple/carrot juice drink from… Booster Juice. Enough of reminiscing. Grandpa arrived and off to the x-ray. Much to my surprise it was a guy. X-rays took about 10 minutes and it was off to Dr. Fehlings’ Clinic. I expected a long wait but we were called in after only 15 minutes. They gave me a survey to fill out. Good thing Darcy was there. Filled it out, Darcy checked it and I had missed 2 pages. 

Dr. Fehlings’ assistant, Dr. Goldstein came in and does all the question asking and then Dr. Fehlings comes in and I get to see the x-rays and that all the hardware is in place, two rods and all the screws al fused in place.  I had mentioned to Dr. Goldstein that I had lost some strength in my left arm. She explained that sometimes a cyst forms in the area where the injury occurred in the spinal cord. The cyst fills with spinal fluid and puts pressure on the spinal cord. They need to do an MRI to determine if it is there…yikes not another MRI. When Dr. Fehlings came in he said he’d give Dr. Potter recommendation that I have a clinical MRI to see if there is a cyst. They can remove them surgically and I believe they put in a shunt that keeps the cyst drained. Hmmmm…more surgery! We had talked about it with Dr. Potter at the last visit and said it was too early for the development of cysts. We’ll see what Dr. Potter says about it when we see him on Aug. 19^th.

Before Dr. Fehlings left he asked if I knew about a study they were initiating called a Functional MRI…FMRI.  Hmmmm….perhaps he needed a candidate for the study and that’s why he called me in…nah I shouldn’t be that cynical, or should I?  What they are trying to do is to see if they can identify the broken nerves in the spinal cord and determine what parts they run. I think Guinea Pigs get feed better so I volunteered. Dr. Goldstein said she would send in The Epidemiologist who would explain the study. The Epidemiologist was Natalia who I had worked with before in 2 other studies. It was like old home week seeing her again. She explained the study and what it involved. It would take about an1½.  Here’s hoping that it’s not an hour and a half in the MRI tube. They better have lots of Ativan…

I found this abstract about a study Dr. Fehlings had worked on with an f MRI. There is one very interesting stat. There were 9 incomplete Spinal Cord Injured People in the study and 6 of those had recovered full function. What I don’t know is if it was the f MRI that caused full function or they recovered on their own? Things enquiring minds need to ask the next time I see them.  If anyone wants to see the abstract about the study, go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23029097 We know the brain is plastic but this research is proving that the spinal cord is also plastic and can also build new pathways around an injured portion of the spinal cord.

Friday I did another ½ hour on the trainer but kept the tension at 3 and just did some spinning. This was the first time I got more distance in the 2^nd session than in the 1^st. 4.3 K in the first and 4.5 K  in the 2^nd. Karate class on Saturday morning and a big rest day for the ride on Sunday. Learned something on Friday night. Before bed I went for a walk out to the kitchen and back to the bed. As mentioned before, exercise causes my nose to plug up. Well walking is exercise and my nose plugged up until about 2 AM. Can’t sleep because I breathe through my mouth and it gets very dry. Makes for a very short night. The good news is that I was able to get up out of bed unassisted in the morning.

On Sunday it was time to do the Tour de Norfolk.  GrAandpa came over at 8:45 and put the rack on the car. The plan was to have Grandpa ride with me and Darcy following in the car…but… Grandpa wanted to see if Darcy’s trike would fit in the back of his Kia….it did. Change of plan…Darcy would ride with me and Grandpa would follow. Got to Dehi and registered and went to our starting point as it is too hilly around the arena for me to start out. Drove out to the 12^th Concession and Hawtrey Road. Unloaded the trikes and got mounted. Getting on the trike is easy,  stand up at the door of the car and I straddle the front of the trike and sit down.

Riding was interesting. I had difficulty on any little rise in the road. The left leg is that weak and it has difficulty pushing the pedals. Managed to do 13 K with Darcy. I would have gone further but there was as hill after the rest stop and there was no way I was doing that. Yvette, the organizer had the sag wagon driver help me get off the bike. My friend, Roseanne rode with me. We had a little deal going. She is trying lose weight and I just wanted to do some of the ride. Two good things, first of all I did the ride and second, wait for it…I didn’t overdo it. Initially the goal was to do the whole thing but given the training I did, I’m happy with 13 K. Legs aren’t too tired and the knee feels ok and no sore back.

How am I Feeling? 

I am a little apprehensive about the cyst. That is not a good thing to be thinking about. My roommate in Parkwood had a cyst and had a shunt put in and it started to plug up. He had 5 operations in 4 months as the shunt kept getting plugged with scar tissue. Yes...yes..I know, every case is different but it is still something to carefully think about.

Feeling good about the walking. I am getting better at trusting Darcy hanging on the belt and keeping me upright. I have those Merrill Glove running shoes that are supposed to be for natural running and you can feel your feet. I find I walk better at home with my regular shoes on than I do at Parkwood with the gloves on. There are no heels in them and I feel like I am going to tip over backwards. I will try walking on Monday at Therapy  and test out my hypothesis that I walk better in regular shoes. When I walk at home I don’t seem to catch my toe as much. Of course that could be that I walk further at Parkwood, tiring out the left foot…we’ll know next week.

Thanks for listening…

June 17 to June 30, 2013

Monday June 17^th: Happy Birthday to Darcy. After therapy we went to see Dr Potter. He had given me some muscle relaxants to try to handle the muscle tone. He upped the dose and we’ll see if that helps. Finally a Dr. said that exercise causes muscle tone and he will try to find the best meds to see what will work the best. Now you won’t have to listen how tight I am ever again. Went to the gym with Grandpa at 3…yes I was tight oops…not supposed to mention that.

I am trying to lose some weight and Darcy got Skinny Cow chocolate bars that are very low in calories thinking it would satisfy my sweet tooth. As I’m eating the bar the dog comes over and I thought I’d share it with her. Note: Myah will eat anything. I gave her a small piece and she smelled it and walked away. Guess I won’t be eating Skinny Cow chocolate bars. Looked at the ingredients and there is nothing natural about them, It’s just a chemical bar. 

Tuesday June 18^th: Had therapy. After getting stretched out, we did a lap with Barry and Stephanie on each arm. They are pushing and pulling me to get me to stand up straight. We have a new brace that goes around my ankle and a strap attaches to my shoe laces and holds up my toe. That makes it a lot easier walking. The next round, Stephanie put a belt around my waist and gave me the cane. I walked half way around with the cane and Stephanie keeping a hand on the belt…just in case. On Thursday She is going to see if Darcy can walk with me and I  can start doing more walking at  home…yeehaw!

Wednesday June 19^th: Busy day. Off to the gym at 9, with Yonna and Grandpa, to the pool at 11:30 with Yonna, a massage at 2 and coffee at 3 with the guys. Tightened up after the workout. Chest very tight, tummy tight and even my nose plugs up.

Thursday June 20^th: Therapy day. Woke up….tight…go figure! Got into prone lying with my head over the end of the table. Stephanie did a good job of relaxing some of the tight muscles in my back. Then got into the standing frame for 10 minutes. Did a walk with Stephanie and Barry assisting…didn’t go all that well. Find it hard to walk with the physios pulling and pushing various parts. Walked with Darcy holding the belt and using the cane. Get practiced with Darcy then I can do some walking at home.

Got home and did ½ hour on the trainer. Tightened everything up again 

Friday June 21^st: A day off therapy so to the gym with Yonna and Grandpa at 10. From the gym back home to get the bathing suit on and a ride over to the pool for a swim with Yonna. 45 minutes in the pool with most of it in the deep end doing ’water walking.’ Feels good to float.

In the gym Yonna and Grandpa got me up for a walk when the workout was done. One of my better walks, if I do say so myself! Was able to hold my toe up and didn’t stub my toe once. After a walk of about 10 feet I start to tip to the right. I started noticing it on my own and was able to correct it. A  good thing!

Yup…trying to ignore the muscle tone and maybe it will just go away.

Saturday June 22^nd: Well ignoring it does not make muscle tone go away. Grandpa came over after coffee break to help me on and off the trike. He rode over on his bike and we did 5 laps of the crescent which is about 2 k. Since I hadn’t been riding much it took a bit of coaxing to get the knee going around. Eventually it gets going. I think about half of the force I’m using with the right leg is to bend the left knee. Had to stop as the muscle tone was getting worse…grrrrrr! 

Sunday June 23^rd: Nope…ignoring the tone definitely does not make it go away. Karate class at 10. I don’t think sitting in the chair for a couple of hours helps the tone very much either. 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, June 24^th,25^th,26^th,27^th: Therapy on Mon, Tues and Thur. To the gym on Mon and Wed and in the pool at noon on Wed. At therapy, using the belt all the time now and doing laps with Darcy. I found the company that supplied the belts to Parkwood and ordered one of my own. We’ll get walkin’ as soon it gets here.

Wed was a busy day with weights at 10, the pool at 12 and a massage at 2. At 4 o’clock as usual the nose starts to plug and it feels like there is an elastic band tied around my chin and head. When I get into bed it usually goes away. It didn’t. At 10 when Darcy goes to bed it was still plugged so no CPAP. Darcy stayed up until midnight but still no breathing out of the nose. With a plugged nose, you breathe through your mouth and the mouth dries up and you stay awake taking small sips of water. Finally at 2 AM the nose opened up and finally got to sleep. The PSW comes at 5:50 on Thursday mornings. Not a lot of sleep.

Got back in the standing frame at therapy. That’s the table where they tie a belt around your butt and lift you into standing position and hold it standing up tall. I started doing this for 10 minutes before and after walking sessions.  Standing helps open up my hips which I need a lot of. I walk better after being in the standing table.

I’ve been noticing a couple of things happening over the past couple of weeks Yes it’s about peeing. I was peeing consistently about 350 to 400 ml then I have noticed over the past few weeks that it has increased up to 500 to 600 ml. That is too high and I will be stretching my bladder, which is not a good idea. 

I’ve also noticed that my right arm isn’t working like it did and that’s the good one. I can’t curl 1.22 kg. Can’t lift my arm straight up or do a chicken wing…you know like you do in the chicken dance. The arm is getting weaker and in the morning I have trouble shaving cause, can’t lift the razor to my face very well and even eating, the head has to bend down toward the spoon. I know can’t is a 4 letter word, ok the right arm is weak and doesn’t move as well as it once did. The arm was very strong when I left Parkwood and I thought I didn’t need to do much work on it so I let it slide.

On Thursday I mentioned to Stephanie that my arm is getting weaker even when doing a weight program. She checked the range in my arm.  It moves through the complete range, I just don’t have the strength to move it through the range. When I try to move my arm to do any movement my brain immediately hikes up my right shoulder. I have traps of steel. Even when I can’t lift my leg or lift my foot, my brain hikes up my shoulder. Believe it or not but my brain now thinks my right shoulder can help move any part in my body. That’s how bad the wiring is screwed up. My brain is recruiting the wrong muscles to do the task.     Stephanie said I must cease and desist all arm workouts until I see her next Tuesday….grrrrrr!  Goes to show you that you can build new neurological pathways even though they may be the wrong ones.

Friday June 28^th: During the night, Dr. Steen started analyzing the data. I started taking extra muscle relaxants about 6 weeks ago to help with muscle tone in my trunk. It seems to me that my arm started getting weak about that time and Dr. upped the dose a couple of weeks ago. If a relaxant works on tight muscles it works on none tight muscles making them go flaccid and weaker. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it. On Wednesday the 26^th, I wasn’t lifting as much weight as I normally do, both on arms and legs, Yonna chalked it up to being, ‘one of those days!’ Now I am convinced that it is the relaxant. The Dr. said I could up it to 3 mg a day and I’ve been there for a few days now. I will slowly get off it, .5 mg at a time. We shall see what happens!! Perhaps no bad pathways were created, the muscle in the arm is just too weak to do the job so the big trap tries to help.

Saturday June 29^th: Saturday morning class….Sensei John and Sensei Linda were away tending to their new Grand Daughter. Congrats Sensei Sara… another job well done! 

Frank the 79 year old never ceases to amaze me…doing all the drills! Pushups and leg raises.

Since I have the new transfer belt I can now walk at home with Darcy. At first I was a little leery about walking with Darcy. She was quite confident that she can keep me upright. Walked from my bed to the chair a distance of about 10 feet, opps 3 meters. Did that 4 times. Before we got going Darcy put on my Merle walking shoes. They are the new type of running shoe that is very thin so I can feel my feet.

Walking at home is going to help a lot. I will lengthen my walk when I become a little more confident. Darcy is ready to do it now….ha…I’m usually the gung-ho one but this time it is Darcy that wants me to push me to do more. I will get there and soon will be walking around the kitchen. I have this fear of falling…Darcy is quite confident that she can keep me up.

Sunday June 30^th: The last Sunday morning Karate Class, their grading is next week.

Did ½ hour on the trainer. 

How am I Feeling?

From the tone…ha…of the last couple of blogs, it probably sounds like I am getting a little down. I don’t think I am. Writing about the muscle tone and those issues helps me rationalize putting up with it. Very pleased with the way the walking is coming along. Stephanie is going to take some time each session to work on my arm to see if we can get the right muscles firing again. A little concerned about the right arm, it does everything for me. I need it to eat, hold the cane and just getting around in general.

Thanks for listening….