On August 20, 2011 -- Glen Steen was in an unfortunate cycling accident which required immediate spinal cord surgery and has left him in a quadriplegic state. Glen is a warrior and because of his determined nature and dedication to therapy, he is making gains each day. Follow Glen on his journey here in his Blog, written in his own words.


Thursday, 12 December 2013

November 25 december 8

Nov 25 to Dec 8, 2013
Mon Nov 25: No therapy today as we are changing over from the treadmill program back to the outpatient program. I am going back to my former physio, Stephanie. Due to her workload I won’t be seeing her until Friday.
Went to the pool with Darcy and did the usual stuff. I am getting much more confident in the pool and I walk unassisted, not hanging on the wall.  I am able to correct myself if I lose my balance. This is a good feature as it teaches me correct steps on land.
Tues Nov 26: No therapy but went to London for Botox. They put it in my forearm to weaken the muscles so my fingers will/may open easier. In my bicep to make it easier to straighten my arm. In my calf so I can pick up my toe easier. After botox it was off to Cora’s for a Peggy’s Poached...2 poached eggs on multi grain toast with a bowel of cottage cheese and ½ a plate of fruit...yum!
Wed Nov 27: Went to the gym with Grandpa. Have to go at 9:30 in order to get to the pool by 11:30. Yonna takes me on Wednesdays. Had a good stretch and a good workout. Rode the trainer for 15 minutes and did 4.4 K. The first day, able to do gym, swim and trainer.
Thurs Nov 28: My therapy got cha0nged from Friday to Thursday at 10. Off at 8:45. It was a bit of an assessment session and I did some walking. That little bit of walking tightened me up.  Was very tight the rest of the day.
There was a Grading at the Karate Club. Couldn’t miss that, from 7 to 9:30 which meant cancelling the PSW and Darcy would do my bowel care. The grading was excellent, watching the little kids get their belts and watching the adults doing more than they ever thought they could do.
Given being tight from my therapy session and sitting in the manual chair for 3 hours at the grading, I didn’t have a BM.
Fri Nov 29: Woke up early and had Darcy put me on the can. A small BM and back on with the Depends...just in case. It was rather an uncomfortable day.
My artist friend, Dawn and her husband Marc stopped by at 9:30 for a visit on their way back to Windsor. Her website is www.dawnbanning.com if you want to check out her art. A talented couple, she paints professionally and he builds gorgeous furniture in his spare time. Of course they wanted to see my painting. I had painted a milk pitcher that I got step by step directions off the net. Still doesn’t look the same as the example. Hard to do detailed work with the shaky right hand. Using only 3 colors, a blue, a dark orange and white. This means a lot of mixing of colour to get it right. i.e. blue and orange make a black, add white for a grey, add white to blue or orange and get various shades of blue and orange...oh what fun trying to match colours, but that is what painting is all about.
Acrylic paint dries out very quickly and I was wasting a lot of paint as gobs of it were drying out on the palette. I got a wet box. It is a plastic box with a sponge in it and a special paper that goes on top of the sponge, to put the paint on. It has kept the paint wet for over a week now...it really does work. I’ll just keep plugging away until I get it right. Nice thing about acrylic is that you can cover mistakes quite easily since it dries so quickly. 
Friday was beer night at Sensei John’s. WE get some different beers and try them all. Due to my intestinal condition at 7 o’clock I didn’t go to beer night....grrr!
The good news for the day is the big BM at night that kept me smiling all night long. Could have gone to beer night after the BM but didn’t want to push my luck.
Sat Nov 30: Didn’t go to Karate clas, thought I’d take a rest. Did some more painting but It’s going to be landscapes as there is no way I can do any detailed work. The hand is just too shaky. 
Sun Dec 1: December is here, can Christmas be that far away? Another Sunday, in the pool at 9 AM for about 45 minutes then off to McD’ for coffee. Did 15 minutes on the bike for a grand total of 4.3 k. Still a little behind my distances from before the treadmill program. Gives me another goal.
Mon Dec 2: Was going to go and lift weights with Grandpa at 9:30. I woke up at about 1:30 with my lower tummy feeling very tight and uncomfortable. By the time I got up at 7:45 I was feeling a touch nauseous. Had a bit of trouble eating breakfast. I got ready to go to the gym anyway. The way the tummy feels it’s seems to be the bladder or prostate causing the problem. Grandpa arrived and I explained the problem and he talked me out of going. We had a coffee instead. Was feeling a little better at noon and Darcy took me to the pool. Being able to float in the water helps me relax a lot. I am able to stretch legs and back that I can’t do on dry land. Got home and was feeling better, got on the bike and did 15 minutes of spinning and went 4.7 K.  Did my usual 10 m walk and sit-to-stands before bed.
Tues Dec 3: Finally a ‘normal’ therapy session. There are students shadowing the physio and the assistants. I am a good guinea pig since there is so much stopping me from walking. There is the knee that doesn’t straighten out, a knee does not bend easily, an ankle that doesn’t bend to get past 90 degrees, a weak calf that can’t pick up my toe. This defines my steps. With the walking pole I lean to the right to make enough room to swing my left leg through. The lean gets the left foot high enough to prevent my toe from catching the floor. This is ‘physio Steen’ speaking but I need to strengthen the left leg to get it strong enough to lift my left foot and bend the left knee. To that end, at the gym I will be strengthening the left leg as much as possible. I would like to be able to stand in one spot and march. I can lift the leg better in the deep end of the pool but out of the pool lifting against gravity, it is very difficult to get it off the floor, even a couple of cms.
0n the happy side I bottled 30 bottles of Chocolate Raspberry Port! I had it made at Country Brewmasters and got a nice surprise. I referred a customer to them so it was 20 bucks off the bill. Thanks Marianne.
My computer just quit before we left for London. It froze and I pushed the off button and left hoping that it would reboot when I got home but it didn’t. The light on the switch was still on. We took it to the Computer store on Brock Street and I was prepared for a rebuild and to lose of all my files as I don’t have a backup...doh! Seems laptops do freeze on occasion and it is a matter of holding down the start button or taking out the battery and reinstalling it. The store was very honest as they could have taken it and done a complete rebuild and I would have been none the wiser. And there was no charge. First thing I did was backup my files.
Wed Dec 4: Was a busy day. Off to the gym at 9:30 after the gym into the pool at 11:30 where I may have overdone it a bit. I did several stands on the ladder, that is stepping up on the first step several times. Home by 1:30 and a massage at 2:00. I do cool down as you know my thermostat is broken. Got cooled down in the gym and even a little cooler in the pool. Tried to warm up before the massage but that cools me down more as I am shirtless. My legs and arms and trunk were cold. When my muscles get cold they really tighten up and I feel real crappy. When I shiver it tightens up everything. When a ‘normal’ person shivers the muscles tighten and relax many times, when I shiver the muscles don’t relax. I am writing this in real time and I really feel like shit. I think I lifted too hard worked too hard in the pool and I just checked my blood pressure and it was 202/120. I have no way of alleviating the pain...just took a couple of pain pills, we’ll see how that works and an antianxiety pill. With this dysreflexia, I don’t know if it is the pain causing the increase in BP or a little anxiety thrown in there to top it up. It has subsided a bit and I’m in control once again...for now!
The psych nurse was here to talk about my claustrophobia. I have a MIR coming up on Saturday and that is on my mind as well. Seems a bit ironic that the psych nurse was here and I have a meltdown after she leaves.
Thurs Dec 5: Therapy day. I was tight of course and we got there early and we found a free mat and I did some stretching. One of the students came over and did some good hip stretches. We did some walking and I had a Eureka moment. I was walking with the walking stick and the transfer belt. A bit scary as both physios were behind me and hanging on the belt but it felt like they weren’t holding on...I digress that wasn’t the moment. I sat down in the wheelchair for a rest and when I stood up the physios held my arms away from my body which helps keep my chest up. Remember all the whining I did/do about my butt sticking out as that was caused by my left foot going flat on the floor. Well today for the first time I was able to bend my left knee and pick up my foot and step through. This does two things, first it allows me to take a bigger step with my right leg and it also keeps my butt in. It actually means that I walk straight up rather than bent over at the waist...Eureka! Now I must clarify that the walk was with 2 physios holding my arms. They were just holding my arms, not holding me up. We will see at my walk tonight if I can replicate the walk tonight. I think if I can do it all the time it will alleviate the back pain that is a show stopper most of the time.
Stephanie, the physio also tried to fix my wheelchair setup. The cushion has a dip in it near the back for my butt to sit in with turned up corners that is suppose too put my pelvis in the correct position. I haven’t felt comfortable in it since we got it. I can’t get my butt far enough back on the cushion because it is too long and it hits the back of my knees and won’t allow me to slide back further. The cushion is about 2 inches...5.9 cm too long.
The walk at night was a bit different. It is going to take some getting used to taking a big step with right and picking up the left when using the walking stick. It’s going to take a lot of practice to get it working.
Fri Dec 6: A day off from therapy. Went to the pool and tried to do the walk that I had done at Parkwood. Harder in the pool because of the buoyancy but managed to lift and bend the left leg, it doesn’t look pretty but if I can get the brain to remember the pattern, that’s all that matters. Get that pathway locked into the brain. Can’t lift the leg very well when using the walking stick.
Sat Dec 7: Saturday was the day for the MRI o0n my shoulder and if the medication was enough to mellow me out...it wasn’t. Sad thing was it was0 a big MRI unit but they pushed me a long way in and that set off all my bells and whistles and I had to0 get out. Darcy’s comment was they should have left you in there. I know its ok, I’ve survived a couple 0of 45 minute MRI’s in the past. You’d think I’d be able to handle a 20 minute one. And that’s after all the medication and coaching from the psych nurse. Only thing I can do next week is take more meds and tough it out. You feel like such an idiot after cause you know it is all in your head. I really need the one on the 13th, guess I better double up on the meds. They are checking my neck for any little vesicles of spinal fluid that may be putting pressure on my spinal cord. They usually don’t happen for 20 years or so after surgery, but we’ll see what’s there, if anything. Gotta stay in that damn tube.
Sun Dec 8:  Hope to go to the pool but Darcy slept in and I let her sleep in, she needs now and again. Off to coffee at McD’s with the guys. Even at lunch hour at McD’s, it is the seniors crowd for the most part a couple of families with kids but mostly seniors. What did I hear that some stores are stopping seniors’ discounts as the seniors are the only ones with money.
How am I feeling?
Getting a little apprehensive about where I am headed. I do know that I am improving but I’m going to plateau soon. Life as a quad isn’t all that nice. Seems there is always something going on. It could be a bowel thing, it could be a bladder thing or something else unrelated to either. It feels like it is harder to get moving in the morning. I am very stiff after lying in one position all night.
Getting claustrophobic again isn’t nice. Must really think this one through on Friday. Just stay in there...damn it!
Thanks for listening...

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