Mon Feb 17th: Remember that good resident I saw last
Friday, well he had a cold and now I got it. Started as a scratchy throat last
night. Had a bit of an anxiety attack last night at about 11 o’clock, for 2
reasons. One, I knew I was getting a cold and Two I had a pain in my tummy that
was causing all sorts of muscle tone. Got up and worked on the computer, turns
out the tummy pain was gas and several good flatulencies solved the problem.
Now today my throat is sore and my nose is plugged up. I will have some
problems if it goes into my chest. My chest muscles are so tight I will have
trouble coughing stuff up. I did go to the gym with Keith and did a light
workout. Was cold when I got home and I’m now writing this with a warm electric
throw over my legs.
Well the light workout did me in. I started tightening up.
First my legs and then my back went rock hard. Don’t know if it is all from the
workout, or as the cold settles in, it could be causing some problems perhaps
the same as a urinary tract infection does. I had a meltdown at about 7 o’clock
and went tearing around the house in my wheelchair. Had to take a ‘relax’ pill
and I finally was able to settle down. It’s just a horrible feeling when all
the muscles are tight and there is nothing we can do to relax them. In addition
my nose was plugged all day and I had to breathe through my mouth. Along with
the dry mouth from my drugs it means I must sip water all day. Had to take a
couple extra Hydromorphone pain pills to help me ‘relax’.
Given all my muscle tone caused by working out I think I
will stop going to the gym for a while at least until this tone
dissipates.....grrrrr
Tues Feb 18th:
My nose had cleared up overnight and I was able to sleep reasonably well from 9
to 1 and then I was awake for the rest of the night, good thing the Olympics
are on. My nose did open up and stayed that way until I started moving around
in the morning. Perhaps the stuffy nose is not cold related but my ‘normal’
stuffy nose from my tone. As I sit here at 9 AM I can feel my body tightening
up.
I’ll skip therapy today because of the impeding cold, my
throat is sore and my voice is ‘husky’. I have an appointment with the Dr.
Potter today which I will cancel. Double...grrrrr! We have a sign on the door
to tell people with colds they can’t come in. We let the night PSW know that
I had a cold and I would wear a mask if
she wanted me to. She said it wasn’t necessary as I wasn’t coughing or
sneezing.
A rest day just did some stretching and weights and walking
before bed. The pain pills were good yesterday but they cause constipation,
there was no BM. Which means....
Wed Feb 9th:
...diarrhea in the morning. I was able to hold off until 6 AM. Darcy got to
sleep in a bit. The PSW arrived early and she took over the duties from Darcy.
Offered to have me wear a mask and she said it wasn’t necessary. Another quite
day, got into bed to stretch and do the weights on my arm at 9:30 and fell
asleep for 1½ hours. Not surprising as I
was nodding off at the computer. Darcy had a lot of running around so I was on
my own for the afternoon.
We are trying to get my chair set up right. The back needs
to be moved forward. We tried folding a sheet and putting it on the back. Every
time I moved it would fall on the floor. Darcy got some foam and cut a piece to
fit under the cover on the back. It is too thick and kills my back. Can’t get a
piece of the foam removed until Darcy gets home. I’d like to get out of the
chair but I had a pee and I can’t do my tear away pants up, if I stand to get
into bed my pants will off...lol. I’m stuck in the chair. The ol’ back is on
fire. Don’t want to take pain pills ‘cause I want to poop tonight. Darcy got
home a little after 5 and it was out of my chair and into bed with some
hydromorphone and stretching the back eased off a bit. The tone in my legs
doesn’t seem to want to go away and I’m chalking that up to the cold although
it was there before the cold but not as intense.
I was supposed to go to see the Habs Old Boys play the
Oxford All Stars on Saturday night with my friend Scott. Guy Lafleur is the
coach. Don’t think I should go with this cold. Still got 3 days...we’ll see.
Just don’t want to spread this cold around.
Watched some of Canada vs Latvia, sure hope Canada is
sandbagging, waiting for the Gold medal round. A hot goal tender doesn’t help
either, after the 2nd period, shots were 31/12 for Canada. The
lesser teams play the same, collapse all their players in front of the net and
there is no room to get the puck through. The corruption saga continues with
the dance competition. The Russian and American judges are in cahoots and the
Americans and Canadians have the same Russian coach...go figure! L’equippe Magazine knew 2 weeks ago that
the fix was in, Russian to win the team skate competition and the Americans
would win the dance competition and it happened.
My nose is stuffed up all day but for some reason it clears
up at night which allows me to sleep. Have no idea what’s going on. I just keep
thinking that all those little bugs are multiplying in my lungs. Oh yeah had a
wonderful big BM...LMAO!
Thurs Feb 20th:
Woke up at about 5 with a clear nose. Started moving around with PSW to get me
into the shower and the nose plugs up. Beginning to wonder if this is a cold or
I have something else going on. We know that exercise brings on a stuffy nose,
it’s like tone in my nose and my ears get a numb feeling and across the end of
my nose feels numb. I don’t have a fever and I am no blowing my nose at all.
I’m not coughing. The only symptom of a cold I had was a sore throat and that
could have been from it drying out. The only thing we have changed is my
cushion positions on the chair which causes me back pain. Hmmmm...let’s
see...exercise and pain cause tone. Changing the chair causes pain and may
cause a stuffy nose. Solution, test the
theory by changing the chair back the way it was and see what happens...the
science model....test the theory and evaluate.
Fri Feb 21st:
Same thing again, nose clears pp at about 1 AM and plugs up again once I
start to move. Since this muscle tone is everywhere, it would be reasonable to
assume there is something going on in my lower abdomen. I have been told that
tone is cause by visceral problems... I get pain in my lower abdomen that could
be intestines, bladder or prostate. I have an appointment with a Dr this
afternoon. My Dr is away and I’ll be seeing a Dr. that doesn’t know me and will
have no idea what to do with me.
My experiment has shown so far that resting does not
alleviate my tone or my stuffy nose. I did one walk on Thursday afternoon that
tightened up my legs. Since my nose was already plugged up it had no aft on it.
Today I did stretching and right arm exercises stayed in bed to watch the
hockey game...rah Canada! Did a few stands at 3:45...we’ll see.
Explained to him about my condition and that an infection can
cause tone and that I have a pain in my lower abdomen. He thought maybe I have
an infected prostate and prescribed an antibiotic. Note my nose was still
plugged up and he seemed to understand the tonal overflow.
Went to the pharmacy to fill the prescription and as the
antibiotic he prescribed interacts badly with tizanidine an antispasmodic that
I take. They tried to call his office but he had already left for the hospital.
No antibiotic ‘til Monday. Nose cleared up as usual at about 1 AM.
Sat Feb 22nd:
Woke up with a clear nose and it didn’t plug up when I started moving
around. Went to karate class and no stuffy nose. After class we went to
Woodstock with some friends to look at bikes at Pedal Power. No stuffy nose.
Went out for lunch and got home at 3ish and had my drugs. Was working on my
computer, my tummy started to hurt and my nose plugged up.
Started thinking about what happened last night. I know this
is probably too much info but I had a big BM
and my stomach pain went away. It’s not the prostate, it’s my large
intestine giving me the problem. Hopefully tonight the BM will alleviate the
stuffy nose again. It happens every day at about 5 to 6 pm some stuff moves
past a certain spot in my large colon and I get the stuffy nose response. If it
stays there, I have a stuffy nose for a longer period...Dr. Steen’s diagnosis.
It worked after the BM no stuffy nose.
Sun Feb 23rd:
Woke up very stiff with legs tight and upper body tight. Got back into bed to
watch the hockey game and kept dozing off and I missed all of the goals. Good
game from what I saw of it. Now what am I gonna do now that the Olympics are
over?
Didn’t do much all day. Went out for coffee with the guys
for a 2 hour chat at McCafe. No bike riding all week which is disappointing as
Byron and I had agreed to ride at least 20 k per week in our trek across
Canada. Did one walk during the day but my legs are so toned up it is hard to
lift them, particularly the left one. Did the usual walk at night before bed.
Mon Feb 24th:
Pretty much the same as Sunday, still toned and the legs are very tight. No gym
and no biking as I trying to eliminate everything that causes tone. Did the
stretching routine in bed and then off to the pool. A good workout in the pool but it didn’t
alleviate the muscle tone anywhere.
0Spent the afternoon trying to paint clouds, can’t seem to
make them look fluffy. They just look like blobs of paint. Very hard getting
used to painting with acrylic as they dry very fast and there is no blending of
colours. Even when you mist the painting with water they dry out quickly. Very
frustrating....grrrrr!
The Dr. called and wondered if I could get off
tizanidine...but I can’t. I am now on penicillin 3 times a day for a week.
We’ll see if that does anything for the tone.
Tues Feb 25th:
Back to physio after a week off. Stephanie
listened to my stuffed up nose story and she just shrugged. As usual, I was
very tight and she spent some time loosening me up. Did sit to stands, stepping
up on a 6 inch step with the right foot which puts all my weight on my left leg
and standing on the sponge pad to help with my balance. I was still tight and I
walked to the standing table which was about 18 m away. Stood in the table for
10 minutes. Then it was up and walking.
A couple of walks with the walking stick and a couple without it. We
walk now until I can’t lift up my left toe which is usually 10 to 15 m and then
I sit for 2 or 3 minutes and it’s off again.
I was toned up after the walks but my nose didn’t plug up on
the way home. I didn’t get stuffy until about 5:30 and it cleared up after the
BM. Again no biking but I did do the walk before bed. I don’t understand the
stuffy nose. It used to be after exercise, then it’s with the intestine thing,
I don’t really know what is happening. Just play it by ear and see how it goes.
Wed Feb 26th:
Again stiff when I woke up. Usually in the morning the PSW helps me sit up on
the side of my bed when I go for a shower. After the shower and after they dress
me I’m a bit looser and I’m able to sit up by myself with a bit of a struggle.
This morning I need help both times. No gym again just to keep the tone down.
Went to the pool with Darcy, Yonna is still away. Had a good
workout for a little over an hour. Walking in the pool is getting better and
several people commented on how well I was getting around. As mentioned my
steps in the pool are more than twice as long as they are on land. The buoyancy
helps a lot and I’m not concerned about catching my toe. On land I step with
right, put the pole down and step with the left and pause to make sure the toe
doesn’t get caught. In the pool even if my toe gets caught I have no fear of
falling. For the most part in the pool I am on my toe so it can’t get caught.
Thurs Feb 27th:
All ready to go to Parkwood. The white out started at about 9:30. Linda arrived
from Simcoe and she said the white out didn’t start until the out skirts of
Tillsonburg. Listened to the news and there were lots of accidents and the OPP
was telling people to stay off the road. We agreed called Stephanie and had a
cup of coffee with Linda. Seems it cleared up quickly but it was too late to
go. Wanted to go as we were going to visit Jody my Occupational Therapist who
is have a very rough go with cancer.
Went to the pool again and had another good session. Did
lots of walking. It tightens me up a bit and that damn lower left back starts
to hurt and I have to stop and stretch it out. An observation at the pool.
There are usually 15 to 20 seniors in the pool broken to 10 to 15 ladies and 5
to 10 guys. Hate to admit it but the ladies are all doing little programs or
doing lengths while most of the guys are sitting in the shallow end
gabbing...how times have changed!
After being exposed to Olympic Hockey the NHL really isn’t
that exciting any more. Shot the puck in, slam the guy who touches it into the
boards and try to pass it to one of your open guys. Not real exciting.
Fri Feb 28th:
Oh yes no BM last night so on the John at 6 AM. Wore Depends all day and no
pool....grrrrr! No accidents all day until I got the sup in and I waited too
long. Finally the Depends were useful. I really don’t know how those people at
the Casinos wear depends and sit at the slot machine for 24 hours. The gambling
addiction must be as bad as the smoking one.
Tried painting again and this time it worked, I painted over
the last painting with white and yellow ochre and I‘ll start another painting
as soon as it dries. Beats buying a new canvass.
Sat Mar 1st:
Holy shit it’s March and we still have 2 feet of snow around. When is it
going to end? Made a bet with Grandpa Bob that there will still be snow around
when he gets back from Florida at the end of the month. Pretty safe bet I’m
thinkin’.
Saturday Karate Class and during the class, I remember I was
going to attend the public speaking competition where Ashely was speaking and
her topic was me. She finished 3rd...Well done Ashely!
Read an artist’s book on how to paint a landscape forest
scene, it sounds so easy. I will try the forest scene on my newly painted
canvass board. I put some paint retarder init to slow the drying down.
All the paint is in the paint box which is supposed to slow the
drying process. My painting table is low and when I paint I am hunched over in
my chair. Linda brought my 4 wooden blocks which should raise the table about 6
inches. We’ll see what that does.
Sun Mar 2nd:
A quiet day. Just went for coffee with the guys. Rode the bike and did a total
of 12.4 K for the week. Not holding my end up very well as we were supposed to
ride a minimum of 20 k per week. Did 2x10 minute sessions with a 3 minute spin
in between and at the end for a total of 5.9 k.
How am I Feeling?
I start thinking that I am not going to get a lot better
than I am right now and then I look at what I am doing in the pool. Walking
around without any assistance and doing a good hour of exercise and from time
to time walking out of the pool. Overland walking has also changed a bit. At
Parkwood, I’m walking almost unassisted with Stephanie or Darcy just holding
onto the belt, just in case.
Now the things I don’t understand. What has happened to the
Dysreflexia? Not that I miss, but it would appear that it is associated with
intestinal impaction. All the laxatives seem to have taken care of that. I
don’t understand the muscle tone. Whenever I do anything I tighten up. Exercise
in other people reduces muscle tone. Walking, riding the bike and lifting
weights all tighten me up. Sometimes if I overdue, particularly with the
weights I’ll have an anxiety attack when all my muscles tighten up. Just don’t
know what is going on there and the docs don’t seem to be any help.
Thanks for listening...
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