First Day Back in Therapy -

Yesterday I started therapy back up for the first time since I think April 2014.  I'll be going 2-3 times a week at Norton's Rehab Center in Louisville, Kentucky.  I'm pretty excited about it.  They are somewhat overshadowed by but no less qualified and able than Frazier's Rehab in Louisville.  Frazier's gets all the funding by the Reeves Foundation and have had breakthroughs in a couple studies.  But for basic therapy, Norton's is equally as good (supposedly).

Yesterday I had my assessment test, similar to what I regularly did with Tiffany and Walter at RIC.  I still can't step up with my left leg, however when I tried I was able to lift it off the ground an inch or two and hold it there.  So there is hope!!!  I still can't stand from a chair without using my arms to push off, but it is far easier.  I'm hopeful that at some point in the future I will cross the breaking point and no longer need to use my hands to stand.  Overall my back, while still weaker than before the accident, is much stronger than it was a year ago.  Especially my upper back.  My lower back has a ways to go, still.  I don't know if the fact that there is a titanium cage in my lower back has anything to do with it.  I don't think so.  It is just atrophied from barely using it for so long.

There were two pieces of the test that I passed with flying colors that I couldn't do a year ago.  One is to turn in a full circle - 360 degrees - without the use of crutches or anything.  I think there is also a test to do in under a minute because when I started turning without too much trouble using baby steps, Kara, my new therapist, said, "We should have timed this..."  But I was able to baby step my way fully around!  Cool...

The other test was to pick up an object from the ground from a standing, unassisted position.  Kara had me pick up a magic marker.  I put my left hand on my left leg (Louie) to steady it, but otherwise was able to bend over, pick it up, and return to standing straight up without terrible trouble.  I mean, it was HARD, but I was able to do it!  So...yeah... progress.

I will try and get a video and/or some pics once actual therapy starts.  I should have gotten one of me turning and picking up the marker.  Oh well.

Dear Lord, thank You for the healing I've experienced to date and for the progress I continue to make.  Please allow these new therapy sessions to yield fruitful results.  Heal me, Lord!  Let me be fully healed.  But also, thank You for strengthening me with Your Holy Spirit so that I can go about life with confidence and ambition, moreso than I've ever had before.  Please help everyone with their own personal struggles and journeys.  Strengthen us all and make us resilient, wise, and confident in the paths You have laid out before us, regardless of what they look like.  Amen.

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas and holiday season no matter where you are in the world.

Chip