This morning totally sucked. Scratch that – last night totally sucked, which caused the start of my day to totally suck. Imagine this schedule combined with pain in your back and not being able to really adjust to be comfortable in bed at night:
1am – Cath, then roll over with assistance of technician
4:15am – Wake up to a tech standing over bed in the dark. Say, “Geez, you scared me.” Tech responds with, “Sorry. As long as you’re up, are you ready for your blood thinner shot?”
5:30am – Wake up to cath again, then tech. helps roll to other side.
6:15am – Wake up for vitals check – blood pressure, temp, pulse
7:30am – Dress with tech’s assistance to get ready for the day.
8am – Go to physical therapy
8:30am – 10am – get a break. No wait, someone shows up at 9am and says that I now have more physical therapy from 9-10am.
10-11am – Trip outside with recreational therapy guy to go check out the RIC gym
11am-12pm – Group Exercise
noon – get some lunch and get in bed for a quick bite and then nap an hour
1pm – do some work and rest a little more
2-2:30pm – Psychology session with Dr. Sweet
3-4pm – More physical therapy
4-5pm – Group psychology
The morning was really, really rough. But the nap helped immensely after lunch. At my 8am session I was able to “stand” again, this time without feeling sick or overheating, even though I had come straight from bed. That was encouraging. I stood for 20 minutes or so. Sara also informed me that the reason I qualify for the lokomat (which I’ll do Wednesday for the first time) is because of the pins and needles I feel in my left leg. It used to be that you had to have some sort of motion in your leg(s) to qualify. But as I mentioned before, new research shows strong correlation between motion and the pins and needles. So I hope it’s a big plus for all the pain I feel in my left leg.
The RIC gym is a couple blocks away and really cool. All the machines are made so that you can do it from your wheelchair if you want. They also have a cycling group with special bikes that are basically fancy fast wheelchairs and handcycles (bike with your hands). I guess they take them out on the lake shore path, which is really cool. This is Mike and I headed to the gym.
I was accepted into water therapy training, too. So Wednesday, on top of getting into the lokomat, I’ll hopefully have a session in the pool here which is supposedly 85 degrees and designed to make you float easily, somehow. Should be interesting and a nice change of pace.
I kind of had a breakthrough session with Dr. Sweet, the psychologist, at our 2pm session. She came to my room and asked how I was doing. I told her how infuriating it is that there are all these positive signs, which should be GOOD news, but that I still can’t move anything in my legs! For instance, if I do the lokomat for weeks and still can’t walk on my own, I’ll be very frustrated. She said that’s normal but that I had a drive that was much higher than average and am probably more accustomed to effort = output. Since that’s not the only factor with spinal cord injuries, I can’t think that I am failing. She then pointed out how confused I looked and kept repeating to me that I am doing everything I can and that I’m not failing. It took a few times to hit me. I’ve definitely been increasingly upset at my lack of movement in my legs, especially since everyone else is increasingly expectant. This morning I wanted to throw my brace through the window. I keep having these dreams where I’m running or walking and then realize I’m not supposed to be able to do that (still in the dream), so I’m more careful but filled with joy (again, still in the dream). Then I wake up and, as an example, a strange tech is hovering over me in the dark asking me if I’m ready for a shot. Not the best transition. So her timing was good. I feel a little better and ready to take on tomorrow. She was really great and encouraging - and best of all, she made sense.
Afternoon physical therapy involved me practicing more transfers, this time in and out of an actual tub/shower. The facilities here are truly incredible. Anyway I’ll post a video in a second about that. Pretty tough stuff but I feel like I can at least do it now.
I had a flurry of visitors all show up at once tonight, which is perfect, really. Jason (aka Quiggy, aka Q diddy), Erik (aka Ironman, aka the Viking), Jake (aka Jakey), Joe (aka… Joe Cool), and Jeremy (aka J Rose). Nina (aka Ninapedia) showed up after this pic was taken. Also Erik visited the other day, which I forgot to mention. I think that gets him a point in some game they construed related to this blog. Not sure :)
Aunt Cha (Cha, you say? Yes, Cha, short for Charlene, named after the same person I was named after, my grandpa, her dad, Charles) and Uncle Lee need to get a major shout out. I’m fairly sure I’ve received at least a card from them every single day since my accident. She also sent me a care package. Lots of love coming from the Humphrey (their last name) side of the family! Thank you guys! I’m sad to hear you aren’t throwing the Derby party, though. I think you should. Such a great tradition!
Connie Hall also needs a shout out. A close friend to my parents, she has been incredible with how much she has orchestrated and helped out, from cards to flowers to care packages to pulling strings for my parents’ hotel room, etc. Thank you Connie. You kick butt.
The prayer for today should go to the girl in the pic below. She’s just a teenager, but she’s going through far more than I am. She is sick but has a strong heart. She’s also my neighbor here. Please pray for her and her family. This is Alex and her mom, Annette. I’m not using a description of her illness to protect their privacy.
Gnight all.
Chip
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