New thing: Countdown to taking off the brace: 61 days. I’m making the date 12 weeks after surgery, which is the guess of when it will be taken off. However in reality they’ll take x-rays starting at week 6 checking to see how my spinal fusion is coming along and whether or not I can stop using the brace.
Friday! Friday is good because it means rest for the weekend. Today was jam-packed. 5.5 hours of scheduled activities.
9-10am - Lokomat. It went way better than yesterday. They tried a different harness that prevented my brace to ride up and crush my ribs, which it did yesterday. I went 30 minutes. I’m supposed to visualize running or walking while I’m on it to get the neurons firing. It’s hard to do that without strongly missing it, but I am thinking it will get easier.
10-11am - Lesson on wheelchairs- types, specs, etc.
11am-noon - Lesson on wheelchairs part 2 - how to assemble and disassemble them. Frankly these two hours were not fun as I didn’t want to think of life in a wheelchair. I still have hope of walking.
Noon - Lunch with Sam. I know Sam from IBM - he used to be a kind of mentor/matrixed boss for me. I hadn’t talked with Sam in maybe a few years so it was good to catch up. Also simultaneously Janice met with my dad to go over marketing ideas for Papa John’s. It was tough to not be a part of that, knowing that my focus is rehab.
1-2pm - Mike (rec. therapist) had me and Tony watch a video called 28 sports in 28 minutes. Basically tons of things you can still do even though you can’t use your legs. Horseback riding, surfing (you lay on the board face down), skiing - both water and snow, swimming, scuba-diving, racing, basketball, rugby… lots, really. Some were goofy like self-defense, pool, archery, and hunting. The one of self-defense had a guy tackle an “attacker” to the ground and get him in a choke hold. That would be really embarrassing for the mugger, I’m sure.
2-3pm - Balancing with Jessica. I’m getting good at my transfers, at least. We played Othello and then used this toy thing that zips back and forth. Hard to describe but I’ll try and post a video soon. Then I had to pass this 5lb (or so) medicine ball around my back like the basketball drill over and over again without falling over. That was pretty tough.
3-5:30pm - Hang with parents, eat some of the sweets people have sent (awesome) and rest.
5:30-6:30pm (ran half an hour over if you are trying to count the 5.5 hours) - Psych session with Dr. Sweet. Good stuff again. I told her about this blog and she actually said that was very good therapy for me. Apparently in her private practice she tells people they can either journal or get a new therapist. This is basically journalling so she was happy. She also said that while I might be having a tough time, it’s good that I’m being honest with myself about things. I’m not sure I actually am, but glad she thinks so! I’m still banking on walking again. I’m not ready to deal with the idea of life in a wheelchair. It’s just too depressing to think about. I can deal with it if that’s what ends up happening, but as long as there’s hope of me walking again I just can’t think about it.
7-10pm - Poker with the guys (and Nina). The head guy for my hall said even though visiting hours ended at 8, we could use the cafeteria since nobody would be there. Done! We play poker every once in a while and the guys were cool enough to change the venue to the RIC. It was different to play without alcohol but we had a good time anyway.
Left to right: Me, Dan, Nina, Rich, Erik, Woody, Doug.
Good times.
G’night all.
Chip
No comments:
Post a Comment