Countdown to brace coming off: 55 days
Countdown to Rebecca arriving in Chicago: 3 days
Countdown to me leaving RIC: 18-28 days
They might let me stay a little longer here if the leasing situation at whatever apartment I find doesn’t start until June 1, thus the range in that countdown.
Interesting day….
9-10am - OT with Jessica. I got dressed in bed. It went better. Easier every time. Got out of bed and transferred to chair without help. Well, she put my shoes on. Then some stretching and talk about bathroom stuff.
11am-noon - Group therapy. Best balloon volleyball session yet. Jamie, a friend I made here with a similar injury, decided to not just hit it back and forth but to spike it every time. Luckily he was my teammate. But some other guys got into it and next thing I knew I was wheeling around chasing down the balloon for much more difficult returns. Way more fun than usual and way more of a workout! Good times. Jamie’s a good guy. Pray for him if I haven’t mentioned him, yet. He’s just like me except he can’t feel his legs at all. Well, he’s also black and a SOX fan, so I guess he’s not JUST like me. And I can say that because they make fun of me for being the white guy singing along to Michael Jackson, R&B songs, etc.
Noon-2pm - My parents, Jason, and Jake showed up from the court hearing regarding the guy that hit me. I guess it went interestingly. That’s all I’ll say since it is probably not good to post publicly, yet. We had lunch and caught up a bit. Jason was a big help in the courtroom, I understand. Everyone thought he was our lawyer since he was wearing a suit and acting like he knew what he was talking about.
2-3pm - Okay this is the coolest part of the day. They got this new machine here and I said I’d be more than happy to be a guinea pig. It’s called an FES… well, here it is - http://www.restorative-therapies.com/rt300leg
Anyway it hooks up a total of 12 electro-stims (electrical stimulation) to 6 muscle groups on my legs. Or really 3 on each leg - lower/inner calf, middle quad, and hamstring. So I have all these patches with electrodes hooked up everywhere and it stimulates my muscles in a sequence and with enough strength that it moves my legs just like I would normally on the bike. Make sense? So they turn it up until my muscles flex and go with that.
It was really very cool. And all the therapists were training to use it with the specialist that came in so I got to ask lots of questions. It measures speed (RPMs), power, and differentiates between what the electrodes are doing and what I am doing on top of that. So the cool news is that somehow the stimulation allowed me to engage my muscles myself. They had some graph (I didn’t see it) that said that 10-15% of the power was coming from my own efforts, not including the power from the electrodes. That means I have muscle tone in my legs and maybe even thighs. Sorry if that is confusing, but it’s good news. I wish I could get that specialist and ask her some more questions! I’ll post a video of it in a sec. It felt really good, actually. I know it sounds like being electrocuted but it’s actually like a kind of tingly massage - to me, at least.
I had one more session to learn some bathroom skills. No need to go into detail there, but suffice it to say it wasn’t fun.
There’s something I want to point out. A lot of people have said they enjoy my candor and how “real” I am on this blog. In reality, I joke a lot on here and try and remember the positives of the day. It is extremely difficult in here emotionally and mentally. It’s hard to explain just how people identify themselves by their physical abilities, but when suddenly you can’t walk or even move your legs at all, you feel helpless. For me, that has been extremely trying. If I appear strong it is because I am using every ounce of energy I have to get through each day. I give therapy my all because I am scared to death of not walking again. I want to give myself as high a chance of recovery as possible. All the prayers are awesome but worthless if I don’t do my part. Having faith in God and in prayer means also gaining the confidence to do your part and try as hard as you can to work towards whatever those prayers are about. Anyway I don’t want to get on a rant here… actually one more thing….
Every single one of us was born with a gift, or set of gifts, or whatever - from God. By everyone I mean everyone. It is my very strong belief that we must use those gifts to glorify Him. If you are not using your gifts, then that is kind of like saying, “You know, God, I really appreciate that gift you gave me, but I’m gonna spend my time doing these other things instead. They are just easier/more fun/less intimidating/______(fill in the blank).” Everyone of us has something God gave us to use to glorify Him. If you are not using it/them, it is my opinion that you are hurting God’s feelings instead of glorifying Him. So use them, already. I am just as guilty of this as anyone else, but thinking about it motivates me to change.
Here’s the verse I read today that stuck with me: Romans 3:27, 28 NLT
"Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."
This isn’t really about my recovery. But it’s a good verse anyway. Jesus made it so that we don’t need to follow the law to be saved. All we need is faith that he did, in fact, die for us; that he died to save us from ourselves. If we truly love God/Jesus, then we will do everything we can to please Him. That’s where the law comes in, and not before. Anyway, I digress…
I don’t know why I ranted today. Just in one of those moods I guess. Plus I’m super excited that Rebecca will be here soon so I’m a bit chatty. On top of that tomorrow is the beginning of the weekend! Kind of.
G’night,
Chip
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