Days til outta the stinkin’ brace: 48
Days til I move into an unknown location and leave RIC: 23-25
Today was a great day. It was probably more exciting to hear and realize that my leg muscles were functioning again, albeit on a low level. Either I am just really lucky or the prayers are working. I believe the latter. If you watched the video first, the surprise is spoiled.
9-10am - OT with Jessica. I met the goal of putting my socks on unassisted, along with the rest of my clothes. Not too hard now. Then we went upstairs and worked on transferring to the bench in the tub, which I can also do unassisted, now. She helped me understand what to plan for in the apartment. We finished the hour out with some stretching.
10-11am - PT with Sara. She had me lie down on the mat and Amy, the assistant/trainee (I don’t know her title, really) stretched me while a man close by played with what were clearly leg braces. Once I was stretched, he placed the pieces on my legs, took some measurements, and said he’d have them ready by our next session. At this point I was clearly wondering why I would need braces. Sara explained that they would help me stand without worrying about my knees buckling below me. They will let me practice walking, basically, before my legs are ready to all on their own. They then asked if I was interested in trying on some really old braces and just going for it today. Yeah, why not!?!? So I literally looked like Forrest Gump. They looked straight out of the movie, including the year the scene was set.
I stood up easily in the parallel bars. They were totally painless and felt amazing. I realizing immediately I didn’t need to push up my weight on the bars. So I was standing without assistance, except for the braces! I asked to walk and they said heck yeah. So I walked forward. I immediately then walked backward to get set to go again. I made it back and forth six times before the time ran out. I was running on adrenaline and was spent, anyway. But I walked. I really walked. It felt amazing and I didn’t want to stop. Thank you, Lord. I don’t remember feeling so elated. And I’m really happy that both Rebecca and my parents were there, as well. It was a big day. I am really confident now. Dangerously so. Check out the video (I’ll post after this).
11am - noon - I joined the workout group, who had apparently all been watching me. They applauded, which surprised me. I was worried they’d feel weird since we all want to walk, but they were really encouraged. Everyone was in a great mood and we laughed a lot and had a great session.
1-2pm - Recreational session with Mike. He showed me a powerpoint about all the rules and regs around flying airlines both domestically and internationally. Pretty good stuff. I can go anywhere.
2-4:30pm - Nap.
5ish - Colin, a peer mentor, came in. He is only 24 or so but has been in a wheelchair since his junior year of high school. He drives, travels alone through Europe for months, works, goes to college, and does other really cool stuff without the use of his legs. He was definitely uplifting and I’m looking forward to hearing about all the gadgets he’s discovered, like a net he constructed hanging below his wheelchair to hold a bunch of stuff.
Phil and Pat came by and my parents ordered Thai food for dinner to celebrate the Forrest Gump walk. Rebecca got hooked up with tix to the Blackhawks game with Stephen and Leah. The work day even went well and had good news. Oh and I have a good lead on a couple apartments.
As I’ve mentioned a lot, almost all of the return so far is in my right leg. Just as my parents were about to leave, my mom asked me to show her how much I can move my right foot now. It’s better every day. She asked me to move my left foot and nothing happened. I tried again as hard as I could and two toes moved. Then, of course, my parents were bawling. I tried a 3rd time and all 4 smaller toes moved. I couldn’t have asked more from today and so that was a great way to say goodnight to my parents.
Great day. Praise God. I am very happy and extremely encouraged. Now I am to the point where I am daydreaming about running races again, weightlifting, being stronger and faster than ever before… things like that. Hope is good but it’s also dangerous. I’m nervous and excited at the same time.
Tomorrow Sara will test my muscles to see if there is more return. I can’t wait to show her my left toes :)
G’night,
Chip
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