Days til brace off: Maybe 8???
Days til move: 6
Looks like I’m definitely leaving here next Tuesday. Also, Dr. Anschell said when I meet with the surgeon, Dr. Muro, next Wednesday, chances are he’ll say I can take the brace off! That is awesome news. I’m pretty excited about that possibility.
Yesterday was busy enough. At 9am Sara taught me stretching techniques and how to get back into my wheelchair if I was lying on the ground. Then she asked me to get on my hands and knees which wasn’t that hard, strangely enough, and felt very odd but good. I hung out there like that for a couple minutes.
I even said a little prayer since I was in the proper position!
After that I noticed a group outing about to head out. Jayme told me he didn’t want to go because fruit and art wasn’t his thing. When I learned they were headed to the farmers’ market and the Museum of Contemporary Art, I quickly volunteered to take his spot. That got him wondering what was so great about it so he actually went. But I tagged along anyway. I got some great blueberry pound cake which after tasting, Jayme bought as well. Also this older lady was extremely nice, asking what happened to me and all that. She gave me a bag of dried blueberries. Then we went into the museum for a bit.
Above: Farmers’ Market in front of the MoCA. The spinning “MOTHERS” sign is symbolic of the art there. There is not actually any exhibit about mothers, as far as I saw.
The afternoon was interesting. I got on the treadmill with a therapist I’d never had before. I’m not sure she put the harness on right because it kept hurting. But I got in 20 minutes anyway.
Today was busy, too, actually.
At 9am I was presented with my loaner wheelchair. The quality is exactly what it sounds like. It weighs 10 lbs. more than my current wheelchair and has large footrests on the front. I’m not too excited about the idea of essentially weightlifting everywhere I go in Chicago. They are looking into seeing if I can get a lighter one. We’ll see.
11am - Since I had asked about it during the farmers’ market visit yesterday, Mike went through places where I could get into nature, hiking trails I could take, equipment I could use for off-roading, etc. It was really amazing to see what is out there.
At noon Jessica, Mike, Jayme and I headed to Chipotle for lunch before some city transit training. We got on the bus and all went well. Getting off the bus, I unlocked fine but Jayme’s wheel was stuck somehow and it took a couple minutes to unlock it from the bus system. He was cracking up about it, at least.
Then we headed to the red line train. We had to take the elevator down which smells like pee from the drunks that pass out in there at night. So that was nice. We wheelied over the cracks to get on the train, got off about a mile south to learn we were going to push ourselves back to the RIC. Thanks, Mike!
We had a little fun when we went up the escalator instead of taking the elevator. It was actually really easy. I just leaned forward and held on to the sides and was totally fine like that. People looked at us funny - two wheelchairs going up an escalator!
I got back in time for pool therapy with Martha. I’ve gotten to where I can slide down on the edge of the pool, now. Getting back out is not so easy. The major improvement in this session is when we did squats in the corner. We’ve done this plenty of times and I push as hard as I can with my legs to try and stand, but usually mainly use my arms. This time, I pushed as hard as I could and was able to stand the first couple times. Then I just barely used my hands to help on the side of the pool. Keep in mind that my brace is very bouyant and that the pool makes this much easier, AND that Martha was supporting me with her knees against mine. That all being said, it felt really good to have that much strength in use - almost entirely my right leg but I don’t care it felt good!
My dad returned from Louisville to stay for the summer later in the afternoon. We didn’t really get to talk but it’s nice to have him back. I was showering and heading out to a microfinance education discussion led by some folks with Opportunity International. Nathan Byrd with OI heads up the microfinance education division in most if not all of Africa. They are up to lending to 990 schools - it was really an interesting talk. I’m glad Rebecca was able to join as she really gets into that stuff - especially anything in relation to helping the needy in Africa. OI is a christian-based organization that I’ve been gradually more interested in over time. Here’s their site - http://www.opportunity.org/
Alright I’ll stop rambling.
G’night!
Chip
No comments:
Post a Comment