Tall man.

Today was busy, managed to showered, dressed and get ready for the gym all by my self this morning which is quite a work out. I then headed around to the gym for my physio session where Alex decided to put me up on the tilt tray. You are strapped onto the bed with your feet on plates on the end. You then tilt up as if you are standing upright, this is the first time I've been upright since the accident. I didn't last long until I started feeling faint(head spin) and had to lower myself back down but after a little rest I went back up and Alex gave me a weight to lift above my head to keep the blood flowing up the top of my body, it worked really well actually.





I then said to Alex that I would like to try getting from my chair down onto the floor. My knee got in the way during this which was really painful again but I did get down onto the floor, even it it did look like I just lunched myself to the floor. Getting back up we strapped my knees together so they would do what I wanted, and we used a box as step and did two vertical transfers to get back onto my chair. With practice and strength I will be able to go straight from floor to chair and back again.

From chair to the floor




From the floor to the box(half way)



From the box to the chair.




We then went down to have lunch with Frances and Garry who came up for the day to say hello. But had to send them on a little walk through the cemetery whilst Mum and I went to OT to discuss house plans with Alanna. The girls had taken some photos of the kitchen and bathroom, plus Jess had drawn a floor plan of the kitchen at Kauri Pl. All helps with working out what modifications have to be made at home. Will have a visit from an OT who specializes in spinal injuries and rehab in the near future. The 4 of us then headed to the garden again for the afternoon before it got too cold and we had to come back into the hospital.



Tomorrow morning I'm going to try having my shower before breakfast so I can rest a little between breakfast to Physio, and it will be more of a realistic time I would have to wake up when I would be at home hopefully It will all work well.
Stu

It was exciting to see Stuart upright when I arrived this morning, first time he had been taller than me for 6 weeks. He was pretty pleased with himself and loved the feeling. He can also point his toes a little on his left foot.
When we rolled back to the ward from physio Stuart's gear had been moved to his new room. He has 3 new room mates, all males this time. Two of whom he knows quite well from physio and they have a similar level of spinal injury to him. He well miss Graham and all the cheek that he gives. So all and all another big day in Stuart's road to recovery.