Standing and cawling

Wednesday 19th August

Today was going to be a normal 11 o'clock start but Alanna from OT popped her head in and asked if I wanted to try some stairs again. So it was a rush to be ready by 10. We headed down to the flight of stairs, Dave wanted me to try being more fluid over the steps, which actually made the drops down each step less harsh on both chair and me. Next time we do it I hope to get a video. It's also really good fun, reminds me of when I used to ride my bike around the school up and down the steps for fun, though I don't think the helpers thought it was as much fun as I did. Guess it it a bit scary looking on. I then headed around to the gym where Jane helped me with some stretching and hooked my right leg up to the slings and springs to see what return I've got, the quads are firing well, and I've got a small amount of gluts and a some medial hamstrings going. This is how the left leg started so it's all looking good from here on. I then put my leg brace on to do some standing on the parallel bars. I'm not wanting to hurt anything so I'm taking it easy with how much I do each day. I would hate to get a secondary injury because I'm not doing the exercises right. I've found that my abs and lower back have started to work now, which is helping with general function, I now rely less on my arms to balance whilst sitting and rolling myself in bed now requires much less arm strength. My afternoon session involved playing the Wii that the Physio had purchased for the ward, with the standing chair that I've been using playing golf standing up is now possible. After playing with the Wii I did some more stretching on the plinth I was able to get up on all fours, from here I though that if I'm able to get up and balance, whats stopping me from crawling forward, so off I went, up and down the plinths crawling on all fours. They say you have to crawl before you walk. It was also a good core strength workout, which I could feel my abs and back muscles getting tight soon after getting back into the chair. Hopefully I can get some photos of my new moves when mum gets back.

Stu


Tuesday 18th August

Pretty ordinary day, usual morning stuff and then to the gym for both sessions.
Though I did learn how to change a wheel whilst still in the chair, by rocking from side to side until the chair is up on one wheel leaning against a table or other solid object. Once there you can reach and get the other wheel off, though my nice slick wheels don't grip too well on the laminated flooring. The chair slipped out from under me and I was now on the floor still with my upper body on the table knelling on the floor. This being now my second fall to the ground, It was a chance to learn how to get back into the chair from the floor, the technique that I was trying didn't give me enough lift, so Damien and I wanted to try a new way. With my back facing the chair and using my arms to lift me up and back onto the seat it was a big lift but easy enough to do.
The other highlight of my day was having to go downstairs for dinner for Subway. I was in bed and waiting for tea and all I got was 2 sausages and 2 sachets of tomato sauce. So I had to get back into my chair and go downstairs. The meals are really a bit ordinary at times.

Stu