New walking record of 50 feet today! Yayyyy! My legs got very tired by the end, but I did it. Last week I was happy to do 5 feet, so that’s a lot of progress in a week. After walking we worked on standing and standing exercises. I need lots of work on standing up, which is the hardest part. BEING up isn’t as difficult as GETTING up. And then we worked on transfers using squat pivot, which is a lot harder than it sounds because I didn’t trust knowing what to hold on to. PT ended with 15 minutes on my beloved Nu-Step which makes me feel a bit normal because it’s what I did in the gym for a long time.
OT time was a bit more challenging. First I spent 15 minutes on the arm bike, which is probably my least favorite piece of equipment. But it’s important for endurance. But then I confessed that I needed to pee, and we went back to my room to practice transferring from chair to commode in the bathroom. The transfer felt very insecure, althought it worked, but the actual use of the commode was … messy. I was using a bedside commode that had been placed over the one in the bathroom to make it taller. Except it was TOO tall and I couldn’t get positioned properly. Nothing like having to change your clothes four hours you put them on, especially with the stupid AFO splints in the shoes.
Speaking of shoes, I’ve been wearing New Balance athletic shoes since I got here but they’ve been hard to put on, even though they fit well enough with just socks. But adding on the AFO splints, and having laces that had to be loosened most of the way made it very hard to shove my feet into the shoes. The ankles don’t bend, the toes don’t point up. Carolyn brought me some different shoes yesterday that are ugly orthopedic shoes but they’re wider, softer, and have deep interiors with plenty of room for the splints. And they close with velcro. Today the PT put some of that stretchy wrap tape around the front to help them not be too slippery, to help me not fall. It’s not an attractive look but hey, they work, so I’m keeping them.
I just got a roommate after 2 weeks in here on my own. Have to say I’m not excited about this – there are lots of rooms around here with no one in them, so I’m a little surprised. I have accumulated lots of stuff – bedside commode, walker, wheelchair, pillows, stuff. It’s going to be interesting how this works out. She’s already fallen asleep but I already know she’s older and larger than I am, and is here because she fell and messed up her knee and can’t walk. That’s why most of us are here, actually.
It was three weeks ago today that I fell in the bathroom and went to the ER and hospital for this big adventure. I’ve been in rehab for two weeks tomorrow. Tuesday the doctors have their weekly conference to review patients and their progress and consider who is able to be discharged when. I’m scheduled for discharge a week from tomorrow at noon. There’s a chance that might get stretched out one more week, but I’m not at all sure I’ll get it. If not, then the case manager will be working with me on where I go from here and how I get there.
Last night I had dinner delivered from Jersey Mike’s, thanks to my wonderful nephew Rob and his wife Ellen in Houston. They wanted to do something for me and he knew from his own time in rehab that food from outside brings an extra bit of cheer. And my favorite treat is their #2 sub sandwich on rosemary parmesan bread, done Mike’s way with red wine, vinegar, and spices. Yup, I have it memorized. It was a lovely treat and what my family used to eat many Sunday evenings growing up in New Jersey.
Random Thoughts of a Disordered Mind 