Therapy Progress Report

Just spent an hour with Harry the PT from Encompass Home Health. I warmed up on the NuStep so he could watch how I got on and off; he also adjusted my settings (my butt will be more sore tomorrow). Then he put on the old AFO’s and we went to the hall to walk, since it gives me a straight, unobstructed space for walking rather than go in circles in the apartment. I went about 250 feet with a few rest stops on the way. Finished up with seated leg exercises, then standing exercises at the sink.

Harry told me that he can see definite improvement in my stamina and ability in the 6 weeks since his first visit. I walk more comfortably and for a much greater distance (that first visit I could barely go from the chair to the kitchen). I’m getting up and down more easily and have more control over leg movements than I did when we started, because my legs are stronger and will only get more so as I use the NuStep. He anticipates at least another 6 weeks of twice a week therapy visits. Once I have the new AFO’s and we see how they will work and whether I can put them on by myself, the goal will be me for me to have my exercises and routines set so that I can just build on them without the need for a PT to watch me do them – or even without someone else on hand to follow me with a wheelchair. I may need that for longer walks out in the hall but it would be great to be able to just DO it on my own here.

Whether I walk every day or not, I have to be sure to get out of the chair and up on my feet in the kitchen or elsewhere to keep the muscles moving so they remember that they’re supposed to move instead of just atrophying. And I need to get out of the apartment and go do something with other people. I usually do that with a meal, at least, but there are social and learning activities here that are available, and I need to take advantage of them. I remember my grandfather touring us around his New Jersey retirement village, so proud of all of the amenities it offered even though he did none of them. I don’t want to be like that.

I’m being discharged from occupational therapy tomorrow with one final visit. I can do almost everything I need to do on my own, other than the shoes, and my big goal for OT was to be able to give myself showers, which I can now do. Yayyy.