New Therapy Goals

I had to cancel therapy yesterday morning because of the snow. I was really bummed about it. I had already missed a week and a half because of the holiday's and that was okay. I was just really ready to hit it again. So, when we awoke to snowy roads and salt trucks I was sad.

We are still going to therapy twice a week and Jeremy (my therapist) has given me LOTS of homework to do at home every day along with exercises I am to try to do with the E-Stim machine. From the time I wake up in the mornings, it is about an hour and a half before I come out of my room because of exercises. It is a lot of hard work but I am starting to see some pay-off especially since we have started the E-Stim machine at home every day.

For example, I have always been able to bend my toes down (since the beginning) but I can now lift them up on my right foot and I can lift them on my left foot if you tickle the bottom of my foot (I can't feel the tickle but they will lift only then - crazy I know!) If I am laying flat on my back and my knees are bent up, I can keep my right leg from flopping over on the bed and can almost lay it over slowly but I haven't quite got all the control on that once gravity is taking it down. The left leg is a different story - it is the wicked step-child! I can tell that my transfers seem easier. I don't really feel or know why but they just seem easier to me. I know I am stronger in my upper body but it seems like it is more than that so I think some muscles must be kicking in somewhere and helping although I don't know which ones. I may be dreaming on this one but it just seems like it to me. As of this week, I am able to move my legs a tiny bit (again the right one mostly) when I am sitting in my chair. This is a first because any movement I had before was only laying flat on my back where absolutely no gravity was on me. I am getting some feelings back though at this time they are not at all pleasant. If you touch my skin I cannot feel it but I feel like I can feel stuff deep in my bones. Like yesterday, about 6 inches of my left thigh bone hurt SO bad all day long and I don't have a clue why. But...it's feeling something which is more than it has been so I guess that's good. I could probably name a few more things that seem really minor but to me they are pretty major!

Having said all that, our course of therapy is changing. At the first, all of our exercises were really range of motion kind of stuff to stretch my muscles back out and stuff like that. But now, since the E-Stim machine has come into play, therapy has bloomed into a lot of trial and error kind of stuff. I think Jeremy's famous words are "Let's try this and see what happens!" I always say "Let's roll!" Every time I say that, I want to hear the theme song for Rawhide to come on in the background...."roll 'em, roll 'em, roll 'em". :) I think it would be a great dramatic effect!

So, Jeremy told me today that it was time for him to fill out his new goals for me. I asked him what they were and he said that his new goals for me were standing and walking with the parallel bars. Just hearing the words "walking with parallel bars" sent shivers down my spine! I told Jeremy that I have had some say to me "Oh! If you can move your feet, then you will be walking in no time!" and that I did not know how to reply to that. He said to say that we are working as hard as we can, and that we want to stay positive but that we also must stay realistic. He said that walking involves a LOT and that we are just not anywhere near that right now and may never be but that we are just taking one day at a time. I guess I needed to hear him say those things as much as I need to tell anyone else.

I have a lot of mixed emotions about it all. I told Jimmy I feel like my body is teasing me somewhat. Every little thing that I feel like might be coming back makes me want to panic or something and want it all back RIGHT NOW! It brings back a lot of memories of "how it used to be" and makes you crave it something awful. Even my dreams....they had all changed to me being in a wheelchair and now I am walking and standing in them again. I wake up so disappointed. I am trying very hard to balance all of this with "in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content". Because, truly I have been and still want to be. I feel like I am battling my mind with "I want it all or nothing" which is so selfish and petty. There are a lot of people who would give anything to just be able to move a toe and would think I am an idiot for agonizing over it and they would be right!

I am just going to take it all one day at a time, work as hard as I can, be thankful for every improvement and be thankful if no more improvements happen at all. I am happy that my Rock is unmoving and that He is always there for me to sort out my weird emotions and keep me on track!

If you have endured reading this to the end, thank you for your interest and prayers. I would post photos or something of progress but at this point I am too embarrassed! Maybe one day soon...:)