Physical Therapy - Day 12 of recovery

So... I had physical therapy today! I couldn't wait for my PT Brad to see how much improvement there was! He really was pleased. It was so awesome! We reviewed some of the things I can do, and had been doing at home, and he cheered me on. Then he burst my bubble. (LOL) Ok. Not really. But he knew how to test abilities I didn't know I didn't have back yet. *sigh* It was kinda deflating... but yet! I can do it!!!!!! On to the next climb....

My hands are doing really well considering where they were just 5 days ago! I could put 10 pegs in the peg board within 3-5 minutes. My strength isn't there, but the mobility (without Jedi Mind Powers) is HUGE! I can't believe how grateful I am to move without thinking it first! LOL He then had me take them out. That got just a little tricky for a bit, until I did it a few times and then my hands would respond well... and I got the hang of it.

Next he brought out a peg board with TINY pegs. I totally laughed out loud! He said that no, he didn't want me to put them in the board, he just wanted me to move them from one little cup to another. We were working on the pinching. It was the strangest thing!! I could pick them up, and the more I picked up, the more easily I could pick them up (they were just a size bigger than a toothpick, but metal and heavy-ish). The problem then became: I couldn't let them go! Bwahahaha!! I really struggled. I could not get my mind to respond to let them go! Jestin had to gently stroke the back of my thumb most times to get that part of my body to respond to my brain instructions. (It is interesting to find how well my body responds to tactile touch to the muscle I am tryin to use...amazing how the mind and body work together!) It was funny. He wants me to make myself a bowl of nails and practice moving them from bowl to bowl at home. :) I also have to practice putting golf tees into Jes' little game from Cracker Barrel (hopin' I didn't get rid of it!LOL). But other wise I can flip my hands back and forth without much thought. I can grip with a light grip. And my can use my wrist some.

I have to say though...Honestly... I have decided that you know Captain Jack Sparrow, from Pirates of the Carribean, he HAD to have had a stroke! I am not even kidding!! The response time of my body on that side, reminds of me of his movements! LOL They kind of sway sometimes and do their own thing, good seconds AFTER they should have. LOL It is really humorous. Brad and Jes laughed and laughed when I told them that! I will never watch Pirates the same way again! *GRIN*

He gave me some silly putty to exercise with, as well as some different uses to work my hands. And then we moved on to the lower half of my body.

Today I walked pretty good, with the front to back, heel to toe motion and I can do it without much thought process. But I felt like my foot was really wobbly and unstable, and it looked almost as if my leg was Jell-O as I walked. We did a bunch of exercises, and he is pleased with where I am at. The strength is not there, but the movement is most of the time. It can be slow, and I have what I have come to call "brain hiccoughs" where my body stops what I am trying to get it to do and freezes for a minute, but then engages again. So we are imrpoving there too...

But then he moved me to laying on the table to do hip lifts - where you lay on your back with your knees bent up and lift your hips into the air. I have been getting stronger in these, where before I would lift and my left side would drag my right side into the air, now I can almost get them to go up into the air at almost the same time. While I was laying there, Brad said he wanted to try something. He asked me to leave my heels on the table, but just lift my toes up. (I have been also doing great with toe taps when sitting and standing *grin* so I knew I could do it) As soon as I lifted my toes, my right leg fell over. He tried again, and it did the same thing. Appearantly I have no ability in my hip to sustain the balance of my leg when it is upright and my foot is not used to balance.

He had me roll onto my left side, and lay my right leg on top of left, ankle to ankle, knee to knee, hips aligned. He supported my hip from behind, and then asked me to lift my right knee up and away from my left. I could not do it. It was complete dead weight. There was NO response in those muscles to what my mind was telling it to do! It was so weird!! He scooped his hand under my knee, and while supporting my hip so they stayed in line, he lifted it up. He asked me to try and hold it up.  I could not. It did a few "catches" here and there on the way back down, but I had no control whatsoever. We did 15 of these. By the end, I could "catch" my leg in a few spots on the way down, and a couple of times my muscle locked and he had to gently rub the muscle in my hip to get it to disengage. It was so strange. By the time we were done with the 15 times, I was mentally exhauste!.

He had me roll over to the other side and try the same thing. It was a piece of cake. I did 15 in less than 20 seconds I am sure. It was night and day.

So... that explains why I walk with Jell-O like stability. My hip is not engaging to support me. :P So that is a new exercise I get to do as well. I came home feeling mentally beat, but I kept working at it all day long. I want to recover SO much! I want to just do what I want to do, when I want to do it.

The amount of healing that I am experiencing is awe inspiring. I have no doubt in my mind that the prayers and thoughts of others, combined with my physical therapy (and actually doing the exercises), and a positive mental attitude, mixed up with a healthy dose of the different types of massage and oil therapy that Jenny is doing is making it all come together. We are feeling like we are getting a Christmas miracle at our house this year! :) And our gratitude is over flowing....