Progress

Jenny continues to stride ahead of what the doctors expected, and into finding and building new ways to be with her body as she heals. In this post from her CarePage, there is so much to celebrate: her progress and her knowledge of it being tops on that list.

October 13, 2007 at 07:46 PM MDT

STANDING AND STEPPING

Today I went out on an excursion with John & Jackie. Jackie is the sister of Bozemanite Robbie Gammack. John, her husband, is a physical therapist. They live about three miles away from Craig and have kindly adopted me while I'm away from home doing rehab.

The last time they took me out was about three weeks ago. Today they took me to REI and to a local restaurant near where they live. It was really heartening to see how much progress I'd made between the two trips. Today I did standing transfers in stead of the board transfers that my Craig PT prefers. A slide board transfer involves parking a wheel chair as close as possible to the carseat or seat that you are going to transfer to. You use the board as a bridge from one chair to the next and slide across. This can be relatively easy if the two seats are of equal height or you are moving from a higher chair to a lower chair which makes for a "downhill" transfer.

By contrast, standing transfers involve--guess what?--standing. It means scooting my butt to the end of the chair and then rising to standing with a spotter who blocks my knees in case they should buckle and gives support and cuing as needed. Since I don't have a lot of sensation, I need people to tell me if I need to step forward or backward, whether if I think I am stepping, whether I actually am, etc.

What was great about today was how much my standing transfers had improved. I was taking much firmer steps and needed less cuing from John. I was also able to have more of a sense of feeling about where my feet were and where they were going. I don't know if it's that I'm getting more sensation back or that I'm just using what sensation I have more efficiently. Still not one hundred percent, but I've really improved a lot. In addition, I just seemed a lot stronger: I was able to pick up my legs and swivel them into the car, as well as to position myself on the car seat.

At REI, I managed to get recognized by two people. One was Ken, who is one of the wheelchair maintenance guys at the hospital. The other was Jason Armstrong, a former Bozemanite. Jason used to work with John Zombro as a physical therapist and bikefitter. Jason has since relocated to McCall, Idaho and has a brother who lives in Greely, CO.

Jackie and John were impressed that I got recognized twice at the store. It kind of made me feel like I was back at home in Bozeman, where I have so many friends.

In addition to the improved performance of my legs, my hands are also getting better. I am still tremendously weak, but I am definitely improving. My eating has become much better and neater. I can also now lock the lock drawer in my hospital room, can zip and unzip my purse, as well as retrieve money from my wallet. I can also brush my teeth using an electric toothbrush that Mary, my sister bought me. Yes, someone does have to turn the brush on and off for me, as well as put toothpaste on it, but it's an endless joy to be able to move the toothbrush around in my mouth instead of having someone do it for me. It's just a pleasure to pick which teeth I want to get brushed and in what order.

In addition to the above feats of physical dexterity, I can also brush the front part of my hair. The back is beyond me, but I know it is only a matter of time.

I guess what's really cool is a lot of this stuff I couldn't do a week ago, so it's really nice to see so many improvements in so little time. I now appreciate what may seem like small improvements because I realize how much effort I'm putting into them.

I also got a sense today that I'm going to get through this and that this is truly only the beginning.

Love, Jenny