My schedule was set that I would have Physical Therapy 3 days a week and Occupational Therapy 2 days a week. On OT days, that means a really long day because they are back to back. I equate it to going to the gym for a 2 hour work out on those days.
The official OT sessions started with resting my hand on a padded incline and using a 2 pound weight, lifting the weight by moving only my wrist. Imagine palm down and lift up...palm up and lift up...then sideways. Each direction 10 times each...do 2 sets while holding the weight. Now, that doesn't seem like a lot, but you have to keep in mind that #1, I have rheumatoid arthritis and my wrists and hands are weaker than most anyway, and #2 Just 2 weeks ago I couldn't even lift my arm up more than about 12 inches by itself for more than 10 seconds. So, 2 pounds felt like I was training for The World's Strongest Man contest.
Then we had to take the 2 pound weights and do bicep curls. The whole time I was doing these I kept thinking of my cousin whose husband recently returned from deployment and while he was gone she got totally ripped and now looks like something out of the Iron Man magazine. I keep laughing to myself because I know that she didn't start with 2 pound weights, but everybody has to start somewhere. So if you guys see me in 10 months and I'm ripped, just know, it started with these 2 pound weights.
And of course it wouldn't be OT without the Wax On/Wax Off exercises. These really do work the shoulders and upper arms. There are other exercises and stuff in there that I'm forgetting but I'll get to them another day. But the session ends with a fun little game that really is a game. It's this pegboard thing. Not like the one at Cracker Barrel or that we had at Grandma's house, but I really believe that those "trained" me for this game. Keep in mind EVERYTHING is done with the left hand. But this game is a plastic board that has little bitty holes drilled in it in 2 rows. Then, there are 3 cups. One for little rods (like when I say little, I mean maybe 1/8 inch wide x 3 inches long), one for washers (that barely fit over the little rods) and one for nuts. You have to take the rod and put it in the little hole, then put a single washer, then a nut, then another washer on it...then move to the next one. And repeat. Seeing how many you can do before the timer goes off. My first day, I got 7.
My first real PT session was just as grueling. First thing they do is tie a leash around your waist (in the name of safety) and the Rabbi holds on to one end. I now know what Shadow feels like when she wants to run and play and we have her leashed. This sucked! Of course I couldn't run and play anyway...unless you count falling and not being able to get back up as running and playing. First part of the session I got to "walk" around the facility. By walk I mean, wear my leash and push my walker in a circle around the room with my Rabbi following closely behind with leash in hand. Also, by "walk" I really mean, glide step...for the band nerds reading this (of which I am one). My body's natural tendency was to point my toes out and to slightly drag my left foot (to help stabilize and balance) but Mama told me I had to learn to walk, heal to toe, rolling my foot. Both feet. even though my left side was the one that was hurt, my right side had taken up some bad habits to compensate for the left side being down.
After walking I was pretty excited because I had visions of being a world class gymnast. NOT. I was put between two parallel bars (for safety) and had to stand on a squishy thick gym mat thing without holding on. Didn't happen. I had to hold onto those bars. Then, the funny people that Mama and Rabbi are, asked me to stand on my left leg only, ON the squishy thick gym mat, without holding on to the bars. Didn't happen. But I was able to stand on my left leg for a little bit..I just held on to those bars with the Fear of God in my hands because I honestly didn't trust that leg. It felt horribly shakey. But my visions of world class gymnastics didn't end just yet. THEN they put a squishy thick mat that was really long like a balance beam between the parallel bars and asked me to walk, one foot in front of the other, on it. Down and back 5 times. Woo-Hoo! Watch out Team USA.
The Warden during this time was dutifully standing on the sidelines cheering me on. Honestly, he has been a godsend. I know when folks get married, they take the "for better or for worse" vow but man, he's sure getting a lot of "for worse" and he rolls with it like it's no big deal. I worry that he needs rest. After all, he's been keeping up the house, taking care of Shadow and I, going to work at his job, keeping track of and making sure that I make it to all of my doctor's appointments. He's gotta be tired. But when I ask him he says, "I'm fine"....and right now, because I don't have the strength or ability to push that envelope, I have to accept that he truly is fine.
One of the many things that The Warden does for me is to help me in the shower. At this point, my balance still sucks, is non-existent, lacking...however it is phrased, it means I'd fall flat on my butt if I tried anything. Our house, remember, was built when builders were streamlining and putting up a bazillion houses at a time in the mid-80s. So we have the standard bathtub and no walk-in shower. I frankly will likely never be able to sit down in our bathtub again and enjoy a nice hot bubble bath. I had a hard enough time before the stroke because it was too hard for me to get up out of because it sits so low and there is nothing to help me grasp ahold of when I try to get out to help pull me up. Knowing that that was the case pre-stroke, bathing post-stroke would have to definitely be modified. A friend of ours loaned us a shower seat (one of those plastic chairs that you sit in the bathtub to sit on when you take a shower), but still reaching up to wash my hair was a challenge my arm hadn't completely reached yet and don't even think that I could wash my back on my own, or have the stability and balance to bend over to wash my legs without falling completely over head first. The Warden put on his swimsuit and climbed into the shower and helped me. I even got my legs shaved for the first time in several weeks...I was starting to look and feel like Chewbacca!
For Better or For Worse...and until tomorrow...
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