You Are Invited....

You'd think by this point in the process that physical therapy and occupational therapy would be getting easier.  But it isn't.  It's getting harder.  Not because I'm getting weaker, but quite the contrary...because I am getting stronger and Mama, Rabbi, and Mr. Miyagi have a personal vendetta against my abilities and are upping the ante on everything, which is their jobs after all. 

Remember when I first started therapy and Mr Miyagi tested my hand strength and my left hand squeezed 10 pounds and it was supposed to squeeze around 55-60?  He retested me the other day and now I can squeeze 32 pounds.  Woo-hoo!!  Not nearly where I need to be, but it is getting there.  Babysteps.  I realized how weak my hands still were the other day when I was doing Art Therapy and attempting to use a rubber stamp.  My hands were not strong enough to press hard enough on the stamp for a clear impression. These are things that most people don't think about.  How much pressure you put on your hands, whether it is lifting a full pot of pasta from the stove (you have to have the grip strength to hold on) or opening a heavy door, we all take for granted these simple things most days.  

I know I've said it before but when a stroke patient, or at least when THIS stroke patient, left the hospital, I had no concept of boundaries and limitations.  I felt, mentally, like I could do anything that I used to be able to do pre-stroke.  You suddenly realize those limitations when you are sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle and you've gone through a fast food drive thru and the driver hands you the sack of food, then when you get home, the driver gets out of the car, and you go to hand him the food with your left hand and you can't grip the sack of food like you used to be able to do.  Think about that.  A simple paper bag with two hamburgers and two small fries.  Too heavy to grip and hand across 4 feet.  THAT, my friends, will put you right back in your place real quick and that is where I am with my upper body, which also means that I still can't do a lot of my creations that I'm used to doing pre-stroke.

Lower body, I'm rocking it!  LOL.  That's a bit conceited, isn't it?  Really though, just 2 months ago, I had trouble walking with a walker as assistance.  I was constantly afraid to move about without help because I knew my legs were not strong enough to do it.  I felt how weak and trembly they were.  So, I would get to a spot, the sofa or kitchen table, and spend hours there because that was what felt safe.  Now, I've graduated to walking with Jack.  Back the first day of physical therapy when they did the evaluations I couldn't even stand for 5 or 10 seconds on my left leg without holding on to Mama's hand.  This week in PT I managed to stand on my left leg for a full minute and only reaching out my fingertips to balance for a few seconds part of the way through.  Babysteps.

My goal, and Mama agrees that it is a reasonable goal, is to walk a 5K for my 40th birthday (in November).  So, here's the invitation...who's with me on this one?  Anybody wanna celebrate my big 4-0 with me?  It may be cold, but it's Oklahoma so it could very easily be warm and "shorts weather".   Not sure where the 5k will be (somewhere here in the OKC area), but it's going to happen.  And when it does, there will be a major party afterwards!