Another busy few days here in rehab. For real, I feel busy! And tired. They wear me out. I have OT at 9 and 11, PT at 10 and 230, and somewhere in there, an hour of Rec Therapy.
During the meeting, my new wheelchair and walker arrived! I was seriously so excited it's bizarre. This is me seeing it for the first time. Almost as good as Christmas morning. Almost.
Yesterday was probably my busiest - and best - day yet. I had my 2 OT (occupational therapy) sessions, my 2 PT (physical therapy) sessions, and my RT (recreational therapy) session. Now get used to those words because it's acronmys from here on out, people.
If I back up the past few days....Sunday is definitely the day of rest here. I didn't do ANYTHING. It actually got boring. But there are no therapy sessions, nothing, so Sunday you just rest. By Monday I understood why because they just nail you again come Monday morning. Monday I had the usual 5 therapies, then we had our Family/Friend Meeting with the Spinal Cord Care Coordinator - her name is Summer - and she is a - maz - ing. I was so touched by the support group I have. My family was there. And good friends. I am just so blessed and so so so grateful.
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| Me and Summer front and center at the family meeting. The mannequin booty looks so much like mine it's just uncanny. |
The meeting was very informative, maybe a little boring, but we got all the information out there. I even cried a little. Summer said, "Shelly will walk again. It won't be the same as it was before. It won't be unassisted. But she will walk." And I lost it.
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| My awesome friend, Stef (Lamoreaux) Macfarlane. Looks like she's making the best of the meeting. We've been friends since high school We lined her up with her awesome husband, Bob, who was Mat's fave mission companion. They have been there through thick and thin for us for YEARS. They are Tanner's second parents. Or maybe first parents. Anyway, we love the Macfarlanes! |
During the meeting, my new wheelchair and walker arrived! I was seriously so excited it's bizarre. This is me seeing it for the first time. Almost as good as Christmas morning. Almost.
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| The test drive! |
Yesterday was probably my busiest - and best - day yet. I had my 2 OT (occupational therapy) sessions, my 2 PT (physical therapy) sessions, and my RT (recreational therapy) session. Now get used to those words because it's acronmys from here on out, people.
During my first PT yesterday, I was able to try crutches! They are the Tiny Tim kind, and they had a therapist on either side of me, but I did it - and loved it. There's something 'better' about crutches for me than a walker. Maybe I just need the tennis balls on the front of the walker, and a nice basket with flowers on it or something, but right now I loathe the walker. And it felt way more normal to use crutches to attempt walking. I am seeing I have more hang ups than I ever thought! And the good news? They come in different colors -- red, blue, pink, purple, etc. Oh you know I'll be scoring the pink ones. And I juuuuust happen to have extra rhinestones from the last time I blinged out Halle's glasses. That bling may just be finding its new home on some Tiny Tim's...
Then it was time for OT. Natalie (the OT) said, "Hey, would you like to bake again for OT?" and right then, another therapist walked by and said, "Oh--thank you for the banana bread the other day. Are you going to be cooking again soon?" and I looked at Natalie and she blushed a little. I said, "Yep. Baking today for 'therapy'!" So into the kitchen we went. I decided to make homemade oreoes. They're so easy and everyone likes them. I made a batch of vanilla and a batch of chocolate. About mid way through, another therapist came in and asked if I could use a buddy. I said sure...? So guess what. I have a new friend....
Her name is Lois. Lois lives in Chicago and is out here visiting her son in Park City. She was on the toilet one day (seriously, she just rattled this off like not big deal) and couldn't stand up so they took her to the ER and she'd had a stroke. She has no feeling or use of the left side of her body. So her goal during her session was to stand for 5 min. They decided we should do some teamwork and I should frost the one cookie and she should top it to make it an oreo and stack it on a plate. (this is my day. baby steps. baby steps.) So I tried to be obedient and remember "there's no 'I' in team", and Lois and I were off to the races. I tried to not notice her mega wedgie when she stood up in clingy sweatpants and I'm sure she tried not to notice my hideous hair. I'd frost a cookie (from my chair) and hand it up to her to top and stack. Well, she tried, bless her heart. But the tops were on crooked she didn't put pressure on to squeeze the frosting to the edge of the cookies. I was like LOIS THROW ME A BONE HERE! I was just about to get a twitch and then Natalie said, "Why don't you top them, Shelly, and we'll just have Lois stack them." Whew. So I topped them and Lois stacked them. And stack them she did. Lois decided to make the leaning tower of Pisa. I said Hey Lois, how about we only stack 2 or 3 high, then they won't slide all over.
OK I am not anal about very many things. Probably hard to find anything I really am anal about. But I like my baking done my way. And Lois wasn't doing it my way so I even thought I'm gonna bump her over in my chair! Anyhoo, Lois didn't listen to me about the Leaning Tower of Pisa so then I said, how about we separate them by chocolate and vanilla, thinking Lois should learn to sort more than stack. It worked! Then she didn't pike them 1 mile high and they quite sliding all over. What a relief. See, rehab is very stressful. Cookie stacking can just cause such tension in spinal cord injury recovery. I think Lois and I were both exhausted.
Her name is Lois. Lois lives in Chicago and is out here visiting her son in Park City. She was on the toilet one day (seriously, she just rattled this off like not big deal) and couldn't stand up so they took her to the ER and she'd had a stroke. She has no feeling or use of the left side of her body. So her goal during her session was to stand for 5 min. They decided we should do some teamwork and I should frost the one cookie and she should top it to make it an oreo and stack it on a plate. (this is my day. baby steps. baby steps.) So I tried to be obedient and remember "there's no 'I' in team", and Lois and I were off to the races. I tried to not notice her mega wedgie when she stood up in clingy sweatpants and I'm sure she tried not to notice my hideous hair. I'd frost a cookie (from my chair) and hand it up to her to top and stack. Well, she tried, bless her heart. But the tops were on crooked she didn't put pressure on to squeeze the frosting to the edge of the cookies. I was like LOIS THROW ME A BONE HERE! I was just about to get a twitch and then Natalie said, "Why don't you top them, Shelly, and we'll just have Lois stack them." Whew. So I topped them and Lois stacked them. And stack them she did. Lois decided to make the leaning tower of Pisa. I said Hey Lois, how about we only stack 2 or 3 high, then they won't slide all over.
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