Daily Progress

My day usually starts around 6:30. I alternate between stretching, flapping my legs around, and sleeping, until I feel like getting up. I usually wash at least a little before breakfast around 7:30. Around 9 my first PT or OT session takes place, and I'm there until lunch time. Mom has been arriving mid-morning, so today we'll probably eat lunch together and then go out on some quick excursion -- the 2nd floor patio, or perhaps the Starbucks over in the hospital.

Afternoon brings another PT and/or OT session, after which I usually check e-mail, exercise in bed, and nap until dinner around 5:30. The rest of the evening is often taken up by visits and phone calls, and I go to bed, quite exhausted, at 10 or 11. I'd say the best times to call are 6-10 p.m.

Physical therapy (PT) consists of a 2-pronged approach. First, we hook up an "e-stim" device -- 2 electrodes, some knobs, and a 9-volt battery -- to my tibialis anterior (the big shin muscle), and I try to assist, or at least think along with, the device as it flexes (dorsiflexion) and releases my foot. Second, we flip me on my stomach and I try to curl my right leg.

These "pulling" muscles are lagging behind the "pushing" ones in recovery, but I've been making measurable progress each day. It's amazing how much effort it takes to try to squeeze a muscle that you barely have control over. I can do it 1-10 times depending on the task before needing a minute of repose.

Yesterday, Mom attended PT with me and my trainer showed her how to walk me down the hallways. We will probaby take advantage of this new relative independence today for some extra walking practice.

Occupational therapy (OT), which started with teaching me how to wash, now consists of cognitive tests. The tasks have been getting more complex -- yesterday's involved spatial reasoning and discriminating between similar doodles on a page. If you fail a test, you write your name and date on it and then try it again later. (I haven't failed any yet.)

It looks like I will be here until at least next Tuesday, when a weekly review of patients' progress takes place. I think I can finish up all inpatient therapy by then and be functional enough to travel home, after which I imagine heading back to part-time work within a few days while also doing outpatient therapy, scheduling follow-up doctor visits, dealing with hospital charges and insurance, remastering violin & viola, and rescheduling my life around this unplanned 3-week hole.

My schedule for today has just been put up on my dry-erase board: 8:30-9 PT, 9:30-10 OT, 10:30-11 OT, 1:30-2 PT. I imagine that during the 30-minute intervals I'll be exercising (or recuperating) on my own in the gym.