18 February 2005

I had a physio session with Prema this morning. Tim woke me up before he went to do his workshop. He had to run a workshop for a group of lawyers this morning. I did my exercise bike and calf stretches before my session with Prema. Neil and I had a lot of questions for Prema. Neil got me into the habit of writing down all my questions in my exercise book whenever I have a question for Prema. The back section of the exercise has become Prema Question List! Every time Prema comes she will go through the list and write down the answers. She said it feels like sitting for an exam. Today, she did the same thing. One of our questions for her is what exercises can I do to prevent my left leg from going out when stepping up. I told her that Tim thinks I look like a dog peeing on a tree when I go upstairs. She thought about it and said yes, dogs actually do that - there is excessive hip abduction. That's interesting, I never thought the physio terms apply to animals as well but I guess they do in a way - they all relate to movements.

I showed Prema the variation of hip flexion exercise Neil got me to do - the one that I step onto the box with my left foot. She looked at me doing it a few times and suggested that I try to point my knee outward when I lift up my leg. She said there is a lot of internal rotation of the knee when I was lifting up my leg. I tried a few times concentrating on pointing my knee out when lifting up my leg and I think it helps. This reminds me of when I first tried to eat a piece of mandarin with my left hand, in order to reach my mouth, I kept sticking out my left elbow. After practising it while holding a pen under my arm for a while, the 'compensatory pattern' has gone away.

In the afternoon, I had my weekly session with Dale, the social worker. He was running a bit late today so we didn't have time to go to Lygon or Rathdowne St for coffee. He suggested we go to the cafe next to Naughtons. It's not really a cafe, it's just a milkbar that with a few tables outside and they sell coffee there. Since it's just across the road from Trinity College, a lot of college people go there. I didn't have much problem walking up there. I told him that I walked to St Carthages last Sunday. He was very pleased to hear that. He asked me what did the priest talk about on Sunday but I couldn't remember. It's a bit spooky that I couldn't recall that at all. I can remember the people sat in front of me and how I thought it was funny the father and one of the sons were asleep most of the time but I couldn't remember any of the preaching.

When we got to the shop, Dale asked me to sit down and he went to get my capuccino. I think I must have been an easy case for him - not too much of a problem compare to some patients. He thinks I've improved a lot and will continue to make progress but he doesn't know how long it will take for full recovery and he doesn't know when recovery will stop. I guess nobody really knows that. He also talked about handing my case over to CRS (Commonwealth Rehabilitation Services) in May and they will help me get back to work. He doesn't think I'll ble to go back to work just yet. He thinks fatigue will still be a big issue for me. He asked me if I thought about if I never go back to do what I was doing before or not going back to the ATO. I don't like thinking about that right now. I think it might be a bit early for me to worry about that. Apart from this confronting issue, I like our weekly sessions - usually I can find out a lot of gossips - like what happened to some staff or patients. I know it's really unprofessional to discuss other patients but sometimes I couldn't help my curiosity. Also, I can find out more about the staff such as who has resigned or moved to different departments. I found out from Dale today that Trevor, the social worker who looks after the in patients, has resigned and is going to child protection. Dale told me that's where Trevor came from and now he's decided to go back to that area. Now I can understand why those trashy tabloid sell - take me for example, even the very trivial information about certain MECRS patients or staff seem interesting enough for me - a bit pathetic, really.

On my way home, my mobile was beeping from my handbag. I probably missed a phone call and I think it could be Judy, my massage therapist. We have an appointment at 3.30 p.m. I didn't check my message until I got home and it was from Judy, just to let me know that she's running a bit late - she's always been very good like this(letting me know if she is running late or early). While I was waiting for her, I thought I'd type up today's blog so I didn't even hear her coming (into the gate) until she rang the doorbell. She's left her daughter's massage table here (her daughter does massage as well) so Prema could use it with me if needed. She checked my ankle and told me that it's a bit swollen but she thinks it could be the hot weather so no need to be alarmed. These days, she thinks my ankle is getting better - she could actually put it in a normal position without much inversion so whatever I'm doing must be good for me. When she finished, she got me to walk downstairs without holding on the rails (like Gavin did). She gave me an exercise to practice so I can walk down the stairs more easily - I need to stand at the bottom of the stairs and step down with my right foot so I need to bend my left knee and control it so my right foot can touch the ground. She said she'll check on my exercise when she sees me next week. I think I would have made a lot more progress if the staff at MECRS are more like her. She thinks that I've made a lot of recovery but not through the efforts of MECRS - but through help from friends like Neil and Rosemary. She's hoping that I can start my program at Epworth soon because I'm just wasting my time at MECRS and I've already wasted enough time there.