22 April 2005
I was still tired when I woke up this morning. I wish I could sleep in more but I had to get ready for my appointment with Gavin this morning. I did my exercise bike and mini trampoline ater I got out of bed. I think I felt a little bit more awake after the exercises.
It was still early when I got to Epworth. I went to the usual physio treatment room and waited for my session. While I was waiting, David, another physio, was treating an elderly patient. I noticed that he was quite pushy to the patient. The elderly was obviously tired and wanted to lie down but he wouldn’t let him. He told the patient to use his tommy muscles and sit up. I was quite surprised to see that they are pushing the elderly patients as well. This is very different from the MECRS approach. I know if that guy was at MECRS, they would have sent him back to the ward to rest in stead of pushing him. David told me Gavin should be here in a minute. He also told me that Gavin has just been awarded his PhD so he is officially a doctor now. That was pretty quick I thought. I remember my first meeting with John Olver back in January and he mentioned to us that one of their physios is doing his PhD (on running) and has just submitted his thesis.
When Gavin came in, he asked me how did I feel after our Wednesday session. I told him that my calf was quite sore. He asked me which part of the calf and I pointed to him. He said that's good because it's working the right muscle and that's what he like to hear. He then set up a 25 degrees wedge for me to do my calf stretches. After the calf stretches, the mini trampoline and then walking practice. After a few laps, he wanted me to take off my ankle brace and do the same but without the brace. I was freaking out because I was so worried about my ankle. I didn’t think I could get on the mini trampoline without the ankle brace, not to mention jogging on it. He told me to jog but just don’t lift up my left leg. It was not too bad if I didn’t have to lift up my left leg. Walking without the brace on was a real challenge – it’s a bit like when I get out of the pool but when I go to hydro I always take my stick with me so I don’t have to walk barefeet without any support. Gavin kept telling me to just forget that I don’t have the ankle brace on and walk like I was walking before and don’t lift up my left foot but just drag it along. I was still freaking out and could hardly move. Gavin stood in front of me and somewhat supported my left foot with his foot and asked me to walk. I took a few steps but felt very unstable. Gavin reminded me that I need to tuck my bottom in when I take a step which I found really hard without the ankle brace on. The hallway I normally do my walking practice seems much longer today and I felt I was moving so slowly. When I mentioned to Gavin that this is so slow, he reminded me that this is how I walked with the brace on 2-3 weeks ago. He said it just shows I have a lot more potential to improve if I really work at it. One thing I like about Gavin is that (so far) he is quite positive. I’m so sick and tired of negative comments from the health professionals from MECRS. I think there should be a rule that they are not allowed to say anything negative to patients.
After a few laps, Gavin told me to go back to the treatment room so he can have a look at my shoulder. When I went in there, I saw that he has left my ankle brace on a physio bench so I sat down next to it and was going to put it back on. Gavin walked in and told me to go to the physio couch at the far corner. I told him I’ll just put on my ankle brace first. He told me not to touch it and he actually took it away from me so I wouldn’t be tempted to put it on. He set up a theraband and for me and showed me the exercises he wants me to do. After that, he also grabbed some free weights and showed me the exercises he wants me to do with weights. I only have one session with him next week because Tim, Lillian and I are going away next Friday. Gavin said when I come back from Canberra, he will get me to work harder on the leg and especially with the foot but without the brace on. I’m not looking forward to that!
I had to wait for a long time for my taxi at the reception. I wasn’t the only one there waiting. There were a few people there but they must had car accidents because when the receptionist ordered the taxi, she quoted some reference number. I think TAC must be paying for them. I noticed that they all look pretty young. The two guys sitting next to me were talking and I couldn’t help eavesdrop. One of them (with an arm sling with plaster – looks like he had a broken arm) must have just been discharged from the hospital recently because he was talking about how great it is to be able to sleep in your own bed – something I can relate to. He was also talking about how tired he feels all the time. A speech therapist walked pass and she stopped to talk to them. She said to the guy who had a broken arm that she’ll get him to talk to another patient of hers about how tired people feel. She said she was trying to tell this patient that he can’t just go back to work in 4 weeks time because he will be too tired. I wonder whether he is an accountant. Only they are mad enough to take work so seriously, like I used to be. They talked for a while about fatigue etc but I just switched off. It something I don’t want to hear and don’t want to know. People often talk about fatigue for those who had brain injuries. It might be true but it’s something I rather forget otherwise it’s a bit like self fufilling prophecy and it gives me an excuse to feel tired all the time.
The taxi driver on the way back was quite and not too nosy. He asked me if I had an accident and I said no and that was the end of conversation – just how I like it. We drove pass two accidents along the way. One of them still had the driver in but I couldn’t see if she was injured - the car was in a pretty bad shape though. On the other side of the road, there is a crowd of people watching. I wonder why these people are so nosy. Don’t they have better things to do? I hope one of them remembered to call the police.
It was still early when I got to Epworth. I went to the usual physio treatment room and waited for my session. While I was waiting, David, another physio, was treating an elderly patient. I noticed that he was quite pushy to the patient. The elderly was obviously tired and wanted to lie down but he wouldn’t let him. He told the patient to use his tommy muscles and sit up. I was quite surprised to see that they are pushing the elderly patients as well. This is very different from the MECRS approach. I know if that guy was at MECRS, they would have sent him back to the ward to rest in stead of pushing him. David told me Gavin should be here in a minute. He also told me that Gavin has just been awarded his PhD so he is officially a doctor now. That was pretty quick I thought. I remember my first meeting with John Olver back in January and he mentioned to us that one of their physios is doing his PhD (on running) and has just submitted his thesis.
When Gavin came in, he asked me how did I feel after our Wednesday session. I told him that my calf was quite sore. He asked me which part of the calf and I pointed to him. He said that's good because it's working the right muscle and that's what he like to hear. He then set up a 25 degrees wedge for me to do my calf stretches. After the calf stretches, the mini trampoline and then walking practice. After a few laps, he wanted me to take off my ankle brace and do the same but without the brace. I was freaking out because I was so worried about my ankle. I didn’t think I could get on the mini trampoline without the ankle brace, not to mention jogging on it. He told me to jog but just don’t lift up my left leg. It was not too bad if I didn’t have to lift up my left leg. Walking without the brace on was a real challenge – it’s a bit like when I get out of the pool but when I go to hydro I always take my stick with me so I don’t have to walk barefeet without any support. Gavin kept telling me to just forget that I don’t have the ankle brace on and walk like I was walking before and don’t lift up my left foot but just drag it along. I was still freaking out and could hardly move. Gavin stood in front of me and somewhat supported my left foot with his foot and asked me to walk. I took a few steps but felt very unstable. Gavin reminded me that I need to tuck my bottom in when I take a step which I found really hard without the ankle brace on. The hallway I normally do my walking practice seems much longer today and I felt I was moving so slowly. When I mentioned to Gavin that this is so slow, he reminded me that this is how I walked with the brace on 2-3 weeks ago. He said it just shows I have a lot more potential to improve if I really work at it. One thing I like about Gavin is that (so far) he is quite positive. I’m so sick and tired of negative comments from the health professionals from MECRS. I think there should be a rule that they are not allowed to say anything negative to patients.
After a few laps, Gavin told me to go back to the treatment room so he can have a look at my shoulder. When I went in there, I saw that he has left my ankle brace on a physio bench so I sat down next to it and was going to put it back on. Gavin walked in and told me to go to the physio couch at the far corner. I told him I’ll just put on my ankle brace first. He told me not to touch it and he actually took it away from me so I wouldn’t be tempted to put it on. He set up a theraband and for me and showed me the exercises he wants me to do. After that, he also grabbed some free weights and showed me the exercises he wants me to do with weights. I only have one session with him next week because Tim, Lillian and I are going away next Friday. Gavin said when I come back from Canberra, he will get me to work harder on the leg and especially with the foot but without the brace on. I’m not looking forward to that!
I had to wait for a long time for my taxi at the reception. I wasn’t the only one there waiting. There were a few people there but they must had car accidents because when the receptionist ordered the taxi, she quoted some reference number. I think TAC must be paying for them. I noticed that they all look pretty young. The two guys sitting next to me were talking and I couldn’t help eavesdrop. One of them (with an arm sling with plaster – looks like he had a broken arm) must have just been discharged from the hospital recently because he was talking about how great it is to be able to sleep in your own bed – something I can relate to. He was also talking about how tired he feels all the time. A speech therapist walked pass and she stopped to talk to them. She said to the guy who had a broken arm that she’ll get him to talk to another patient of hers about how tired people feel. She said she was trying to tell this patient that he can’t just go back to work in 4 weeks time because he will be too tired. I wonder whether he is an accountant. Only they are mad enough to take work so seriously, like I used to be. They talked for a while about fatigue etc but I just switched off. It something I don’t want to hear and don’t want to know. People often talk about fatigue for those who had brain injuries. It might be true but it’s something I rather forget otherwise it’s a bit like self fufilling prophecy and it gives me an excuse to feel tired all the time.
The taxi driver on the way back was quite and not too nosy. He asked me if I had an accident and I said no and that was the end of conversation – just how I like it. We drove pass two accidents along the way. One of them still had the driver in but I couldn’t see if she was injured - the car was in a pretty bad shape though. On the other side of the road, there is a crowd of people watching. I wonder why these people are so nosy. Don’t they have better things to do? I hope one of them remembered to call the police.
posted by Teresa Liu at 12:03 AM
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