13 May 2005
The builders were here till quite late last night and they told us they won’t be here today because the tiler will be here doing some work from around 8 a.m. The tiler did get here around 8 a.m. Tim gave him a copy of our key since I won’t be home all day. I had an appointment with Gavin this morning so I had to get to Epworth. When I was walking to the taxi, the tiler noticed my ankle brace and asked me what happened. I didn’t answer him and just said it’s a bit complicated and got in the taxi.
When I got to Epworth, I was still a bit early for my appointment. I walked into the physio room and Gavin was with another patient. When he saw me, he asked me how did I go with my walking practice without the brace on. I only managed to do 10 minutes of walking practice without my brace on last night. I couldn’t lie so I told him I actually only did about 10 minutes and it was like a torture not having the brace on. I wished I had lied because he told me to take the brace off straight away. When he left the room, his other patient said to me ‘now you are in trouble!’ I know that. I should have just said my practice was fine but I just couldn’t and didn’t want to lie. I started talking with his other patient. I noticed that he is in one of those electrical wheelchairs so I asked him about that. He told me he is semi-paraplegic and he was at the spinal cord unit at Royal Talbot for a while. He said his accident was about a year ago. I was just about to tell him that it’s almost been a year since my brain surgery but Gavin walked in and told me he’ll burn my ankle brace so I can’t use it anymore. I told him I was actually thinking about getting another one because it takes a while to wear a new one in. He said I’m definitely not getting another one. I told him it’s actually good to wear it when I go out because people often think I have a broken leg rather than a neurological problem. He said if I walk normally then people won’t think of anything at all. I interpret that as a positive comment because I presume he thinks I am able to walk normally one day. He sent me off to start on the trampoline and then walking practice. I think I know the procedures well enough so there was no need for supervision.
While I was on the trampoline, I noticed there is a woman on the stepper. She has some shorts on and I can see her nice muscly legs. She is working very hard on the stepper. It made me realised that maybe Tim is right, I wasn’t working hard enough. I could see her shoulder and back started to get quite sweaty. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her legs, the well-defined calves. I think my legs used to be like that but for the wrong reason. I think my calves were from years of wearing high heeled shoes rather than from exercising. Gavin came to check on me. I was very tempted to tell him that I was busy admiring that woman’s legs. I want my calves to look like that! I didn’t tell Gavin. I was too embarrassed to mention it since she might hear me. Gavin told me to lift up my right leg higher while I’m on the trampoline.
The hallway was getting a bit crowded all of a sudden. As I was doing my walking practice down the hallway, Cathy, another physio, just wheeled a patient out in the middle of the hallway. He must have just finished his session. Cathy parked him there so he could be collected by a porter. As he was waiting, his family came to visit, including grandchildren. The hallway suddenly became very crowded. I thought it might be a bit hard for me to do my walking practice in a crowded hallyway because it means I need to negotiate through the traffic. I decided to stay on the trampoline a bit longer.
When they finally all left, I started my walking practice again. Gavin came to check on me and commented that my walking was looking better. I don’t know how he could tell because it certainly didn’t feel better to me! He told me to walk to the treatment area. I think he’ll probably do some work on my arm and shoulder because he asked me to give him back the exercises sheet he wrote up for me last time so he could check and update it. When I went into the room, he asked me to stand in front of a wall. He handed me a tennis ball and asked me to throw it to the wall with my right hand and catch it with my left hand. This is hard because the ball just bounces off the wall. He told me to throw it higher to the wall so it gives me more time to catch it. The most annoying part of this exercise was actually picking up the ball from the floor because I kept dropping it. I was getting a bit better at it after a while. He then told me to stand closer to the wall and the same but this time I have to catch it as it bounces off the wall, not wait for it to bounce off the floor like before. I found this so much harder because there is little time for me to catch it. Every time I dropped the ball, I had to walk around without my ankle brace and fetch it. I think I need a dog to do this exercise so when I drop the ball I can get the dog to fetch it for me. Gavin said the strength and movement in my arm is fine but it lacks speed and this exercise works on the speed of my movement in the arm.
When I got to Epworth, I was still a bit early for my appointment. I walked into the physio room and Gavin was with another patient. When he saw me, he asked me how did I go with my walking practice without the brace on. I only managed to do 10 minutes of walking practice without my brace on last night. I couldn’t lie so I told him I actually only did about 10 minutes and it was like a torture not having the brace on. I wished I had lied because he told me to take the brace off straight away. When he left the room, his other patient said to me ‘now you are in trouble!’ I know that. I should have just said my practice was fine but I just couldn’t and didn’t want to lie. I started talking with his other patient. I noticed that he is in one of those electrical wheelchairs so I asked him about that. He told me he is semi-paraplegic and he was at the spinal cord unit at Royal Talbot for a while. He said his accident was about a year ago. I was just about to tell him that it’s almost been a year since my brain surgery but Gavin walked in and told me he’ll burn my ankle brace so I can’t use it anymore. I told him I was actually thinking about getting another one because it takes a while to wear a new one in. He said I’m definitely not getting another one. I told him it’s actually good to wear it when I go out because people often think I have a broken leg rather than a neurological problem. He said if I walk normally then people won’t think of anything at all. I interpret that as a positive comment because I presume he thinks I am able to walk normally one day. He sent me off to start on the trampoline and then walking practice. I think I know the procedures well enough so there was no need for supervision.
While I was on the trampoline, I noticed there is a woman on the stepper. She has some shorts on and I can see her nice muscly legs. She is working very hard on the stepper. It made me realised that maybe Tim is right, I wasn’t working hard enough. I could see her shoulder and back started to get quite sweaty. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her legs, the well-defined calves. I think my legs used to be like that but for the wrong reason. I think my calves were from years of wearing high heeled shoes rather than from exercising. Gavin came to check on me. I was very tempted to tell him that I was busy admiring that woman’s legs. I want my calves to look like that! I didn’t tell Gavin. I was too embarrassed to mention it since she might hear me. Gavin told me to lift up my right leg higher while I’m on the trampoline.
The hallway was getting a bit crowded all of a sudden. As I was doing my walking practice down the hallway, Cathy, another physio, just wheeled a patient out in the middle of the hallway. He must have just finished his session. Cathy parked him there so he could be collected by a porter. As he was waiting, his family came to visit, including grandchildren. The hallway suddenly became very crowded. I thought it might be a bit hard for me to do my walking practice in a crowded hallyway because it means I need to negotiate through the traffic. I decided to stay on the trampoline a bit longer.
When they finally all left, I started my walking practice again. Gavin came to check on me and commented that my walking was looking better. I don’t know how he could tell because it certainly didn’t feel better to me! He told me to walk to the treatment area. I think he’ll probably do some work on my arm and shoulder because he asked me to give him back the exercises sheet he wrote up for me last time so he could check and update it. When I went into the room, he asked me to stand in front of a wall. He handed me a tennis ball and asked me to throw it to the wall with my right hand and catch it with my left hand. This is hard because the ball just bounces off the wall. He told me to throw it higher to the wall so it gives me more time to catch it. The most annoying part of this exercise was actually picking up the ball from the floor because I kept dropping it. I was getting a bit better at it after a while. He then told me to stand closer to the wall and the same but this time I have to catch it as it bounces off the wall, not wait for it to bounce off the floor like before. I found this so much harder because there is little time for me to catch it. Every time I dropped the ball, I had to walk around without my ankle brace and fetch it. I think I need a dog to do this exercise so when I drop the ball I can get the dog to fetch it for me. Gavin said the strength and movement in my arm is fine but it lacks speed and this exercise works on the speed of my movement in the arm.
posted by Teresa Liu at 9:08 PM
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