27 July 2005
I got to Epworth quite early this morning. My mum came to the house to take Lillian to childcare and I went with her. Just as well I did because I had to put it in writing that I authorise her to pick up Lillian in the afternoon. Tim is in a workshop all day and has a meeting late this afternoon that he antipicates will go on for a while. We both agreed that it would be better for Lillian if my mum picks her up in the afternoon. She usually goes to my parents’ place on Wednesday nights anyway.
After dropping Lillian off at the childcare, my mum gave me a lift to my physio. I arrived half an hour before my appointment. I was wearing my ankle brace because I had to go to the childcare before that. When I went in the physio treatment room, I didn’t see Gavin there so I quickly removed my ankle brace and put it away together with my bag and jacket. Tracy saw me and she helped me to set up a mirror so I could start with some walking practice. After a few laps of walking, I just noticed that Gavin was actually in the room next door with another patient. He didn’t see me coming in with the ankle brace so he didn’t say anything. It’s kind of strange that I got away with it. I haven’t seen this patient he’s treating before. He must be new. He looks like he had a car accident and is in a pretty bad shape. He was basically leaning on Gavin when he was walking (or being dragged).
Gavin told me that he has asked Tracy to set up the equipment for me to do my dorsiflexion exercises after I finish all my usual ones – walking, calf raises and dorsiflexion against wall. I think it’s good that I got there early because it was only 11 a.m. when I finished my usual exercises so it gives me more time to do something new in the session.
Gary, the other Gavin’s patient, who always have physio at the same time as I do, turned up and Gavin was getting all the physio beds ready so he can walk around it with the support of the beds and Gavin. I must say I don’t particular like being in the same room as he does because it’s a bit like having a radio on in the background. He just doesn’t shut up. Maybe I’m just being a bit mean but sometimes I wonder why he bothers going to physio at all. I personally think if he is not serious about rehab then he shouldn’t waste everyone’s time. I was doing some calf stretches when he claimed that he’ll give anyone $1,000 if the person can bit him in a game of tic tac toe. Jacqui, another physio, tried and was beaten straight away. Another person tried and also failed. Finally, Gavin tried as well and was also beaten. Gary explained to him that there is a trick to this game etc. I was glad that was the end of it because Gavin sort of pushed him to stand up and start walking around the bed.
After my calf stretches, Gavin asked me to do a few laps of walking practice but walking backwards. This is quite challenging for me and I know I always have a bit of problem walking backwards due to weakness in my hip extensors. I know it’s important for me to be able to walk backwards especially if I want to be able to get back to ballroom dancing again. After a few more laps of walking backwards, he said my next task is to kick that guy off the bike. I poked my head out of the room and saw a guy on the bike I was on last week. I don’t think I want to do that so I asked Gavin if he’s serious. He said all I have to do is stand next to him and just stare at him and he’ll get off. I think he knows I have no sense of humour (hey, I’m an accountant so what do you expect) and I wouldn’t go up to that guy anyway so he asked Tracy to do the dirty work. I thought it’s a bit strange that he wanted me to do some exercises on the bike because last Friday we agreed that I can do that at home instead of during my physio session. I mentioned this to Gavin and he asked me why didn’t I tell him earlier. I told him that I thought he remembers. Tracy was just at the bike and Gavin had to rush out and tell her not to worry. He said he doesn’t remember that. He said he always get into trouble with his wife because she always says ‘remember you said you were going to do whatever’ and he said he doesn’t remember anyway so she can just say whatever she wants. This sounds all too familiar, I think Tim is a bit like that, too. I think guys not only have selective hearings, they have selective memory, too. At first, I thought he is just very nice because he never talks to me like if I’m a retard. The physios who treated me at MECRS when I was an in patient have a tendency to treat me like if I don’t know what’s going on around me and tend to blame me for everything (such as it’s not that they haven’t done anything with my arm but it’s because I don’t remember things). I told Tim many times that one thing I like about Gavin is that he has always been very positive and he doesn’t treat me like if I’m a retard. I notice he never ask me if I remember whatever. Now, I know it’s probably because he doesn’t always remember things himself.
He then asked Tracy to help with some hamstring exercises. I had to lie on my tummy or in physio’s term, prone. Tracy asked me to lift my leg up towards my butt. My leg was a bit wobbly but this is not unachievable. Gavin came over to check on me. He asked me if I find this exercise hard. To be honest, I don’t really know. I told him it’s not easy but it’s not too hard either. He asked Tracy to put some resistance on my leg to make this harder. In fact, this was so hard I could hardly lift up my leg and I could feel the right side of my body was trying to help as well. After a while, Gavin came back and said that’s enough for me and he’d get me to do something else. At first, I thought it’s the usual jumping practice but he had something else in mind. He set up a box in the walking rails and demonstrated what he wants me to do. Stepping my left foot back on the box and leave my right foot on the floor and then push up through my left leg to bring my right foot up on the box. Like everything, it always looks easy when he does it. I tried it and it wasn’t too bad. Gavin asked me if I find the exercise easy. Again, I didn’t find this too easy or too hard. He let me do a few more of this exercise and then set up the boxes for me for my jumping practice.
I had a brief chat with him about my personal training session and I told him that the trainer I had last week was even more cautious than Mary. He said there is no reason why they can’t push me harder because I’m not sick. He said it’s a bit different for someone who is 80 something and had a stroke because there is probably already something wrong with the person. He said I should tell Mary diplomatically that she needs to push me harder. I told him that she put me on a leg press yesterday for the first time. He said I should do lots of those. He also said I should do lots and lots of cardio exercises.
After I got home, I walked across the road to the milk bar to get some lunch. The walk was quite easy. I remember when I first got home from MECRS last September I had to call them for delivery but now I can easily walk there (with my ankle brace on) and get some lunch. In the afternoon, I realised that there is hardly any milk left so I had to make another trip to the store. With my ankle brace on, I actually enjoy walking around outdoors. On my way back, I saw our neighbor who lives two houses down from us. She said she thinks I’m walking a lot faster today and my walking seem to have a better rhythm. I’m surprised that people notice little details like this.
After dropping Lillian off at the childcare, my mum gave me a lift to my physio. I arrived half an hour before my appointment. I was wearing my ankle brace because I had to go to the childcare before that. When I went in the physio treatment room, I didn’t see Gavin there so I quickly removed my ankle brace and put it away together with my bag and jacket. Tracy saw me and she helped me to set up a mirror so I could start with some walking practice. After a few laps of walking, I just noticed that Gavin was actually in the room next door with another patient. He didn’t see me coming in with the ankle brace so he didn’t say anything. It’s kind of strange that I got away with it. I haven’t seen this patient he’s treating before. He must be new. He looks like he had a car accident and is in a pretty bad shape. He was basically leaning on Gavin when he was walking (or being dragged).
Gavin told me that he has asked Tracy to set up the equipment for me to do my dorsiflexion exercises after I finish all my usual ones – walking, calf raises and dorsiflexion against wall. I think it’s good that I got there early because it was only 11 a.m. when I finished my usual exercises so it gives me more time to do something new in the session.
Gary, the other Gavin’s patient, who always have physio at the same time as I do, turned up and Gavin was getting all the physio beds ready so he can walk around it with the support of the beds and Gavin. I must say I don’t particular like being in the same room as he does because it’s a bit like having a radio on in the background. He just doesn’t shut up. Maybe I’m just being a bit mean but sometimes I wonder why he bothers going to physio at all. I personally think if he is not serious about rehab then he shouldn’t waste everyone’s time. I was doing some calf stretches when he claimed that he’ll give anyone $1,000 if the person can bit him in a game of tic tac toe. Jacqui, another physio, tried and was beaten straight away. Another person tried and also failed. Finally, Gavin tried as well and was also beaten. Gary explained to him that there is a trick to this game etc. I was glad that was the end of it because Gavin sort of pushed him to stand up and start walking around the bed.
After my calf stretches, Gavin asked me to do a few laps of walking practice but walking backwards. This is quite challenging for me and I know I always have a bit of problem walking backwards due to weakness in my hip extensors. I know it’s important for me to be able to walk backwards especially if I want to be able to get back to ballroom dancing again. After a few more laps of walking backwards, he said my next task is to kick that guy off the bike. I poked my head out of the room and saw a guy on the bike I was on last week. I don’t think I want to do that so I asked Gavin if he’s serious. He said all I have to do is stand next to him and just stare at him and he’ll get off. I think he knows I have no sense of humour (hey, I’m an accountant so what do you expect) and I wouldn’t go up to that guy anyway so he asked Tracy to do the dirty work. I thought it’s a bit strange that he wanted me to do some exercises on the bike because last Friday we agreed that I can do that at home instead of during my physio session. I mentioned this to Gavin and he asked me why didn’t I tell him earlier. I told him that I thought he remembers. Tracy was just at the bike and Gavin had to rush out and tell her not to worry. He said he doesn’t remember that. He said he always get into trouble with his wife because she always says ‘remember you said you were going to do whatever’ and he said he doesn’t remember anyway so she can just say whatever she wants. This sounds all too familiar, I think Tim is a bit like that, too. I think guys not only have selective hearings, they have selective memory, too. At first, I thought he is just very nice because he never talks to me like if I’m a retard. The physios who treated me at MECRS when I was an in patient have a tendency to treat me like if I don’t know what’s going on around me and tend to blame me for everything (such as it’s not that they haven’t done anything with my arm but it’s because I don’t remember things). I told Tim many times that one thing I like about Gavin is that he has always been very positive and he doesn’t treat me like if I’m a retard. I notice he never ask me if I remember whatever. Now, I know it’s probably because he doesn’t always remember things himself.
He then asked Tracy to help with some hamstring exercises. I had to lie on my tummy or in physio’s term, prone. Tracy asked me to lift my leg up towards my butt. My leg was a bit wobbly but this is not unachievable. Gavin came over to check on me. He asked me if I find this exercise hard. To be honest, I don’t really know. I told him it’s not easy but it’s not too hard either. He asked Tracy to put some resistance on my leg to make this harder. In fact, this was so hard I could hardly lift up my leg and I could feel the right side of my body was trying to help as well. After a while, Gavin came back and said that’s enough for me and he’d get me to do something else. At first, I thought it’s the usual jumping practice but he had something else in mind. He set up a box in the walking rails and demonstrated what he wants me to do. Stepping my left foot back on the box and leave my right foot on the floor and then push up through my left leg to bring my right foot up on the box. Like everything, it always looks easy when he does it. I tried it and it wasn’t too bad. Gavin asked me if I find the exercise easy. Again, I didn’t find this too easy or too hard. He let me do a few more of this exercise and then set up the boxes for me for my jumping practice.
I had a brief chat with him about my personal training session and I told him that the trainer I had last week was even more cautious than Mary. He said there is no reason why they can’t push me harder because I’m not sick. He said it’s a bit different for someone who is 80 something and had a stroke because there is probably already something wrong with the person. He said I should tell Mary diplomatically that she needs to push me harder. I told him that she put me on a leg press yesterday for the first time. He said I should do lots of those. He also said I should do lots and lots of cardio exercises.
After I got home, I walked across the road to the milk bar to get some lunch. The walk was quite easy. I remember when I first got home from MECRS last September I had to call them for delivery but now I can easily walk there (with my ankle brace on) and get some lunch. In the afternoon, I realised that there is hardly any milk left so I had to make another trip to the store. With my ankle brace on, I actually enjoy walking around outdoors. On my way back, I saw our neighbor who lives two houses down from us. She said she thinks I’m walking a lot faster today and my walking seem to have a better rhythm. I’m surprised that people notice little details like this.
posted by Teresa Liu at 1:39 AM
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