18 August 2005 - part 2
Episod 2 – continued from yesterday
Gavin put the guy who was picking his nose last time in front of the walking rails. The woman with the pram walked up to him and kissed him. I wonder if that’s their kid in the pram because they both looked so young. When I was wondering about the kid, the woman said to the kid : ‘do you see Daddy there?’ That answered my question. I just thought it’s a bit strange that he didn’t want to pick up the kid or give him a cuddle and she didn’t do anything about it either. I remember when I was at the hospital, every time Lillian came to visit I would always want to hold her even when I only had one functional arm.
This probably made me look like I was slacking off on my exercises but I can assure you that I wasn’t. I was doing my dorsiflexion exercises against the wall while watching a ‘life drama’ on display. The woman then asked Gavin about the wheelchair. I think she’s probably making plans for when he goes home. Gavin asked her if there is a step to get in their house and she said yes. He told her it would be better for them to get a light wheelchair so it’s easier for him to get in the house. He is in an electric wheelchair at the moment and Gavin said it’s much harder to get it in the house. I was very tempted to tell them that you can actually hire a ramp for about $20 per week so it’s easier to get the wheelchair in the house. I remember Danika, the OT from MECRS organised a ramp for me on my first home visit since the operation and it worked quite well. I didn’t say anything because I felt it’s really not my place to say anything. Gavin also told her that it’s better for him to sit in a chair with high back so he doesn’t get a bad posture. As they were talking, I noticed that he was slouching and Gavin told him that if he sits like that all the time, he is stuffed. Again, I felt like telling them about my chair – when I first came home, I had the same problem and at the time my shoulder was really hurting so I needed a chair with arm rest. Tim took me to L& R, a shop that sells a lot of rehab stuff, and I tried on many chairs with arm rest and finally picked one. It’s the best purchase because when I first came home I spent a lot of time in that chair. I was not very mobile at the time and spent a lot of time in that chair during the day doing the upper limb exercises set by Neil and Rosemary. Again, I felt like telling that woman about my chair but I was worried that Gavin may be a bit offended. I know I wouldn’t feel too comfortable if my client is telling another client of mine about some tax strategies right in front of me if I just advised that client about something.
I guess I just felt really sorry for them. It must have been hard for her having to look after the baby and her husband. When I look at her, somehow I don’t feel as hard done by. I also think that in a way I'm lucky to have Danika as my OT because she had thought about a lot of the issues I would have when I go home so when I go home I have all the things I might need - a very compact wheeldchair that can be easily folded up and put in the boot, a kitchen trolley, a shower stool and most importantly, a personal response system - an alarm system that's connected to the phone so if something happens to me I can press the alarm (a pendant that I can wear like a necklace) and call for help. I don't know whether this guy has an OT to look after all these and I'm not sure how it operates at Epworth. Gavin is a good physio but when it comes to the preparation for going home, it's probably better handled by an OT. I remember when I was first admitted to MECRS, I always thought OT sessions were just a waste of time because I felt they were always teaching me doing things by compensating and not helping me to recover. I can now appreciate why they do that. It took me a while to get the movement in my left arm and hand back and if I had to wait for their recovery, someone else would have to shower and dress me and cook and feed me. What they were doing is to teach me to do things by compensating so I can at least be independent. It's not easy to understand it at the time but now when I look back I can see the big picture.
I had an appointment with my massage therapist, Judy, this morning. I missed her for two weeks – the first week was when she had an operation to remove a gall stone and the second week was when we were in Canberra. She noticed the change as well. We both don’t know what happened but my ankle inversion seemed to have gotten worse. I told her that I first noticed that when I went to hydro on Tuesday. I always try a bit of swimming after my exerices during my hydro session and on Tuesday, I noticed that my ankle was inverting a lot more and I couldn’t actually relax it to stop the inversion. I had this problem before but a few weeks ago I was actually able to stop the inversion by relaxing the muscles. I don’t know what has changed and Judy doesn’t know either but it’s definitely something I have to keep my eyes on.
Gavin put the guy who was picking his nose last time in front of the walking rails. The woman with the pram walked up to him and kissed him. I wonder if that’s their kid in the pram because they both looked so young. When I was wondering about the kid, the woman said to the kid : ‘do you see Daddy there?’ That answered my question. I just thought it’s a bit strange that he didn’t want to pick up the kid or give him a cuddle and she didn’t do anything about it either. I remember when I was at the hospital, every time Lillian came to visit I would always want to hold her even when I only had one functional arm.
This probably made me look like I was slacking off on my exercises but I can assure you that I wasn’t. I was doing my dorsiflexion exercises against the wall while watching a ‘life drama’ on display. The woman then asked Gavin about the wheelchair. I think she’s probably making plans for when he goes home. Gavin asked her if there is a step to get in their house and she said yes. He told her it would be better for them to get a light wheelchair so it’s easier for him to get in the house. He is in an electric wheelchair at the moment and Gavin said it’s much harder to get it in the house. I was very tempted to tell them that you can actually hire a ramp for about $20 per week so it’s easier to get the wheelchair in the house. I remember Danika, the OT from MECRS organised a ramp for me on my first home visit since the operation and it worked quite well. I didn’t say anything because I felt it’s really not my place to say anything. Gavin also told her that it’s better for him to sit in a chair with high back so he doesn’t get a bad posture. As they were talking, I noticed that he was slouching and Gavin told him that if he sits like that all the time, he is stuffed. Again, I felt like telling them about my chair – when I first came home, I had the same problem and at the time my shoulder was really hurting so I needed a chair with arm rest. Tim took me to L& R, a shop that sells a lot of rehab stuff, and I tried on many chairs with arm rest and finally picked one. It’s the best purchase because when I first came home I spent a lot of time in that chair. I was not very mobile at the time and spent a lot of time in that chair during the day doing the upper limb exercises set by Neil and Rosemary. Again, I felt like telling that woman about my chair but I was worried that Gavin may be a bit offended. I know I wouldn’t feel too comfortable if my client is telling another client of mine about some tax strategies right in front of me if I just advised that client about something.
I guess I just felt really sorry for them. It must have been hard for her having to look after the baby and her husband. When I look at her, somehow I don’t feel as hard done by. I also think that in a way I'm lucky to have Danika as my OT because she had thought about a lot of the issues I would have when I go home so when I go home I have all the things I might need - a very compact wheeldchair that can be easily folded up and put in the boot, a kitchen trolley, a shower stool and most importantly, a personal response system - an alarm system that's connected to the phone so if something happens to me I can press the alarm (a pendant that I can wear like a necklace) and call for help. I don't know whether this guy has an OT to look after all these and I'm not sure how it operates at Epworth. Gavin is a good physio but when it comes to the preparation for going home, it's probably better handled by an OT. I remember when I was first admitted to MECRS, I always thought OT sessions were just a waste of time because I felt they were always teaching me doing things by compensating and not helping me to recover. I can now appreciate why they do that. It took me a while to get the movement in my left arm and hand back and if I had to wait for their recovery, someone else would have to shower and dress me and cook and feed me. What they were doing is to teach me to do things by compensating so I can at least be independent. It's not easy to understand it at the time but now when I look back I can see the big picture.
I had an appointment with my massage therapist, Judy, this morning. I missed her for two weeks – the first week was when she had an operation to remove a gall stone and the second week was when we were in Canberra. She noticed the change as well. We both don’t know what happened but my ankle inversion seemed to have gotten worse. I told her that I first noticed that when I went to hydro on Tuesday. I always try a bit of swimming after my exerices during my hydro session and on Tuesday, I noticed that my ankle was inverting a lot more and I couldn’t actually relax it to stop the inversion. I had this problem before but a few weeks ago I was actually able to stop the inversion by relaxing the muscles. I don’t know what has changed and Judy doesn’t know either but it’s definitely something I have to keep my eyes on.
posted by Teresa Liu at 5:16 AM
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