3 August 2005
I almost couldn’t get out of bed this morning. I’m a little bit concerned that I have been feeling quite tired lately. Every time I feel a bit unwell I start to worry because I don’t know if it’s related to the brains or something else. I can’t remember all the symptoms I had prior to my operation. All I remember were the terrible headaches and dizziness that accompanied the headaches.
I went to my usual physio session at Epworth this morning. When I got there, Tracy was at the physio treatment room. She set up a mirror for me to start on my walking practice. She said Gavin wants to do some tests today. I think I’m still a bit tired from all the walk we did on Sunday when we went to Healsville Sanctuary because my legs were getting a bit tired after a few laps of walking. Tracy was going to start on the tests but she realised we had to wait for Gavin when I asked her if I should wear my ankle brace. She said we had to wait for Gavin because he wants to tape my ankle before I start on the tests.
Gavin came in after I’ve done a few more laps of walking. When he was taping my ankle, he told me that many of the tests I probably can’t do yet but it doesn’t matter because at least he can measure the improvement over time. When Tracy set me up outdoors I noticed that she had a sheet of paper and I think it says ‘high level mobility assessment tool (HiMAT)’ or something like that. I think it’s something that Gavin did in his PhD. I remember I did some Google search on him when John Olver mentioned that he is doing his PhD and is an expert on running. That’s when I first found out about this assessment tool.
The first test was the 10 m walk. Tracy let me practice a couple of times before the real test. A few months ago they did the test and it took me 30 seconds but this time only 9 seconds. I was quite surprised by the improvement. I think all the works in personal trainig, walks to the gym and trying to cross Royal Parade before the light changes probably helped. The next test was also 10 m walk but walking backwards. I still find this quite difficult due to weakness in the hamstrings and hip extensors.
Tracy then told me the next few tests would be harder. First one was running. I couldn’t really run but I tried my best anyway. She then ask me to skip. I did’t know how to do it so she demonstrated. I tried but it was very difficult without the walking rails. Gavin came out to see how we were doing and he told Tracy to skip the skipping if it’s too hard for me. I was quite happy on his decision.
The next one was timing on going up and down the stairs without holding on to the rails or even lightly touching the rails. I know I can do this going up but so far I haven’t done it without any support going downstairs before so this would be the first time I’m doing it. Tracy let me practice this a few times before she started timing me. I know I can definitely go up without any support but coming down Gavin always let me have some light support so when I found out that I can do it without support I was quite surprised. When I was going down the stairs during the test I lost my balance and touched the rails for support so I had to start again. I didn’t check my time on the stairs because Gavin hasn’t done this test previously simply because I couldn’t do it when I first went there in March.
The last test on the list is bounding. Again, Gavin had to demonstrate what I have to do. This is a bit like the jumping practice I have been doing in the walking rails except this one I’m aiming for distance, not height. The test is even harder when it’s done in the middle of the hallway so I have absoultely nothing to hold on to. I asked Gavin if it’s ok for me to do this in the walking rails because I’m too scared of falling over. He said I could go and practice this for a while in the walking rails but the actual test has to be done in the hallway. I went back to the walking rails and started on my practice. Gary was in the room as well but I was too busy practising so I didn’t really hear what he was saying. He had someone there with him today.
After a while, I thought I was ready to do the test. At first, I thought Tracy was going to time me but I realised later that she’s going to measure the distance with a tape measurer. She let me try a few times and I realised that I can only do it when I’m pusing off through my right leg but not the left leg. She said she’ll measure on the right leg first and she’ll pick the best three out of five. When I got to the last one, she noticed that my distance is improving so she told me to continue doing it and she’ll get the best result. I think the furthest I did was 89 cm.
The tests took about one hour to complete so there was no time to do anything else. Gavin said when he first tested on me in February, there were many things I couldn’t do and my score was 6 out of 54 and this time I scored 18 out of 54. I have to find out more about how the score works but it looks like I have improved a lot over the last 5 months.
I went to my usual physio session at Epworth this morning. When I got there, Tracy was at the physio treatment room. She set up a mirror for me to start on my walking practice. She said Gavin wants to do some tests today. I think I’m still a bit tired from all the walk we did on Sunday when we went to Healsville Sanctuary because my legs were getting a bit tired after a few laps of walking. Tracy was going to start on the tests but she realised we had to wait for Gavin when I asked her if I should wear my ankle brace. She said we had to wait for Gavin because he wants to tape my ankle before I start on the tests.
Gavin came in after I’ve done a few more laps of walking. When he was taping my ankle, he told me that many of the tests I probably can’t do yet but it doesn’t matter because at least he can measure the improvement over time. When Tracy set me up outdoors I noticed that she had a sheet of paper and I think it says ‘high level mobility assessment tool (HiMAT)’ or something like that. I think it’s something that Gavin did in his PhD. I remember I did some Google search on him when John Olver mentioned that he is doing his PhD and is an expert on running. That’s when I first found out about this assessment tool.
The first test was the 10 m walk. Tracy let me practice a couple of times before the real test. A few months ago they did the test and it took me 30 seconds but this time only 9 seconds. I was quite surprised by the improvement. I think all the works in personal trainig, walks to the gym and trying to cross Royal Parade before the light changes probably helped. The next test was also 10 m walk but walking backwards. I still find this quite difficult due to weakness in the hamstrings and hip extensors.
Tracy then told me the next few tests would be harder. First one was running. I couldn’t really run but I tried my best anyway. She then ask me to skip. I did’t know how to do it so she demonstrated. I tried but it was very difficult without the walking rails. Gavin came out to see how we were doing and he told Tracy to skip the skipping if it’s too hard for me. I was quite happy on his decision.
The next one was timing on going up and down the stairs without holding on to the rails or even lightly touching the rails. I know I can do this going up but so far I haven’t done it without any support going downstairs before so this would be the first time I’m doing it. Tracy let me practice this a few times before she started timing me. I know I can definitely go up without any support but coming down Gavin always let me have some light support so when I found out that I can do it without support I was quite surprised. When I was going down the stairs during the test I lost my balance and touched the rails for support so I had to start again. I didn’t check my time on the stairs because Gavin hasn’t done this test previously simply because I couldn’t do it when I first went there in March.
The last test on the list is bounding. Again, Gavin had to demonstrate what I have to do. This is a bit like the jumping practice I have been doing in the walking rails except this one I’m aiming for distance, not height. The test is even harder when it’s done in the middle of the hallway so I have absoultely nothing to hold on to. I asked Gavin if it’s ok for me to do this in the walking rails because I’m too scared of falling over. He said I could go and practice this for a while in the walking rails but the actual test has to be done in the hallway. I went back to the walking rails and started on my practice. Gary was in the room as well but I was too busy practising so I didn’t really hear what he was saying. He had someone there with him today.
After a while, I thought I was ready to do the test. At first, I thought Tracy was going to time me but I realised later that she’s going to measure the distance with a tape measurer. She let me try a few times and I realised that I can only do it when I’m pusing off through my right leg but not the left leg. She said she’ll measure on the right leg first and she’ll pick the best three out of five. When I got to the last one, she noticed that my distance is improving so she told me to continue doing it and she’ll get the best result. I think the furthest I did was 89 cm.
The tests took about one hour to complete so there was no time to do anything else. Gavin said when he first tested on me in February, there were many things I couldn’t do and my score was 6 out of 54 and this time I scored 18 out of 54. I have to find out more about how the score works but it looks like I have improved a lot over the last 5 months.
posted by Teresa Liu at 11:17 PM
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