26 September 2005
I haven't updated my diary for a while. The main reason(excuse) being Lillian and I are staying with my parents while Tim is away. I think I got to the stage now that I feel confident enough to stay home on my own. In fact, I went home last Monday night so I could go to my hydro session at MECRS on Tuesday morning. This is the first time I stayed home on my own at night since my operation. I'm hoping that I'll be able to look after Lillian on my own as well so when Tim is away I can take her to and collect her from the childcare independently.
Nothing much happened over the past week or so except that I had another fall. It sounds a lot more serious than it actually is. I went to a gym with Alessia, a friend of mine who lives near my parents' place, last Monday and it made me appreciatee the Melbourne Uni gym a lot more. For a start, this gym is full of guys who have big bulky muscles and almost no necks and when it's really intimidating when they start to pile up on the weights. The machines there are a lot older as well. When I went there on Monday, I realised that there weren't too many machines I could or know how to use. I must admit that I felt a bit uncomfortable in a gym that I'm not familiar with so I was following my friend around a bit. I started with the elliptical when my friend was on the bike. When she finished that and went to the leg press, I followed her, too. The leg press she was using was too scary for me - it's a 45 degrees one that you do it lying down. I prefer the seated leg press. I looked around but couldn't find one so my friend was asking around for me. She found someone who I thought works there and he saw my ankle brace and thought I had a broken ankle. I was a bit worried that he might be worriedd about liability issues since I'm already injured etc. I told him that my problem is not a broken leg or ankle but neuro. He didn't seem to understand so I told him that I had a brain injury and I'm wearing an ankle brace because my tibialis anterior is stronger than the peroneals and that causes my ankle to invert. I wish I had my camera with me, you should see the look on his face. I thought he works there and he knows all these techinical jargons. In the end, i told him i just want to find a leg press that I can use in sitting and I only want to work on the left leg. That he had no problem to understand so he showed me the seated leg press. The only problem with this machine is that there are no marks on the weights so I have no idea how much I'm lifting. Alessia stayed theree with me and got me to try on various weights until I found it just hard enough. I told her to leave me there for a while so she can proceed with her program.
While I was on the leg press, I spotted something else I might be able to use - cable row and lat pull down. I have used these machines in my personal training session so I thought I could give it a try after the leg press. I couldn't believe that the lightest weight is 20kg. At the Melbourne uni gym thee lightest weight is 5 kg. I tried a few without weight and then the 'ligtht' 20kg. It was not too bad but I was doing it bilaterally. While I was using it, i watched the person next to me doing the lat pull down and tried to learn how to use it because the one at the Melbourne Uni gym is a bit different. I went to try the lat pull down after the other person has left. Again, the lightest weight is 20 kg. I know there is no way I can lift 20kg so I started it with no weight.
I tried a few times without the weight and then I was confident enough to try the 'light' 20kg. It's a bit intimidating the guy opposite to me was piling up on weights while I found it hard enough without any weight. I couldn't actually pull down the 20 kg so I thought if I moved back a bit it would probably be a bit easier. I tried to move back but didn't look behind me. The seat is a lot shorter than the Melbourne Uni one so I ended up on the floor. My friend and another guy rushed to my aid but I had too much pride and told them not to touch me and got up on my own! It's quite embarrassing, almost made me look like Bridget Jones! That was my first experience visiting a gym outside of Melbourne Uni and it made me realise why some women join the all women gyms.
I had physio at Epworth this morning. I was panicking a little bit last week when I found out that Gavin is going away for 2 months from mid October. But then, I thought there will be a time when I will stop physio because it's probably not something I need forever and it's not normal to go to a rehab place all the time, I felt more relaxed. I think as long as I make sure I keep up with my exercises and go to the gym regularly, there is probaably nothing to worry about. Besides, there are times that I feel I haven't done all that much in a physio session for various reasons. Today was a bit like that. Gary was really annoying me. Not really his fault but he just wouldn't shut up about footy. I guess because it's Monday just after the grand final weekend. Sometimes I felt like telling him that he'll probably be able to walk on his own if he doesn't waste so much time talking. It's a bit frustrating having to share the same resources (ie Gavin) with someone who doesn't want to help themselves. I just feel that I don't have time to waste. It's ok for him because he has already wasted a lot of time following footy and talking about but I just don't want him to waste my time.
When I first got to the physio room, Gavin introduced me to Skye, the OT/hand therapist, I was hassling him about. I know Gary goes to her as well and it's also arranged by Gavin. Now that I know my private health insurance will fund all my rehabilition costs at Epworth, I can ask for OT as well. Skye told me they don't usually treat out patients and asked me what do I want in particular. I told her I want to have an assessment done so I know what I need to work on in terms of recovery for my upper limb. She said that's fine but it may be just once off thing. I thought it's a bit strange that Gary has no problem seeing her on a regular basis so I asked Gavin about it. I told him that I need an OT to help me work out a way that I can look after Lillian independently like what the OTs at MECRS were trying to do. He said it's a bit political and he will need to talk to her boss first. Here we go again... I have almost forgotten the politics of different divisions and cross referals after leaving chartered acccounting for a while - something I definitely don't miss.
I practised jumping and running in the walking rails while Gavin was treating Gary. I asked Gavin for people who had brain injuries whether running has to be retrained or can they just pick up like kids because when I watch Lillian, she didn't have to learn how to run and she just started running by herself. He said people who have had brain injuries have to relearn. He said they will probably be able to run again eventually but it will take a lot longer. He also said it's a bit different for kids because their brains are developing but the adult brains have stopped developing. This is exactly what Tim said as well. I guess when there is no luxury of natural recovery, it all depends on how hard I work.
Nothing much happened over the past week or so except that I had another fall. It sounds a lot more serious than it actually is. I went to a gym with Alessia, a friend of mine who lives near my parents' place, last Monday and it made me appreciatee the Melbourne Uni gym a lot more. For a start, this gym is full of guys who have big bulky muscles and almost no necks and when it's really intimidating when they start to pile up on the weights. The machines there are a lot older as well. When I went there on Monday, I realised that there weren't too many machines I could or know how to use. I must admit that I felt a bit uncomfortable in a gym that I'm not familiar with so I was following my friend around a bit. I started with the elliptical when my friend was on the bike. When she finished that and went to the leg press, I followed her, too. The leg press she was using was too scary for me - it's a 45 degrees one that you do it lying down. I prefer the seated leg press. I looked around but couldn't find one so my friend was asking around for me. She found someone who I thought works there and he saw my ankle brace and thought I had a broken ankle. I was a bit worried that he might be worriedd about liability issues since I'm already injured etc. I told him that my problem is not a broken leg or ankle but neuro. He didn't seem to understand so I told him that I had a brain injury and I'm wearing an ankle brace because my tibialis anterior is stronger than the peroneals and that causes my ankle to invert. I wish I had my camera with me, you should see the look on his face. I thought he works there and he knows all these techinical jargons. In the end, i told him i just want to find a leg press that I can use in sitting and I only want to work on the left leg. That he had no problem to understand so he showed me the seated leg press. The only problem with this machine is that there are no marks on the weights so I have no idea how much I'm lifting. Alessia stayed theree with me and got me to try on various weights until I found it just hard enough. I told her to leave me there for a while so she can proceed with her program.
While I was on the leg press, I spotted something else I might be able to use - cable row and lat pull down. I have used these machines in my personal training session so I thought I could give it a try after the leg press. I couldn't believe that the lightest weight is 20kg. At the Melbourne uni gym thee lightest weight is 5 kg. I tried a few without weight and then the 'ligtht' 20kg. It was not too bad but I was doing it bilaterally. While I was using it, i watched the person next to me doing the lat pull down and tried to learn how to use it because the one at the Melbourne Uni gym is a bit different. I went to try the lat pull down after the other person has left. Again, the lightest weight is 20 kg. I know there is no way I can lift 20kg so I started it with no weight.
I tried a few times without the weight and then I was confident enough to try the 'light' 20kg. It's a bit intimidating the guy opposite to me was piling up on weights while I found it hard enough without any weight. I couldn't actually pull down the 20 kg so I thought if I moved back a bit it would probably be a bit easier. I tried to move back but didn't look behind me. The seat is a lot shorter than the Melbourne Uni one so I ended up on the floor. My friend and another guy rushed to my aid but I had too much pride and told them not to touch me and got up on my own! It's quite embarrassing, almost made me look like Bridget Jones! That was my first experience visiting a gym outside of Melbourne Uni and it made me realise why some women join the all women gyms.
I had physio at Epworth this morning. I was panicking a little bit last week when I found out that Gavin is going away for 2 months from mid October. But then, I thought there will be a time when I will stop physio because it's probably not something I need forever and it's not normal to go to a rehab place all the time, I felt more relaxed. I think as long as I make sure I keep up with my exercises and go to the gym regularly, there is probaably nothing to worry about. Besides, there are times that I feel I haven't done all that much in a physio session for various reasons. Today was a bit like that. Gary was really annoying me. Not really his fault but he just wouldn't shut up about footy. I guess because it's Monday just after the grand final weekend. Sometimes I felt like telling him that he'll probably be able to walk on his own if he doesn't waste so much time talking. It's a bit frustrating having to share the same resources (ie Gavin) with someone who doesn't want to help themselves. I just feel that I don't have time to waste. It's ok for him because he has already wasted a lot of time following footy and talking about but I just don't want him to waste my time.
When I first got to the physio room, Gavin introduced me to Skye, the OT/hand therapist, I was hassling him about. I know Gary goes to her as well and it's also arranged by Gavin. Now that I know my private health insurance will fund all my rehabilition costs at Epworth, I can ask for OT as well. Skye told me they don't usually treat out patients and asked me what do I want in particular. I told her I want to have an assessment done so I know what I need to work on in terms of recovery for my upper limb. She said that's fine but it may be just once off thing. I thought it's a bit strange that Gary has no problem seeing her on a regular basis so I asked Gavin about it. I told him that I need an OT to help me work out a way that I can look after Lillian independently like what the OTs at MECRS were trying to do. He said it's a bit political and he will need to talk to her boss first. Here we go again... I have almost forgotten the politics of different divisions and cross referals after leaving chartered acccounting for a while - something I definitely don't miss.
I practised jumping and running in the walking rails while Gavin was treating Gary. I asked Gavin for people who had brain injuries whether running has to be retrained or can they just pick up like kids because when I watch Lillian, she didn't have to learn how to run and she just started running by herself. He said people who have had brain injuries have to relearn. He said they will probably be able to run again eventually but it will take a lot longer. He also said it's a bit different for kids because their brains are developing but the adult brains have stopped developing. This is exactly what Tim said as well. I guess when there is no luxury of natural recovery, it all depends on how hard I work.
posted by Teresa Liu at 8:55 PM
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