10 October 2005
I was quite excited this morning because I had an appointment with Skye, the hand therapist, after my physio session wth Gavin this morning. I wonder if she’ll be able to tell me if there is anything else I can or should do with my upper limb.
I went to my physio session an hour earlier than one usual time because I had to see Skye after my physio session. I had to get up a bit earlier than usual and I’m starting to wonder if I can cope going back to work yet because I felt quite tired even before I left the house. I found the traffic a lot worse this morning. Maybe it’s just towards the end of peak hour traffic.
I already know what I would be working on in physio today – more running practices. I know I’ll be doing this every time until I can actually run. I actually tried to do a bit of practice on the weekend but still couldn’t land on my toes when I run – something I’m aiming for. When I spoke to Tim, he thought it’s a bit strange because he said when he jogs he lands on heels and only in sprinting you land on your toes. I don’t know the logic behind it but that’s what Gavin got me to practice last week.
The physio treatment room was pretty quiet when I got there. I guess it’s probably because most patients have the sessions after 10 a.m. and I got there just before 10 a.m. I warmed up with some walking practice and Gavin set up a trampoline and asked me to practice running on it like last week. The room was extremely quiet without Gary. I know he is in a session with Skye so when Skye finishes with him, she’ll see me. There were other usual patients of Gavin around – Nick, a guy who had car accident and Meg, I think she is quite new because I have only see her a few times. They have both improved a lot since the last time I saw them. One thing I noticed about these patients who had car accident is that they are usually very quiet. I’m not sure if it’s because they have problem with their speech or they are just quiet. I guess not everyone is as loud as Gary.
I think the running practice is quite physically demanding because I got tired quite easily when I haven’t been on the trampoline for very long. Gavin asked Libby to help me with practising running in the middle of the room and in the hallway. They put a belt around me so Libby can hold it when I run – it’s supposed to be a safety measure so she can grab me before I fall. I’m not sure if the devise will actually work in the event of someone actually falls because Libby is very pettite and I wonder if she is strong enough to catch the patient if he/she actually have a fall.
Gavin still tells me that I need to land on my toes when I’m running. I asked him about what Tim said and he said that’s right that when people jog, they land on their heels but for people who had brain injuries it doesn’t work to teach them to land on their heels. Something to do with weakness in the extensors. He said the only way I can learn to run is to teach me to run on my toes first and then later I can land on my heels. Sounds very complicated. In a way I feel guilty that I get to learn to run again from someone who specialises in high mobility while the patients at MECRS don’t have the opportunity to do so.
I practiced running on the floor a few times but still couldn’t land on my toes. Gavin told Libby to get me to start with standing on my toes first and then run again. When I was standing, I could sort of stand on my toes but as soon I took a step, I was back on my heels again. Gavin told me to sit down and grab hold of some tapes. I thought he was going to tape my ankle so I told him I actually have my ankle brace in my bag. He said he’s going to tape my right foot. I didn’t understand why he would want to do that. I didn’t see but he had a heel of a shoe in his hand and he said he’s going to stick the heel on the sole of my shoe to make it higher so I can feel what position my foot should be in. It’s a bit like wearing high heels. I told him that he should just tell me earlier because I have plenty of high heel shoes. He said high heel shoes are banned in physio. I thought they might be worried about the floor in the physio room but he told me that high heels are bad for your feet. I know that already. I think years of wearing high heels have caused lots of damange on my legs already but seriously, how would I know that before? Before I had Lillian,, I didn’t even own a pair of flat shoes. It’s not till late in the pregnancy that I started to have back pains and had to get myself a few pairs of comfortable shoes with lower heels but still not completely flat. Come to think of it, I used to be able to run in my high heels – especially when the tram was coming and I was running late for work.
When I was back on the trampoline practising with the newly attached heel, I overheard Gavin telling someone about his leave. I know he is going to take two months off but I didn’t know why. He explained to someone that it’s actually his long service leave but next year he wants to take up some fellowship and do some research so he’ll only be here on a part-time basis and if he doesn’t use up his leave, he’ll loose a lot of it as it will be pro-rated or something like that. I’m not sure if this has any effect on my physio program when he goes part-time. I guess I’ll worry about it when the time comes. I’m quite lucky already because orginally MECRS was planning to discharge me back in May and when I came to Epworth, Gavin was working on the basis that my insurance will pay 50 sessions and it would last me till around September. Whatever session I’m getting now is just a bonus.
After my physio session, Gavin took me to see Skye. Her office is upstairs. I actually haven’t been to that part of the building before. When Gavin got me to practice going up and down the stairs in the past, I didn’t go all the way up to the OT area. I was surprised that I actually got away with using the rails as we went up the stairs. Skye was still with Gary when we got there. She left Gary with Gavin and took me to another room. She asked me to give her a brief history of what happened to me and what I’ve done so far as there is not a lot in my file. She got some notes from my Bobath course but I told her I didn’t work on upper limb in the course. She said that’s right and apparently she was at the course as well except I don’t remember seeing her there. She said in Bobath course they worked on core stability because once you have strong core stability, the arm part will become easier. This is just like what Prema said. I told her about what happened and that I didn’t really have much treatment on my upper limb when I was at MECRS. I told her that Neil and Rosemary visited me at hospital every day and worked with me on whatever exercises they could think of and when I got home I was doing their exercises every day for quite a while. She was quite amazed how well my upper limb has recovered with little physio or OT treatment.
She checked my hand and thought there is really nothing wrong with it but she thought I probably could work on the co-ordination a bit more. She showed me some exercises and it’s just the basic thumb opposition exercises. She said I could add theraputty in the exercises if I want to.
She also showed me a few shoulder exercises – mainly the ones I’m already doing with Gavin and also Mary. She also thought my left shoulder is very tight and I need to stretch it out a bit more. She’s shown me some stretches as well. My session didn’t actually go for an hour because there’s nothing much she could help me with. I asked her about whether she’ll be able to help me to find a way I can look after Lillian more independently. She said Gavin has mentioned this to her but she thought she will need to talk to him about referring me to a community based rehab service because she doesn’t normally see out patients and I’ll need someone who is close by .
I went to my physio session an hour earlier than one usual time because I had to see Skye after my physio session. I had to get up a bit earlier than usual and I’m starting to wonder if I can cope going back to work yet because I felt quite tired even before I left the house. I found the traffic a lot worse this morning. Maybe it’s just towards the end of peak hour traffic.
I already know what I would be working on in physio today – more running practices. I know I’ll be doing this every time until I can actually run. I actually tried to do a bit of practice on the weekend but still couldn’t land on my toes when I run – something I’m aiming for. When I spoke to Tim, he thought it’s a bit strange because he said when he jogs he lands on heels and only in sprinting you land on your toes. I don’t know the logic behind it but that’s what Gavin got me to practice last week.
The physio treatment room was pretty quiet when I got there. I guess it’s probably because most patients have the sessions after 10 a.m. and I got there just before 10 a.m. I warmed up with some walking practice and Gavin set up a trampoline and asked me to practice running on it like last week. The room was extremely quiet without Gary. I know he is in a session with Skye so when Skye finishes with him, she’ll see me. There were other usual patients of Gavin around – Nick, a guy who had car accident and Meg, I think she is quite new because I have only see her a few times. They have both improved a lot since the last time I saw them. One thing I noticed about these patients who had car accident is that they are usually very quiet. I’m not sure if it’s because they have problem with their speech or they are just quiet. I guess not everyone is as loud as Gary.
I think the running practice is quite physically demanding because I got tired quite easily when I haven’t been on the trampoline for very long. Gavin asked Libby to help me with practising running in the middle of the room and in the hallway. They put a belt around me so Libby can hold it when I run – it’s supposed to be a safety measure so she can grab me before I fall. I’m not sure if the devise will actually work in the event of someone actually falls because Libby is very pettite and I wonder if she is strong enough to catch the patient if he/she actually have a fall.
Gavin still tells me that I need to land on my toes when I’m running. I asked him about what Tim said and he said that’s right that when people jog, they land on their heels but for people who had brain injuries it doesn’t work to teach them to land on their heels. Something to do with weakness in the extensors. He said the only way I can learn to run is to teach me to run on my toes first and then later I can land on my heels. Sounds very complicated. In a way I feel guilty that I get to learn to run again from someone who specialises in high mobility while the patients at MECRS don’t have the opportunity to do so.
I practiced running on the floor a few times but still couldn’t land on my toes. Gavin told Libby to get me to start with standing on my toes first and then run again. When I was standing, I could sort of stand on my toes but as soon I took a step, I was back on my heels again. Gavin told me to sit down and grab hold of some tapes. I thought he was going to tape my ankle so I told him I actually have my ankle brace in my bag. He said he’s going to tape my right foot. I didn’t understand why he would want to do that. I didn’t see but he had a heel of a shoe in his hand and he said he’s going to stick the heel on the sole of my shoe to make it higher so I can feel what position my foot should be in. It’s a bit like wearing high heels. I told him that he should just tell me earlier because I have plenty of high heel shoes. He said high heel shoes are banned in physio. I thought they might be worried about the floor in the physio room but he told me that high heels are bad for your feet. I know that already. I think years of wearing high heels have caused lots of damange on my legs already but seriously, how would I know that before? Before I had Lillian,, I didn’t even own a pair of flat shoes. It’s not till late in the pregnancy that I started to have back pains and had to get myself a few pairs of comfortable shoes with lower heels but still not completely flat. Come to think of it, I used to be able to run in my high heels – especially when the tram was coming and I was running late for work.
When I was back on the trampoline practising with the newly attached heel, I overheard Gavin telling someone about his leave. I know he is going to take two months off but I didn’t know why. He explained to someone that it’s actually his long service leave but next year he wants to take up some fellowship and do some research so he’ll only be here on a part-time basis and if he doesn’t use up his leave, he’ll loose a lot of it as it will be pro-rated or something like that. I’m not sure if this has any effect on my physio program when he goes part-time. I guess I’ll worry about it when the time comes. I’m quite lucky already because orginally MECRS was planning to discharge me back in May and when I came to Epworth, Gavin was working on the basis that my insurance will pay 50 sessions and it would last me till around September. Whatever session I’m getting now is just a bonus.
After my physio session, Gavin took me to see Skye. Her office is upstairs. I actually haven’t been to that part of the building before. When Gavin got me to practice going up and down the stairs in the past, I didn’t go all the way up to the OT area. I was surprised that I actually got away with using the rails as we went up the stairs. Skye was still with Gary when we got there. She left Gary with Gavin and took me to another room. She asked me to give her a brief history of what happened to me and what I’ve done so far as there is not a lot in my file. She got some notes from my Bobath course but I told her I didn’t work on upper limb in the course. She said that’s right and apparently she was at the course as well except I don’t remember seeing her there. She said in Bobath course they worked on core stability because once you have strong core stability, the arm part will become easier. This is just like what Prema said. I told her about what happened and that I didn’t really have much treatment on my upper limb when I was at MECRS. I told her that Neil and Rosemary visited me at hospital every day and worked with me on whatever exercises they could think of and when I got home I was doing their exercises every day for quite a while. She was quite amazed how well my upper limb has recovered with little physio or OT treatment.
She checked my hand and thought there is really nothing wrong with it but she thought I probably could work on the co-ordination a bit more. She showed me some exercises and it’s just the basic thumb opposition exercises. She said I could add theraputty in the exercises if I want to.
She also showed me a few shoulder exercises – mainly the ones I’m already doing with Gavin and also Mary. She also thought my left shoulder is very tight and I need to stretch it out a bit more. She’s shown me some stretches as well. My session didn’t actually go for an hour because there’s nothing much she could help me with. I asked her about whether she’ll be able to help me to find a way I can look after Lillian more independently. She said Gavin has mentioned this to her but she thought she will need to talk to him about referring me to a community based rehab service because she doesn’t normally see out patients and I’ll need someone who is close by .
posted by Teresa Liu at 12:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home