20 January 2006
20 January 2006
We have been in Canberra since Christmas and only just returned home last Thursday. I have been working very hard since arriving in Melbourne. Actually, I did quite a bit of exercises even before we left Canberra for Melbourne because I knew it’s a long drive and by the time we get to Melbourne I probably wouldn’t bother going to the gym. I was right because I was quite exhausted by the time we got home.
I had physio with Gavin last Friday. It’s my first physio session with him this year and the first time I’ve seen him in three months. When I first got there, Rochelle, an exercise physiologist, greeted me and told me Gavin is still working on the ward but he wanted me to have another HiMAT test. The last test I had was back in August last year. Gavin said I should have a test every six months just to see how I’m progressing. The first test I had was February last year when I first went to Epworth for physio. In that test, I scored 6 out of 54. In August, my scored improved dramatically to 18. Rochelle set up a mini trampoline for me to do some running practice to warm up. I was feeling very stiff from sitting in the car for too long on the way back to Melbourne. I know I probably wouldn’t do very well in the test since I still cannot run or skip and is a bit rusty with the stairs as well. On the other hand, I was a bit worried that if I do too well in the test, Gavin will probably cut down on my physio sessions. He did mention in an email that his plan for me this year is to have a good gym program and wean physio over a period of time. I have to say that I didn’t try very hard in the test because I was feeling very stiff and I was also worried that he might consider reducing physio sessions straight away.
When Rochelle finished adding up, she didn’t show it to me but I could see it says 17 out of 54. I was a bit surprised because I was expecting much lower score. When Gavin came in and looked at the score, I told him I was having terrible problems with the stairs and I just can’t seem to be able to walking down the stairs without the rails anymore. I know I could do it a few months ago when I had my test last August. Gavin said it’s normal and I just need more practice with the stairs. He said what I’m doing is like skill acquisition and if I stop practising, I go backward because I haven’t got to a stage that I can retain the skill without practising yet. He said what I want to achieve is get to a stage that I won’t go backward even when I stop practising. It seems to make sense except I don’t know how long it will take for me to reach that stage. It’s a bit scary when I relate the sort of skill acquisition in walking to dacing or even playing tennis or golf. I know no matter how good a dancer you are, if you stop practising, you get rusty after a while. I think the same applies to tennis and golf players.
I went back to work on Monday after a long Christmas break. My case manager, the OT and I were supposed to have a meeting to set my plan for the next few weeks. When I turned up on Monday, I found out through my case manager that the OT has left and her company has assigned another OT on my case but he was away sick so we had to cancel the meeting. I was a bit annoyed by this because the OT obviously knew she was leaving prior to the Christmas break but didn’t say anything. In a way, I felt she wasted everyone’s time because it will take this new person a while to get to know my case. I was also a bit annoyed to find out from my case manager that they only allow a budget of $2,500 to start with and the OT has used about $2,000 so far. I guess she works like accountants do – she charges for her time. I asked my case manager what happens when the budget runs out. She told me when the budget runs out, my department will have to fund it. This is bad news. As one can imagine that every department will try not to overspend and ensure that they have enough budget for the whole year. I’m a bit concerned that this will make me an undesirable employee. I don’t understand how she could have spent so much time on this. So far, we had one meeting and she has written two reports which contained incorrect information. I know why there were a lot of mistakes in her report. I gave her a copy of my discharge summary from MECRS at our first meeting. There were many mistakes in that summary and I suspect she just copied from the summary.
I enrolled in a short course in Pilates and had my first class on Tuesday. I thought Pilates is probably good for me because it works the transverses abdominis which is a deep abdominal muscle that is also the core stabiliser of the trunk. Both Ruth and Prema think I have weak deep abdominals and that's apprent in my walking. When I enrolled, they told me there’re only 6 people in the class. I found out in my first session that there are 12 people enrolled in the class. Melissa, the pilates instructor seems nice but she was going through the exercises so quickly. I found it hard to follow so I wonder how other people in my class were doing. Since we were lying on the mats when we were doing the exercises I couldn’t really see what others were doing and if they had problem to keep up as well. I told Tim that I found it really difficult to keep up in the pilates class. He thinks it’s probably like dancing, many people find it very hard when they go to their first lesson and as they attend more classes they will find it easier. Maybe he is right. The pilates course goes for 5 weeks so I guess I’ll see how I go after the next couple of sessions.
We have been in Canberra since Christmas and only just returned home last Thursday. I have been working very hard since arriving in Melbourne. Actually, I did quite a bit of exercises even before we left Canberra for Melbourne because I knew it’s a long drive and by the time we get to Melbourne I probably wouldn’t bother going to the gym. I was right because I was quite exhausted by the time we got home.
I had physio with Gavin last Friday. It’s my first physio session with him this year and the first time I’ve seen him in three months. When I first got there, Rochelle, an exercise physiologist, greeted me and told me Gavin is still working on the ward but he wanted me to have another HiMAT test. The last test I had was back in August last year. Gavin said I should have a test every six months just to see how I’m progressing. The first test I had was February last year when I first went to Epworth for physio. In that test, I scored 6 out of 54. In August, my scored improved dramatically to 18. Rochelle set up a mini trampoline for me to do some running practice to warm up. I was feeling very stiff from sitting in the car for too long on the way back to Melbourne. I know I probably wouldn’t do very well in the test since I still cannot run or skip and is a bit rusty with the stairs as well. On the other hand, I was a bit worried that if I do too well in the test, Gavin will probably cut down on my physio sessions. He did mention in an email that his plan for me this year is to have a good gym program and wean physio over a period of time. I have to say that I didn’t try very hard in the test because I was feeling very stiff and I was also worried that he might consider reducing physio sessions straight away.
When Rochelle finished adding up, she didn’t show it to me but I could see it says 17 out of 54. I was a bit surprised because I was expecting much lower score. When Gavin came in and looked at the score, I told him I was having terrible problems with the stairs and I just can’t seem to be able to walking down the stairs without the rails anymore. I know I could do it a few months ago when I had my test last August. Gavin said it’s normal and I just need more practice with the stairs. He said what I’m doing is like skill acquisition and if I stop practising, I go backward because I haven’t got to a stage that I can retain the skill without practising yet. He said what I want to achieve is get to a stage that I won’t go backward even when I stop practising. It seems to make sense except I don’t know how long it will take for me to reach that stage. It’s a bit scary when I relate the sort of skill acquisition in walking to dacing or even playing tennis or golf. I know no matter how good a dancer you are, if you stop practising, you get rusty after a while. I think the same applies to tennis and golf players.
I went back to work on Monday after a long Christmas break. My case manager, the OT and I were supposed to have a meeting to set my plan for the next few weeks. When I turned up on Monday, I found out through my case manager that the OT has left and her company has assigned another OT on my case but he was away sick so we had to cancel the meeting. I was a bit annoyed by this because the OT obviously knew she was leaving prior to the Christmas break but didn’t say anything. In a way, I felt she wasted everyone’s time because it will take this new person a while to get to know my case. I was also a bit annoyed to find out from my case manager that they only allow a budget of $2,500 to start with and the OT has used about $2,000 so far. I guess she works like accountants do – she charges for her time. I asked my case manager what happens when the budget runs out. She told me when the budget runs out, my department will have to fund it. This is bad news. As one can imagine that every department will try not to overspend and ensure that they have enough budget for the whole year. I’m a bit concerned that this will make me an undesirable employee. I don’t understand how she could have spent so much time on this. So far, we had one meeting and she has written two reports which contained incorrect information. I know why there were a lot of mistakes in her report. I gave her a copy of my discharge summary from MECRS at our first meeting. There were many mistakes in that summary and I suspect she just copied from the summary.
I enrolled in a short course in Pilates and had my first class on Tuesday. I thought Pilates is probably good for me because it works the transverses abdominis which is a deep abdominal muscle that is also the core stabiliser of the trunk. Both Ruth and Prema think I have weak deep abdominals and that's apprent in my walking. When I enrolled, they told me there’re only 6 people in the class. I found out in my first session that there are 12 people enrolled in the class. Melissa, the pilates instructor seems nice but she was going through the exercises so quickly. I found it hard to follow so I wonder how other people in my class were doing. Since we were lying on the mats when we were doing the exercises I couldn’t really see what others were doing and if they had problem to keep up as well. I told Tim that I found it really difficult to keep up in the pilates class. He thinks it’s probably like dancing, many people find it very hard when they go to their first lesson and as they attend more classes they will find it easier. Maybe he is right. The pilates course goes for 5 weeks so I guess I’ll see how I go after the next couple of sessions.
posted by Teresa Liu at 8:35 PM
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