My left big toe is realllllly pissing me off at the moment. For the last three hours or so the bloody thing has been doing the usual of feeling like it is rubbing on the inside fo the trainer so that the top of my toe should be red raw. Ordinarily I am able to kind of ignore it but I’m buggered if I get get control of it at the moment. As long as this is the only thing that I have to try to deal with then it should be manageable, I don’t want to go back to where I could feel every little thing that was hurting or those that could have been phantom pains. This is another thing that able bodied won’t be able to understand, how do I know which is real and which is phantom? Answer….I bloody don’t most of the time as they all feel real. You just have to try, as I have, to teach yourself to ignore it all. Aaaaand breathe. Rant over…..for a minute.
Not such an exhausting day today. I had a stint on the leg bike which my feet get strapped in to and then the motors turn at the speed that you set for the duration that you want and you try to assist. It was exceptionally weird to see my legs turning the crank but knowing that my legs weren’t turning the crank, if you get my meaning. The reason for me using it was to keep the joints moving, to give a bit of a CV workout and to encourage my legs to remember what they are actually attached to my torso for, which contrary to how they act is not just for show! The likelyhood of them actually turning the crank themselves is not high obviously but it doesn’t hurt to do it. I spent 15 minutes going forward and then 15 minutes going backward. I did say to the assistant who put me in it that I was more than a little dissapointed that she had made my legs pedal for half an hour and I had ended up exactly where I started but if I am honest it didn’t cause her to raise even a smile and went down like a fart in a packed lift, some people have no sense of humor! From here I was handed to my new physio. I don’t have Jo as my physio this time as she works solely with first time admissions which I was a little gutted about as she worked so hard with me last time to the point we nearly cracked the floor transfers but my new physio is just as commited and determined so I am really looking forward to working with her.
She went through the discharge report that Jo did last time and we reviewed what aims and achievements we had completed and what needed re visiting if any, of which there was only my ankles, and we agreed that the time can be spent almost entirely on the transfer problem. She did give me some splints today for my feet. When I was in Frenchay I had a boot which went on to my feet alternately for a period of time to prevent my feet from dropping. When I got to Salisbury Spinal unit I was told that I did not need them. The problem I now have is that my feet have indeed dropped and are very tight. Standing helps this but if my heel cannot touch the ground so that my feet are flat, my feet will tip outwards to spread the weight which can and will cause me problems. As a result I have been given two splints for my feet that I have to wear for half an hour at a time but then have to let my feet rest and for the indentations which will be left as they have to be strapped quite tight, to recover and my feet to be checked. After a break they are then placed back on. So that was what we did in our first physio session today, we are going to see the foot specialist, (forget what they call them), who will maybe make some adjustments to the splints later in the week but the next session is all about the transfers. I hope that I will be able to do well enough to get from my handcycle to my chair by the end of the two weeks but if I can’t, it won’t be from lack of determination and hard work from myself or my physio!
Goodnight all.