Hey reader people! Bask in the glory of this non-update...
First, happy birthday, Les Claypool!
PT has been going strong with all sorts of fun stuff at my request - Total Gym, Redcord, Wave, Uppertone, cool mat work, etc. It's been enjoyable and productive...and hard, of course! As it should be. Progress: alllmost functional (nearing 2 or higher on ASIA strength tests) voluntary control of various abdominal and related core muscles! I already knew I could stabilize myself with trunk muscles quasi-randomly when wheeling around on rugged terrain and doing leaning stuff in the room, but contractions are becoming stronger in, dare I pun, a more controlled therapeutic environment. Rock.
Elsewhere, it has become Detroitly outside - cold, windy, wet, and most stereotypically, gray. It's just the start, though, as these adjectives will only intensify as they stick around until next May or so. Yay, gray. More merrily, the hardest part of my current write->proof->fix->submit task is over, chemistry relearning and all! Yes, that's intentionally and mandatorily cryptic. Enjoy guessing.
Elsewhere elsewhere, my Wii Tennis skilz are developing from "royally subpar" back to "thoroughly average"... Why oh why am I incapable of standing a chance in any of the tennis training tasks?? I'm better at boring people away from the e-stim bikes, it seems. Watching simulated doubles matches is apparently not too enthralling.
Eh, I don't have much more to contribute, and Jeopardy[!] is distracting my nerdly soul. My apologies; a few more weeks of severely busy before worthwhile (err, less worthless) updates return. Until then... Rocket!
29 September 2009
10 September 2009
tossing up
Hey strangers! Here's a quickie while I'm on self-regulated break...
PT has been mostly the usual stuff, with emphasis on the Wave vibration plate exercises and time in/on the Total Gym - one of my favorite activities has been playing catch [extremely poorly] while on the T-Gym or in long sit position, throwing one of those large kiddie rubber bouncy balls back and forth with my trainer. Catching = easy, throwing = not so much. I play with quite a few children's toys...
The most hilarious (and one of the most difficult) tasks has been, um, "extra strength" wheelchair propulsion? To start benignly, let's push around outside, going a fairly long distance, checking out inclines/declines/ramps/etc. To spice it up, add 1) wrist weights, 2) a trainer trying to pull me backwards via stretchy exercise tubing tied to the back of my chair. That's right, wimpy jlink, armed with wrist weights (pun severely intended), pulling someone around DMC campus in the manuchair. Someone fetch a little red wagon.
There has been one completely new exercise system for me as of last Friday. Recently the CSCIR acquired a Redcord suspension weapon, which is, in short, a bunch of bungee-style stretchy tubing (colored red, of course, or else they need a naming consultant) hanging from the ceiling. The apparatus is used to suspend the participant partially or completely above a standard therapy mat table, facilitating myriad exercises with better manipulation of weight distribution to improve task efficiency. Royally confusing? This might help.
On Friday I did two activities in "modified prone on elbows" position, face down, elbows in contact with the mat, but with the rest of my body suspended. First were scapular protractions, aka shoulder-powered pushups through elbows; in the suspended position, this works not only paraspinals and rhomboids, but also all sorts of traps and "chin tuck" muscles to keep from swinging all over the place (ha ha, sorry, dust off your anatomy book for that sentence). The other was the dynamically stationary army crawl, where I push my body forward and back through my elbows - like taking one crawl-step forward and then one back, such that I wouldn't actually go anywhere. This is waaaay better on the Redcord than our old method of rolling on bolsters! Let's just say the bolster way was rather unpleasant... So, yay, new and cool therapeutic weaponry.
That's about it for phys ther... What else? The alischool year has started here in the 3-1-3, and I've/we've been super mega busy lining up PA help to cater to my toddler needs during the day on weekdays. It's working out extremely well so far. HIPAA says I shouldn't mention anything else.
Speaking of top secrecy, my apologies, I've been writing stuff other than blog posts lately, so updates have been scarce. Lo siento again. I'm reminded that I can't do high school-level math anymore, and that I remember approximately no chemistry whatsoever... Thus, more apologies, I'll still be ravenously busy for a bit longer and probably won't be able to afford much postage. If you're itching for jlink blog amusement - ha, yeah right - feel free to re-browse around last March's musical posts and comment away! Also, I'll gladly throw in a plug for the jarmstro's endlessly entertaining musings. Read, foo!
Ok, that's about it. My vintage electric razor finally bit the dust, so I got a new one and I'm trying to raze on a regular basis - we'll see how long that lasts. It doesn't help that I have three-day stubble after about 20min... Howl, it's the wolfman. Rocket.
PT has been mostly the usual stuff, with emphasis on the Wave vibration plate exercises and time in/on the Total Gym - one of my favorite activities has been playing catch [extremely poorly] while on the T-Gym or in long sit position, throwing one of those large kiddie rubber bouncy balls back and forth with my trainer. Catching = easy, throwing = not so much. I play with quite a few children's toys...
The most hilarious (and one of the most difficult) tasks has been, um, "extra strength" wheelchair propulsion? To start benignly, let's push around outside, going a fairly long distance, checking out inclines/declines/ramps/etc. To spice it up, add 1) wrist weights, 2) a trainer trying to pull me backwards via stretchy exercise tubing tied to the back of my chair. That's right, wimpy jlink, armed with wrist weights (pun severely intended), pulling someone around DMC campus in the manuchair. Someone fetch a little red wagon.
There has been one completely new exercise system for me as of last Friday. Recently the CSCIR acquired a Redcord suspension weapon, which is, in short, a bunch of bungee-style stretchy tubing (colored red, of course, or else they need a naming consultant) hanging from the ceiling. The apparatus is used to suspend the participant partially or completely above a standard therapy mat table, facilitating myriad exercises with better manipulation of weight distribution to improve task efficiency. Royally confusing? This might help.
On Friday I did two activities in "modified prone on elbows" position, face down, elbows in contact with the mat, but with the rest of my body suspended. First were scapular protractions, aka shoulder-powered pushups through elbows; in the suspended position, this works not only paraspinals and rhomboids, but also all sorts of traps and "chin tuck" muscles to keep from swinging all over the place (ha ha, sorry, dust off your anatomy book for that sentence). The other was the dynamically stationary army crawl, where I push my body forward and back through my elbows - like taking one crawl-step forward and then one back, such that I wouldn't actually go anywhere. This is waaaay better on the Redcord than our old method of rolling on bolsters! Let's just say the bolster way was rather unpleasant... So, yay, new and cool therapeutic weaponry.
That's about it for phys ther... What else? The alischool year has started here in the 3-1-3, and I've/we've been super mega busy lining up PA help to cater to my toddler needs during the day on weekdays. It's working out extremely well so far. HIPAA says I shouldn't mention anything else.
Speaking of top secrecy, my apologies, I've been writing stuff other than blog posts lately, so updates have been scarce. Lo siento again. I'm reminded that I can't do high school-level math anymore, and that I remember approximately no chemistry whatsoever... Thus, more apologies, I'll still be ravenously busy for a bit longer and probably won't be able to afford much postage. If you're itching for jlink blog amusement - ha, yeah right - feel free to re-browse around last March's musical posts and comment away! Also, I'll gladly throw in a plug for the jarmstro's endlessly entertaining musings. Read, foo!
Ok, that's about it. My vintage electric razor finally bit the dust, so I got a new one and I'm trying to raze on a regular basis - we'll see how long that lasts. It doesn't help that I have three-day stubble after about 20min... Howl, it's the wolfman. Rocket.
11 August 2009
relocs
Hey all! Perhaps I should update this century. Prepare for rambling nonsense, as always.
PT activities have been hi-qual. Beyond the typical e-stim biking, weights, and mat work, I've gotten to do Total Gym stuff and real arm biking several times... Weee. It's hard work, but oh well - easy therapy is pointless! Frighteningly enough, it's easier/less traumatizing for my posture and blood pressure to be upright in the T-Gym Norris Machine than it is to sit in the manual chair; maintaining the 90-90 position for so long isn't a truly natural human trick. Speaking of, I guess I'm getting better in the manuworld, as I don't even remember when I last used the power chair... Remember the part where at least one of my doctors told me the manuchair would be impossible and I'd be stuck in a power chair forever? Hmmm!
The biggest PT change has been that the facility was moved to a different part of the building. Today was my first session in the new digs. I was expecting a horror but was pleasantly surprised! Anything is a step down from the incredible space we used to have, but the new place is, umm, sufficiently mediocre? The track is tiny, pathetic, and barely usable, but otherwise, it's a workable setup. If nothing else, it's warmer! We'll see how it goes after inpatient neuro moves in next door.
In OT world, a bit of a surprise - monaliso came on Thurs to learn about crazy underwater hand e-stim and the like... And then I was discharged! Nobody gave me a warning...explanation...anything... I think it's that I do enough OT stuff on my own that sessions are superfluous? Who knows. I hope I wasn't kicked out.
Otherwise, life is incredibly busy but incredibly fantastic. A zillion deadlines are fast approaching, but I'm still in procrastination phase (permanently, of course). The "live-in caregiver" is moving in very soon, but I still need to organize further daily assistance, as she'll start her real job bastante pronto... I had forgotten how much work [and potentially fun] it is to teach personal assistants from scratch. I know I need to be bossy, but that's not exactly one of my best skills. Whew.
Umm, what else? I finally have my nice speakers up here, yay! No more agonizingly tinny laptop audio, and I don't have to wear the C-clamp-on-my-massive-melon headphones all the time to enjoy snob-certified sound. Oh bro, I learned from the best :-/ Now if I could just have a kitty or two, I'd never leave the room.
oook, food, proofread, post... Thunderbirds are go!
PT activities have been hi-qual. Beyond the typical e-stim biking, weights, and mat work, I've gotten to do Total Gym stuff and real arm biking several times... Weee. It's hard work, but oh well - easy therapy is pointless! Frighteningly enough, it's easier/less traumatizing for my posture and blood pressure to be upright in the T-Gym Norris Machine than it is to sit in the manual chair; maintaining the 90-90 position for so long isn't a truly natural human trick. Speaking of, I guess I'm getting better in the manuworld, as I don't even remember when I last used the power chair... Remember the part where at least one of my doctors told me the manuchair would be impossible and I'd be stuck in a power chair forever? Hmmm!
The biggest PT change has been that the facility was moved to a different part of the building. Today was my first session in the new digs. I was expecting a horror but was pleasantly surprised! Anything is a step down from the incredible space we used to have, but the new place is, umm, sufficiently mediocre? The track is tiny, pathetic, and barely usable, but otherwise, it's a workable setup. If nothing else, it's warmer! We'll see how it goes after inpatient neuro moves in next door.
In OT world, a bit of a surprise - monaliso came on Thurs to learn about crazy underwater hand e-stim and the like... And then I was discharged! Nobody gave me a warning...explanation...anything... I think it's that I do enough OT stuff on my own that sessions are superfluous? Who knows. I hope I wasn't kicked out.
Otherwise, life is incredibly busy but incredibly fantastic. A zillion deadlines are fast approaching, but I'm still in procrastination phase (permanently, of course). The "live-in caregiver" is moving in very soon, but I still need to organize further daily assistance, as she'll start her real job bastante pronto... I had forgotten how much work [and potentially fun] it is to teach personal assistants from scratch. I know I need to be bossy, but that's not exactly one of my best skills. Whew.
Umm, what else? I finally have my nice speakers up here, yay! No more agonizingly tinny laptop audio, and I don't have to wear the C-clamp-on-my-massive-melon headphones all the time to enjoy snob-certified sound. Oh bro, I learned from the best :-/ Now if I could just have a kitty or two, I'd never leave the room.
oook, food, proofread, post... Thunderbirds are go!
29 July 2009
FTW
Hey all! I've been feeling rather fevery for a few days, but here's something (zealously cropped for privacy) to enjoy:
That's right, weight-bearing through my legs on the Norris-endorsed Total Gym (recall, nerds, vertical force here = earth's gravity times my mass times the sine of the angle of incline [F_y = mGsinθ]).
And, much to the shock and dismay of myriad anti-progress folk, my bones didn't turn into calcium-flavored Jell-O! Ha.
It's a start - finally a move in the right direction.
That's right, weight-bearing through my legs on the Norris-endorsed Total Gym (recall, nerds, vertical force here = earth's gravity times my mass times the sine of the angle of incline [F_y = mGsinθ]).
And, much to the shock and dismay of myriad anti-progress folk, my bones didn't turn into calcium-flavored Jell-O! Ha.
It's a start - finally a move in the right direction.
23 July 2009
brazocycle
Here's a quick shot of the aforementioned arm bike, bad posture and all. Woohoo.
Happy whatever. Word out.
Happy whatever. Word out.
19 July 2009
smrt
Hellooooooooo...
Hi-qual PT and OT this week! Tues/Wed PT was actually not that phenomenal; nothing new the first day, and about 2h of thoroughly subpar mat work before e-stim bike on the second. Friday, though, new activity! Sandwiched between weights and zap biking was some time on the real arm bike. Think giganto wheelchair-turned-tricycle, with arm pedaling to provide propulsion through the front wheel. It's a hacked ten-speed, really, gears and all. I just did laps around the indoor track - no big adventures - although it was an adventure weaving around the zillion other people also doing laps. You might safely guess that I in arm cycle was a bit faster than others much harder at work crawling or walking on their own... Somehow I managed not to injure myself or anyone else. Weee.
OT was new stuff as well this week. We played the reschedule/cancel game, so I only had one session. Oh well. I think I've explained before that my arms are extremely hypersensitive, seemingly as part of the natural progression of improvement and extension of normal perception of touch sensation. For now it's to the point where I usually keep my sleeves rolled up so they don't constantly scratch my deltoid-region shoulders and make me flip out slash want to injure someone. So, in OT we're using vibration sensation to try to reduce hypersensitivity. It involves stimulating my arms with this magic vibration massage wand, starting with very tolerable sensation on the least irritated areas, currently my lower forearms close to my wrists. Right now we're dissipating some of the vibration by placing a foam ball between the vibration source and my arm, too. It's pretty benign, but we'll gradually make it more bothersome, increasing intensity and moving up to more irritable areas. Woohoo, doesn't intentional aggravation sound like fun? Like consciously getting a bad sunburn and then rubbing it with sandpaper... If therapy isn't crazy, it's not worthwhile!
Elsewhere, I just put fresh contacts in with record speed (not that fast)... I've still been rolling around the DMC for a few miles on nice days - long enough last time that one of the wheel batteries died after I got back to the room. In the rant world, some doctor felt it necessary to stand in the way of cars to lecture me on parking lot safety... Hope you're better at medicine than you are at real life, ma'am. Paralysis implies stupidity, right? Bring it. (Note: whine whine; people are in general not complete jerks.)
Game over! Insert coin. Au rev!
Hi-qual PT and OT this week! Tues/Wed PT was actually not that phenomenal; nothing new the first day, and about 2h of thoroughly subpar mat work before e-stim bike on the second. Friday, though, new activity! Sandwiched between weights and zap biking was some time on the real arm bike. Think giganto wheelchair-turned-tricycle, with arm pedaling to provide propulsion through the front wheel. It's a hacked ten-speed, really, gears and all. I just did laps around the indoor track - no big adventures - although it was an adventure weaving around the zillion other people also doing laps. You might safely guess that I in arm cycle was a bit faster than others much harder at work crawling or walking on their own... Somehow I managed not to injure myself or anyone else. Weee.
OT was new stuff as well this week. We played the reschedule/cancel game, so I only had one session. Oh well. I think I've explained before that my arms are extremely hypersensitive, seemingly as part of the natural progression of improvement and extension of normal perception of touch sensation. For now it's to the point where I usually keep my sleeves rolled up so they don't constantly scratch my deltoid-region shoulders and make me flip out slash want to injure someone. So, in OT we're using vibration sensation to try to reduce hypersensitivity. It involves stimulating my arms with this magic vibration massage wand, starting with very tolerable sensation on the least irritated areas, currently my lower forearms close to my wrists. Right now we're dissipating some of the vibration by placing a foam ball between the vibration source and my arm, too. It's pretty benign, but we'll gradually make it more bothersome, increasing intensity and moving up to more irritable areas. Woohoo, doesn't intentional aggravation sound like fun? Like consciously getting a bad sunburn and then rubbing it with sandpaper... If therapy isn't crazy, it's not worthwhile!
Elsewhere, I just put fresh contacts in with record speed (not that fast)... I've still been rolling around the DMC for a few miles on nice days - long enough last time that one of the wheel batteries died after I got back to the room. In the rant world, some doctor felt it necessary to stand in the way of cars to lecture me on parking lot safety... Hope you're better at medicine than you are at real life, ma'am. Paralysis implies stupidity, right? Bring it. (Note: whine whine; people are in general not complete jerks.)
Game over! Insert coin. Au rev!
11 July 2009
burnt
Hey all! He returns, sort of...
Soooo, it's been a while! I'm not going to try to regurge everything; I think the quasi-accurate term for this is "taking a mulligan" on the past however long it's been, like blog bankruptcy protection. There was [were?] a visitor, a still-recurring fever, a trip to Central IL, many miles pushed around the DMC, and a heap of PT sessions... Fill in your own details, I suppose. It's probably more interesting that way.
My rambles are in shambles. More and better when I'm less pyretic. Word out.
Soooo, it's been a while! I'm not going to try to regurge everything; I think the quasi-accurate term for this is "taking a mulligan" on the past however long it's been, like blog bankruptcy protection. There was [were?] a visitor, a still-recurring fever, a trip to Central IL, many miles pushed around the DMC, and a heap of PT sessions... Fill in your own details, I suppose. It's probably more interesting that way.
My rambles are in shambles. More and better when I'm less pyretic. Word out.
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