March 02nd, 2023

Ice pack and ice cream! What a great après Physical Therapy Combo!  

Thought I'd give you a little update on how things are going PT-wise.    I am happy to report, that things are going pretty well actually.  Yesterday I progressed to Range of Motion exercises which is the part of PT that changes the letters from meaning Physical Therapy to instead standing for Pain and Torture.  

Not to malign my physical therapist, Emily. She is awesome!  But  the only path to getting strength and mobility back involves a lot of "ouch".  Not her fault at all.  Just this is the only way.   So I spent the entire session yesterday learning the new exercises and having her watch me do them to be sure I was doing them correctly because now will be I doing them on my own and home.  And there is no point in doing them if I'm not doing it right!

So I paid close attention and I grit my teeth rather than do any cussing (though there were times when certain words were right on the tip of my tongue.)  Now that I am doing the exercises at home with no audience (other than Tim who, to be fair, is in his office most of the day and can't hear me) I feel free to let the odd cuss word fly now and again.  Somehow it helps.

One of the many exercises that I am doing twice a day now involves an over the door pulley system:

How this works is, I sit in the chair, back to the door (obviously) and grasp the handles of the pulley, one in each hand.  As I lower my left hand (the good arm) it automatically raises the right (the bad arm).  Going slowly, this s t r e t c h e s that right arm up, up, up to the hurty spot and then a little higher than that.  Over and Over again.  Effectively I am the instrument of my own torture.  Can't blame anybody else for that can I now?  heh

I have goals of course, I suppose everybody does who is doing PT.  The end goal of course is feeling like my old self again.  But the smaller goals along the way are things like: being able to put my hair in the ponytail.  As it turns out I cannot put an elastic band on my hair with one hand!  Who knew?  Kneading bread and other general cookery and bakery!  Getting dressed without discomfort or assistance!  Well I guess that part goes for everything I do.  Being able to do things, any things, without discomfort or assistance. That would be nice.

Other smaller milestones that I've already met (yay me!) are being able to type with both hands (woohoo!), putting lotion on my left arm with my right hand (yay to properly moisturized skin!), and the biggie, being able to tie my own dang shoes!  Yahoo!  So see, there is progress and that is always a good thing.

Next week, directly after my PT sessions,  I will go for the 3rd set of xrays to see how well the bones are healing (very well, I'm sure) and then I will be half way through my physical therapy and that is very exciting to  me!

At the end of the PT appointment yesterday, Emily instructed me to be sure to ice my arm when I got home. I said that I had already planned on it and that I had an ice pack and an ice cream both waiting for me. That my plan was to chill inside and out.  She smiled and said, "That sounds just about perfect".  Clearly I had her blessings.

But then, ice cream has both calcium and vitamin D in it both of which are important for Bone Health, right?  Just what the situation called for.  It was another goal, and I met it!  Yay me!