Ah, a day of rest, sort of. No Bowflex exercise today. I ususally do three days on one day off. Today is an off day. Yippee! Actually, I enjoy doing the Bowflex, have a hard time doing the exercise bike first, because I really want to do the Bowflex. I think doing it three days in a row is probably a bit much, should probably do every other day, but I really want to get better fast. Once my left arm catches up to the right arm, or at least where the right arm was when I started, I'll back off to every other day. I did back off the resistance a bit on the left arm yesterday, the shoulder told me I was going too fast. No such luck for the right arm or legs yesterday, I increased resistance for both. The reasons I like the Bowflex so much are: no heavy weights to lift, setting up the various exercises is good therapy (isn't everything), I can simulate virtually all exercises PT has given me to do with Theraband with it, and I can set different resistance for each side. They are not cheap, we had ours about six months prior to stroke, and it mostly collected dust. Now it gets regular use.

We got one of the lesser models, you don't need all the bells and whistles, we got the Motivator II model, it may not be in production anymore, but they are still around. Anyway, about the Saeboflex. No day off for it. Insurance is getting their money's worth. Fingers remain straight, and not swollen. 45 minutes twice a day is a lot to do, but so far, worth it. Finger strength and grip are improving. I can now open a ziplock bag, or a string cheese package. You know, the individually wrapped round 6" long cheese strips. It is hard, but I can now do it without using my teeth. Look mom, two hands. Yea Saeboflex. The thumb now moves normally, and the tightness in the palm leading to the thumb is nearly gone. In it's place is a skinny palm. Discouraging how much muscle mass I lost in all members in ony three months of inactivity. The good news is that with what I am doing now, it is coming back sloooooowly. Even the right (good) arm lost much strength. Since I have started my exercise regimen, it has doubled in strength, don't be impressed, it was weak to start, doubling a small number is easy. BTW, a non stroke item, we finally got some snow last week, about one foot of much needed new snow. We now have about two feet of snow cover. Between the daily feedings I give it (that part still works fine, thank you very much, no more Colace for me) and the new snow cover, the septic should not freeze now.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about a new gadget I got the other day. BTW, a gizmo is something like the Saeboflex, or other more involved device, a gadget is something simple, like a shoehorn, etc. (my blog, so my definitions).