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Experimental Therapy - Day 4


justsurviving

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Holy moly - today exhausted me to the point where I actually had to take a nap & I am not a napper. Although, I slept terribly last night too...

 

Hour 1 - the treadmill. Reduced weight lifted on harness to 5% (that means I have 95% of my body weight), walked with minimal assistance on foot and hardly any hip work at all for 20 min. Turned around and walked on decline for 20 min. Turned back around and walked on incline at a good clip for 20 minutes. 10 minutes of 'obstacles' - one person on right and one on left with pool noodles. Every so often one would get placed in the path of the corresponding foot & I was to step over it without a) losing balance, b) pronating (rolling foot to the outside), or c) everting (walking like a duck [opposite of inverting which is pigeontoed]).

 

Hour 2 - outside. On the grass: Grapevines to the left for 30 feet (feet shoulder width, cross left leg behind right, step right leg out, cross left leg in front of right) and grapevines to the right for 30 feet. Side squats (step to the left, squat, feet together, another step to the left, squat) to the left for 60 feet, side squats to the right for 60 feet. On the gravel: tandem walking forward (hee'ul toe) 20 feet, tandem walking backward 20 feet. Stair work walking one step at a time heel strikes up 2 flights, walking one step at a time heel strikes down 2 flights.

 

Hour 3 - inside. Wii fit balancing for 15 minutes. Lunges on a air filled oval ball thingy with left foot on ball, lunges with right foot on ball. Theraband working dorsiflex, evert, invert, and I forget the name for the opposite of dorsiflex (pushing foot down rather than pulling up). Walking on tiptoes down 2 halls, walking on heels down 1 hall.

 

We stopped by a drugstore and Bob bought a sphygmomameter (sp - blood pressure machine) because his blood pressure drops at night making his hands tingle. I hope it is nothing - we don't need 2 health concerns in such a short time frame.

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Wow - sounds exhausting and I guess it was!! Glad you had a nice nap - I'm not a napper either but your body must have really needed the rest - and you probably get to eat lots more food too, with burning all that energy!

 

I'm impressed that you came close in your spelling of sphygmomanometer - just forgot the extra syllable! I actually taught Sean how to say that word when he was three and I was in medical assisting school, just because I thought it would be cute for a baby to say such a big word with his little lisp - also taught him epiglottis! I know, I'm weird.

 

I hope the low BP isn't an issue for Bob - is this something new or has his pressure always been low? My mom's BP - and mine - have always been low too, about 100/50 or 100/60, so I worried when hers went up a lot recently. I've been taking it with the cuff and stethoscope we have.

 

I get tingly hands too - I didn't even connect the two!

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You are motivating me even more. I know it is tiring but you know what you have left and what you can do. I admire you for doing this. I'm envious as I wish I was there trying to do the same thing.

 

Really enjoying your posts.

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Friend - when Bob was visiting me in IL, we had to go to the ER because his hands were really, really freaking him out - his BP kept falling to 66/42 or so. It was weird, but they couldn't find anything wrong with him.

 

Stessie - you can do it too, there is room for more strokers in this study. I am there at the same time as another stroker who is in a wheelchair & the work they are doing with him is phenomenal - there is a wide variety of people in the study & they need more people.

 

dstraugh - :) the therapy really is thorough. There are openings still...

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