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My Weekly Journal – 03/04 Through 03/10
Monday, March 4, Through Sunday, March 10 – This was an extremely busy week, but it was also very productive. Usually, about 3 or 4 days before I go in for my next injection, I try to isolate myself. I tried to minimize my contact with everyone, so I don’t take a chance on getting sick. This usually means that I lock myself in my office and try to avoid anyone who has a pulse. While I’m usually in my office for the majority of the day, I find myself becoming a hermit to avoid the possibility of getting sick. Let’s face it, the last thing I want to do before getting my next Spinraza injection is to get sick. Our bodies are already compromised after the injection, so I guess this is my way of playing it safe.
When I went in for my workout with Emily on Tuesday, she and her assistant Vicki, transferred me from my wheelchair to the therapy table. We started with my balance exercises first, before they laid me down on my back and started working on my legs. After I balanced myself, and while Vicki was standing in front of me and Emily was standing behind me, Emily began pushing me forward, backwards and from side to side in an attempt to make me lose my balance. My job is to keep Emily from pushing me too far and making me lose my balance. As I stated in previous journal entries, this exercise looks like a sadistic game that we are playing with each other, but it’s actually a lot of fun. One of my YouTube subscribers sent me a message on Instagram asking me if these balance exercises were difficult. I told her that I worked on my core strengthening for about six months before beginning these balance exercises. By increasing my core strength, such as my abdominal, back, obliques and neck muscles, I truly believe that these balance exercises are easier for me to do. I will give you one word of advice though, never tell your physical therapist that the exercises are too easy, because they have a unique way of making these exercises much more difficult.
Two weeks ago, Emily decided to introduce a therapy ball into my balance exercises. We didn’t really do much with it during my first session, but this past week, we utilized the therapy ball much more. When we first started these exercises, Emily would stabilize my arm on the ball to keep it from falling off. My job was to lean to that particular side and then come back up into a neutral sitting position. While I thought that this exercise would be difficult, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. In my YouTube video that I uploaded on Sunday, I state that it looks like Emily is helping me lean to my side and come back into a neutral sitting position; but in reality, the only thing that she was doing was stabilizing my arm on the therapy ball so it would not fall off.
When I started this exercise on my right side, I asked Emily to let go of my arm so that I could see if I could keep it on the therapy ball without any help from her. When she let go of my right arm, I felt the therapy ball starting to shift from one side to the other. I now not only had to keep my arm on the therapy ball, and keep the therapy ball from shifting from side to side, I also had to maintain my balance. While it took me a few attempts to get it right, I was eventually able to lean to my right side and keep my arm stabilized on the therapy ball, and I was also able to come back up into a neutral sitting position without too much difficulty. As you can tell by the picture in my journal entry, I think Emily was as surprised as I was. It’s nice to get a two thumbs up seal of approval from your physical therapist, and we were both extremely happy with the results. In the coming months, we will add more repetitions to this exercise in hopes that it will not only improve my balance, but it will also improve my core strength.I hope that all of you had a fantastic week. Do something for yourself this upcoming week that will make you a better person. God bless you, and I’ll see you next Sunday. -
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