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My Weekly Journal – 04/22 Through 04/28
Monday, April 22, Through Sunday, April 28 – Between physical therapy, multiple non-ending conference calls at work, a doctor’s appointment, and almost breaking my left ankle, this week flew by like a strong gust of wind. On Monday, I went to the podiatrist to have them trim my toenails. After going through the front entrance, I stopped on the doormat just inside the building. I turned to look at something, and didn’t realize that the doormat got twisted up underneath my wheelchair. As I rolled forward, the carpet pushed my left foot under my wheelchair, and I felt and heard a popping noise. What I heard was my Achilles muscle popping. As I went to see my podiatrist, they were going to take an x-ray to make sure that I didn’t break my ankle; but the doctor looked at my foot and was able to maneuver it around. He told me that I severely sprung my foot and the muscle in my ankle, but that nothing was broken. This is how my week started. Luckily, it got much better after that.When I went for my workout with Emily, we focused on my core strengthening exercises. We did all of my usual exercises, including my crunches, reverse crunches, isometric exercise on my back muscle, and strengthening in my neck. The resistance bands that we are using are really helping to strengthen my core muscles, and we will eventually have to move up to a higher resistance band to make my exercises more challenging.One of the funny things that we do when we work on the muscles in my neck, is that Emily will use the gait belt and strap it around my shoulders and the back of my wheelchair. After tightening this gait belt around my upper chest and shoulders, this keeps me stabilized in my chair. So when she’s pulling my head forward, my body will not lean forward. When she got ready to put the gait belt around me, she asked me if I was ready to be restrained, and I looked at her and said “Yes mistress.” The look that I got from Emily was priceless. I know that if another patient were to come in at this moment, they would think that we were doing some mid-evil torturous exercise. The other week, when we were working on my balance exercises on the therapy table, one of the other patients told her to quit being so mean to me. I laughed so hard, I was afraid that tears were going to come out of my eyes.I told her about what happened with my ankle. Both Laura and Emily have told me about the importance of wearing feet rest, especially when it comes to the swelling in my ankles. I immediately followed up by saying that I know that she’s told me numerous times about this, but that she’s dealing with somebody that’s more bullheaded than her. She laughed and just shook her head at me. She told me that she hoped that my ankle would feel better, especially by next week. I asked her what we would do if my ankle was still sore, and she told me that I probably would not enjoy my workout at all. After flashing me a grin on her face, she said that if it was still sore, she would work to try to loosen the muscle up as much as possible. Thankfully, I still have three days left before my next appointment, and my ankle is feeling much better.In this week’s video, I talk about this subject of feet sensitivity and care. If you’ve been in a wheelchair as long as I have, you probably have some pretty gnarly looking feet. Coupled with the swelling that I have in my ankles, and not being able to properly take care of my feet, I started seeing a podiatrist about 10 years ago. I give you my advice on how to properly take care of your feet, which will give you one less thing to worry about in your day-to-day life. Click HERE to view my video. I also updated my photo gallery on my website, and I also updated the photos that are in my Instagram page. Click HERE to go to the photo gallery on my website, and click HERE to go to my Instagram page.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 all soon. -
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