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@Aroogah
Weeks 4-6 of physical therapy - 10-12 weeks post-surgery
I am now doing some light swimming every morning just to get my body moving again. I slowly do laps focusing on strokes that will require me to use my back and leg muscles muscles more and more. Light gentle stuff, but it is nice to be active again and out of the house. I am self-conscious of the angry red 6-inch scar that rises above the waistline of my trunks.
I notice an elderly couple that come in every morning for a swim. She does laps in the same lane as me while her husband works on his hydrotherapy routine that works on the side of his body that was ravaged by a very serious stroke. One length of the pool with his almost immobile arm and leg takes him an age. I swim five laps to his one. Tough bastard does length after length and he emerges exhausted with a smile on his face. He insists on climbing out of the water without his wife's help. I really admire this guy. It’s good to be around that level of persistence. I look forward to seeing him every day.
Sessions with Liz now incorporate balance work. I still roll around on the floor and I get up and down out of chairs but now I have the step, walking and the balance star. The step sees me (unsurprisingly) stepping up and down, right leg first, left leg first and then balancing on my toes on the step. I walk up and down around the gym on my toes, on my heels, slapping my foot down, swinging my leg around in circles, all kinds of strange variations. The balance star is a large asterisk made out of tape on the floor. I stand in the middle of it on one foot and touch the points with the other one. It’s odd but it fires off the autonomous nerve networks and it works. I’ve regained more of the functionality, if not the sensation, in my right leg. My drop foot is less pronounced, I have an ankle brace to keep me upright and I only use the crutch when I have to use public transport so people give me a seat.
I can drive again too which is useful as I’m back at work at 10 weeks after surgery. The swimming helps, the rolling around on the floor has its uses, and the balance work is great, but I need to be able to put in a full day at the office. I’m still on fistfuls of pain killers and anti-inflammatories but that’s not a complete coping strategy. We work on seating posture, seated stretching, how frequently to get up and move around, hip stretching, and where to put the rolled up towel behind my back.
I make it through the days but not for much longer.