Day 58, Diane

Yesterday was busy because Coby & Cora believed they had to come and help again in therapy. This time they were a little more distracting than helpful, but this is a good thing. Part of Scott's rehabilitation is learning how to have them in the mix. The best part was how much harder he worked today not having any distratcions. Where as yesterday the therapy gym was full of therapists with patients, today it was only Scott, Sandy and me for PT. He is now walking to the gym. It's one floor up and a bit of a walk to get there:) Once in the gym he got on a recumbent bike with the goal of 5 minutes. At 5 minutes she asked can you make a mile, OK. At a mile he felt good and he decided to go for 10 minutes! After this he had to run through a series of bridges, abs, push ups, & lunges. She then added a 6lb ball to the lunges adding a twist at the waist. WOW he worked so hard all to walk back to his room.
In ST she asked is there a project at home you'd like to do soon? He said yeah build a shed. She asked him to explain from start to finish what it would take to accomplish this task. He first made a joke but then began explaining the processes. He listed all the materials he'd have to buy, then how he'd start with the foundation, moving on the the walls, the roof, explaining each in detail of what he would have to do to build it like wall post 16 inches apart on center. The detail he was able to give her was amazing. He does have some left side neglect, meaning he sees but doesn't interpret things off to his left side peripheral vision. But so much is still right there!

We have been talking a lot about this process and how he feels like there's no progress. Yeah in his view, great I did 10 minutes on the bike today, I use to do full hour 'spin' classes after playing a hour of recquetball!
Once upon a time I taught group cycling and will again someday:) So I'll share the analogy I gave Scott. This experience has been like a 'spin' class, because as an instructor I try to describe what you would be doing if, well outside on a real bike. We started on a major roller coaster with huge ups and downs (ICU). We then moved to the rolling hills, a little up a little down but nothing to major (medical floor). Now we're on the long steady mountain climb (rehab). This part is the hardest in a class. You barley feel like you're progressing but oh so slowly as you add a little, you're legs start to tell you no we're doing somethings here. The best part is by the end you're legs are burning with the resistance you've been able to add. His road feels flat right now, but I can see the gradual incline and each day it's a little more. By the end when we're standing on the top of this crazy mountain I call "living in hospitals suck" we'll both see how far we've come and our mind, body, & souls will ache with joy over what we have accomplished!