3rd trip to the PT

Needless to say the easiest part of Physical Therapy s when your first greeted and spend the first 10 minutes talking...then its time to get to work!

The first exercise was that she laid down two walking sticks to resemble a + sign. I started out in the lower left corner, led of with the left foot, steeped over the cross stick, steeped sideways to the top right, then backwards to the lower  right corner. The part I liked about this was holding her hands the whole way through. Other then that I really cant get much lift from the right leg.

The next exercise was the parallel bars and walking with no assistance in various ways.
First was walking in a straight line, back and fourth. Then came the side step. Next was walking backwards. The easiest one to do here was the side stepping. The hardest, walking backwards. Thats when balance felt it was going to be lost, but hey..I never fell!

Then came the cones..Ahh the cones. First was walking a straight line, while picking my left leg and foot up and over a cone, turn around and do the same but with the right leg..which btw never cleared the top of a cone. No cheating was allowed, meaning it had to go up and over, not swung around like I usually did..(not meaning to) after that came the side stepping over each cone. These by far were the hardest of all and really wore on my legs.

I remember when I was younger and seeing people using the parallel bars for therapy and thinking, "man, just move your legs are walk normal"! its a whole different way of thinking now when its your legs that don't work like they used to..I now understand what those people felt.

No longer a Gilenya virgin

So today I started a new once a day pill called Gilenya. An oral medication that the FDA approved in June of 2011. No more infusions for me!

If your interested in reading more about it, click HERE.

Well anyone who is on it knows you don't get the prescription at a local pharmacy, and you don't just get it in the mail and take one. Nope, you go through a 6 hour observation period at a doctors office or clinic. Why? Because it's supposed to lower your blood pressure after the first dose you take and if anything happens they want you to be right there for emergency care.

Well today started off well. The appointment was at 8am. The room wasn't very big to start off with. No TV, no couch's, no comfy chairs and no recliners. just these narrow tables and chairs.

There were  about 10 people in the room, half of which brought someone else with them.There were box's at each spot for each patient which included printed information on Gilenya and Multiple Sclerosis. It also contained  this lovely canvas tote bag!  If Im not mistaken the same bag can be bought at Home Depot and loaded with masonry tools. Mine, maybe I'll fill it with garden supplies or use it for shopping and cut down on the amount of plastic bags we get here.

After a short lesson on MS and how Gilenya works to block the T cells or what ever it does... Good thing Im not in medical school, I cant follow along with all the medical terminology..It was time to take the first dose. After that it was all just sitting around talking and watching the clock. Think about it as a glorified in-school Saturday suspension. Me, I just mainly played around on my lap top and texted with a few friends on my iphone.

No one had side adverse side effects, or seen colorful rainbows on the walls. There was alot of talking and laughing going on, but Im sure that wasn't from the Gilenya. 2:30pm was our release time and it seemed to come pretty quick. Now if you go 14 days with out a dose, you need to take this day again and start over. Trust me..I'm NOT going to miss 14 days and do this again.

Only time will tell now if I'll benefit from this new drug or not.

First day of PT

Yesterday marked the first day of physical therapy. Sure I could of started 2 months ago but didn't need the 40 minute..one way drive to the Cleveland Clinic once a week for an hour long session. Instead a neurological PT office opened 20 minutes away from me which made it so much more convenient.

Upon seeing the therapist I knew it was going to be a good visit. She was attractive!..anyway back to the visit.

She showed me 4 new stretch's to do on my own..one being in the picture to the left. Others were holding the same towel on both feet..siting up and leaning into it. Then there was the butterfly stretch. Booth feet together..sitting up and pushing down on the knees.

Then there was the wall stretch. One knee bent, one leg straight and push against a wall then switch to the other leg. Just make sure its a stable wall. All these two times 30 seconds each.

The best part was holding her hands and walking around a square that looked like a small tic tac toe board. She had soft hands. The most embarrassing part came when I did the first butterfly stretch. Lets just say I did my best imitation of a whoopee cushion.

Ive got 6 more weeks at one day a week scheduled..I wonder if I can add 6 other weeks at the end of the 6th. I also wonder if she makes house calls!