Ampyra & the Bioness L300

Today was the 6th physical therapy visit, it was supposed to of been the last, but went for 4 more weekly visits.

Today I tried out the Bioness L300. Talk about feeling like a robot at first! The larger piece goes just below your knee. It has two electrodes in it, while the smaller one goes in your shoe and acts as a trigger to send a stimulating charge as you go into the motions of walking, to help activate nerves, hip muscles and the other leg muscle groups to help lift your foot.
Adjusting the fitting and the amount of charge to give, my foot would turn up and twist to the side as the current grew and faded. All while sitting down of course. 
Then came the time to walk around the room and get the feel for the device. It did help, but with the hour long session I couldn't get a feel for it if it would be beneficial in a long run. Like muscle fatigue and weakness from a lot of walking.
It would be a nice device to own, but it would take a lottery win to afford it. At $6,500 it sure isn't something you buy "just to" see if it works.

Something else I started today was the Ampyra..again.
Last time I tried it I had a fall 2 days before receiving it and tore ligaments in my foot and never really noticed if there was any change. Ampyra is used to improve walking in people who have multiple sclerosis, though it doesn't work for everybody. The actual drug name is Dalfampridine. It is in a class of medications called potassium channel blockers. It works by strengthening the signals sent by the brain through nerves that have been damaged by MS.
We'll see how this goes now, because Ive been supporting South America by eating bananas like crazy and not sure if its the extra potassium thats helping me to walk better or not. Im surprised I don't have the urge to build a tire swing in one of the bedrooms and swing around on it since Ive been eating so many bananas!

4th PT visit

Ok, so today was my 4th visit to the physical therapist and right away she started me on the treadmill. First was a 5 min walk at a slow speed..a quick rest then back on for 4 mins..Its a good thing I brought my hip flexion device with me, it made lifting my right leg easier.
The parallel bars were next. Walking without holding onto something. My legs were really getting tired at this point, but I pushed myself and took minimal breaks.
Best thing about the tread mill is that it said I burnt 10 calories! Sure I put them back on when I got home, but still

The hip flexion device I have really helps to lift the weakened leg when walking. Sure you wont make a fashion statement with it on, specially coupled with the AFO I wear for foot drop. All in all it does look better then the bungee cords I tried using for foot drop early on. Talk about a hillbilly medical device!
 Between glass's to correct double vision, a hearing aid to help hear, hip flexion to help lift a leg and AFO to help lift my food, I dont know how many more devices I can handle.

Next up was doing stepping over the cords. I like this because I get the hold her hands ...and they are soft hands to!
The exercise is step over the green one, side step over the yellow, back step over the green then side step over the yellow again.
I should see if she makes house calls..now that would be fun!