Happy Birthday to Me

As many of you know, yesterday was my birthday. It seems fitting to give a general overview of my progress, particularly since I am now about a week past the 4 month mark.

Most of the talk lately has been about the progress in my quad. Things are still not perfect, but I am definitely seeing improvement. I have posted a video of me lifting my leg (no, I am not a dog) so that you can see how I am doing. Remember that a month ago I couldn't get my leg to even move in this direction. Wendy couldn't resist panning to my face at the end...

The real question is, how does all that strength in my quad translate into activity. The answer: I have stopped using my cane around the Talmage building, which is where my office and my classes are. As long as I am not leaving the building, I walk unassisted. I still have a strange limp, but it's progress. When I am going further, like to the Wilkenson center or the library, I use my cane. It wasn't too long ago that I was thrilled to be able to use a walker around the Talmage building and a wheelchair to get to the library.

I had Wendy take another video of some of the activities that have improved the most. Notice the sit-to-stands from the low couch and the reasonable walking. Also, there have been many questions about my eligibility for this Christmas's soccer season, which I addressed at the end of the video.

Why treadmills have emergency shutoffs

I had therapy today with Shane and he added some more exercises to my routine. Some are to strengthen my right leg, some are to increase my walking stamina, some are to improve my gait, and some are to strengthen and stretch my torso now that I have a little more flexibility from the doctor. One of the things he wants me to do is walk on a treadmill. Nothing fancy, just walk. Since a treadmill is constantly moving backwards, Shane says walking on it is a little different than walking normally. You have work a little hard to maintain a consistent pace. For those of us that walk like drunken sailors, weaving back and forth to maintain our balance, that means I have to work hard to keep up. Normally, if I get off balance, I will naturally take a step to one side to compensate. On a treadmill, I can't do that because I would get behind. So that was my mission, start walking, increase the pace until it gets challenging, and then walk for a few minutes.

So, tonight, during my regularly scheduled time, I went to the BYU gym to do my workout. At first I tried walking on the treadmill while holding onto the bars. Of course, that is pretty easy and doesn't require a lot of balance. So after a while I let go and started walking on my own power. I got myself up to about 2.5 miles/hour and I walked for about a minute. Then I took a step with my right leg and didn't get my toe up enough. Of course, that made me stumble a little. Unfortunately, on a treadmill you don't have time to stumble. So I grabbed the bars. I caught myself to keep from falling, but my legs were still on the treadmill and moving backwards at a speed of 2.5 miles/hour. Soon enough my feet reached the end of the treadmill and fell off and I found myself hanging on in a superman position over the treadmill.

As I held on, I noticed right in front of my nose was a little magnet with a tether and instructions saying: "Emergency shutoff, attach lanyard when in use." The idea is that if you fall like that or get behind, the magnet pulls off and shuts off the treadmill. Because most people are too cool and too coordinated for such things, the lanyard had been wrapped around the bar to keep it out of the way; so I hadn't noticed it.

I managed to step up onto the sides of the treadmill and walk my way back up into a standing position. I stopped the treadmill and then looked around to see how many other people in the gym were laughing at me. Fortunately, most people had already had their laugh and moved on by the time I looked around, so I can pretend that no one noticed. Needless to say, I decided that it would be less embarrassing to clip the uncool lanyard to my shirt than to offer a repeat performance. Fortunately, the next 3 minutes went off without a hitch. The good news is that I made it for a total of about 4 minutes on the treadmill at a pace of about 2.5 miles/hour. Nothing dramatic, but it seemed like good progress to me. And remember, that was without holding on, or using a cane or a walker. And if my math skills are as good as they ought to be after 6 years, that means I walked almost 900 feet all on my own.

They're the expensive kind: unshelled

As most of you know, I have been living in a shell for the last four months. I didn't mind it too much at first, but lately it has been driving me nuts. Whenever I come home, the first thing I do is sit down on my chair so I can get the shell off of me. The smell that comes out of it is terrible. In fact, when Ayden climbs up on my lap, she usually comments: "Daddy, you smell like shell". Needless to say I have been anxious to get it off.

Yesterday I had an appointment at Dr. Reichman's office. I was very prepared for the terrible news that I would have to stay in this shell on for another month. However, when I went in for X-rays, the tech told me that the Dr.'s office had ordered a flexion and extension test. For the test, I get out of my shell and take two extra X-rays: one with me leaning forward (flexion), and one with me leaning back (extension). I knew from previous visits to Dr. Reichman's office that they only order this test if they are considering getting you out of the shell, since it can be dangerous to do if you aren't ready yet. So I got excited.

The result was mixed however. The fusion is not completely solid, but it is doing really well. The good news is that I am done with this shell. The bad news is that I get to trade it for a thoraco-lumbar corset. That's right, I am leaving my shell for a corset. Ironically, as I became more annoyed with the shell, I started calling it my bra. So I am trading my bra for a corset. Unfortunately, the switch means that I get some extra therapy and I get to purchase a corset, hence, the doctor's visit was the expensive kind: unshelled.

The corset supposedly only goes from hips to belly button-ish. It is also soft, so it is more of a support and less of a brace. The idea is that it will keep me from really messing things up but should be more comfortable and will allow me to ease into using my stomach muscles again. I have an appointment for tomorrow (Thursday, Nov. 6) to get fitted, so I am still stuck in this shell for another day and a half. But tomorrow is redemption day.

Prognosis: I have an appointment just after the first of the year. They will check one more set of X-rays and if everything is good, I should be out of the shell and pronounced whole. In other words, the fusion should be solid and the doctor will give me the OK to continue normal activities and I won't have to wear anything special.