Well, it's Wednesday! One week down, a week and a half to go. Did I mention I am being discharged on Friday, the 13th? Anyhow, more things going well today and even yesterday. Where to begin? I know where! The Lokomat!
So if you don't know what a Lokomat is, you'll have to go back a bit on my blog or my Facebook notes to see a picture and and explanation. Essentially, it is a giant robot that walks my legs on a treadmill, whilst I hang from a harness and attempt to help the movements along. On Tuesday afternoon we went down and got the thing set up; today we went down to walk on it. It was kinda neat, but my spacticity quickly got in the way, and we were forced to go 'old school'; the therapists picked my feet up and moved them appropriately, with me doing as much as possible. It was one of the best workouts I have had in a very, very long time. I will admit to being slightly disappointed in the Lokomat itself, but the assisted walked felt extremely effective to me. The senior therapist who was helping us out has assured me that my left hip was kicking in somewhat to add to the party, which is one more amazing bit of news for someone who was never supposed to move or feel again below his man-boobs.
I think I may have had a date this morning with one of my therapists, ha ha. She is the same age as me, and she took me to the fake apartment to the kitchen to test my kitchen safety skills. I cooked two huge pizzas which have made me the hero of the hospital, and some chocolate chip cookies, which didn't turn out so well. Whitney and I pigged out on the pizza and watched some trashy celebrity news shows for a while, it was actually a lot of fun. Of course, all we really talked about was our significant others, so it would have to go down in history as the lamest date ever. Anyhow, kitchen safety is passed. She was the same therapist who came in this morning to watch me shower. What can I say? Some guys just have it, yanno? I asked and had confirmed that there is a rule that the young guys in places like this always have to shower in front of a cute female therapist. Oh well.
I have also been working the past few days on my classes, which are going fairly well, although one is way more workload than I expected and I have fallen slightly behind. It is hard to write 5 and 6 pages a week in this place, the environment messes with my mojo. Ryan's Extreme Paper Writing Abilities apparently don't work in the hospital. It's like kryptonite, or one of those cell phone blockers they put in movie theaters.
I have received a few care packages and such for which I am quite grateful. Aunt Beverly and my favorite lady at church, Gail, sent very nice cards. My Georgia family sent a fruit basket, which I have distributed quite nicely. The Moore family at church sent a care package as well, although their goal was obviously to feed me so much junk food that I'd never make it back home.
Eww speaking of which, an ultrasound today confirmed what we have been worrying about for some time now; my right kidney is barely working down there. Thanks to a birth defect (thanks, DAD) I have a very tiny vessel feeding my kidney. It is getting very little blood, and so the left one has to do all the work. I have yet to talk to the doctor about it, so we'll see what she thinks; I don't know exactly what the possibilities are.
Oh, and as for my elevated cholesterol, it turns out to be directly connected with my spinal cord injury. One of the therapists fixed me up with some information about spinal cord and cardiovascular health, and it turns out that the damage to my parasympathetic nervous system means I am not just likely, but definitely, going to be fighting cholesterol. Of course, the same types of treatments that anyone else might use will work, specifically, cardiovascular exercise and getting things moving.
Okay, then. Thanks for stopping by! See you in the funny papers!
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