It’s been a while since I’ve written an update. The biggest news is my accomplishments at ABLE. I know I’ve written quite a bit about it, but the exercises that I have been doing have helped me in big ways. I still do the same ones but have improved in length of time and structure.
After hooking up the electrodes to my abs, obliques, lower back and between my shoulder blades, I’ve been able to successfully sit on the side of the mat by myself without help. The PTs that I work with just sit down and keep their hands close to me in case I start leaning over. It’s also helped me be able to sit forward in my wheelchair without help to get my back brace and my sweatshirt on and off. This also includes stretching my back.
To recap about what electrical muscle stimulation (E-stim) is, it can be used to help treat pain and heal injured, weak, or diseased muscles. Electrical currents may help improve blood flow and stimulate the muscle fibers or nerves. They also use it on my arm’s, and then move them simultaneously into bicep/tricep curls, along with forward reach and grasp (essentially moving my arms forward and then backwards.)
They do each set for about 10 to 12 minutes at a time, then I take about a 3-5 minute break between each one for 1 hour. With my abdomen, the stim runs for an hour also, and then I move myself side to side and back and forth. On Wednesdays is when I do stim on my abs and then move myself side to side, and on Fridays I use a bicycle that moves my legs and then stim on my arms.
Each session wears me out completely, and I usually need to take naps after. Then I get into bed earlier and go to sleep earlier. It’s a big workout for my body, especially being paralyzed from the neck down. I’m very lucky that I have feeling, and can tell which muscle I am using, tightening it to move the way I need to. It really helps with ABLE.
I’ve also been obsessed with writing poetry. So much so that writing my book and inserting posts on my blog have been put aside. I go on the website at least twice a day, finding topics from contests to write about. Sometimes, I feel guilty for not writing my book or my blog for so long, but I’ve been improving my writing skills a lot lately with writing my poems. I would like to publish a book with poems I’ve written in it. I have posted my most recent ones below.
For quite some time now, I’ve been having bad neck pain. Talking with my therapists and doctors, neither could locate the source of it. After dealing with it, I finally made an appointment with my neurosurgeon. Tuesday was one of the longest I’ve had as far as appointments go. I left my house at 12:30 PM and didn’t get home until almost 6 PM. First, I had an MRI then a CT scan, then saw my doctor. Since I can’t have anything metal on me for the MRI, the respiratory therapists there needed to change out my trach. Mine has metal in it; they also changed from my ventilator to an MRI safe vent.
It was a very uncomfortable and difficult time but needed to get done. The results were good and bad. Good in that they didn’t find anything that would cause any harm, like a bone spur or my bones to be digging into muscles. Although, bad because it didn’t explain why my neck is hurting. My doctor thinks it’s hurting from muscle or nerve pain, which is what I thought as well. It’s also a thought that my wheelchair needs to be adjusted and that may be the cause.
For now, I’ll continue to do as much adjusting as possible to avoid it. I’m grateful for ABLE as it has been helping with my balance and moving. I’m also glad that I came across the poetry website so I can increase my creativity in writing and use that while writing my book. Hopefully soon I will get back to my book and finally be able to share it with all of you. In due time!
Jenni
Here are some recent poems I’ve written. Enjoy!
When Everett saw me
I was only gone for the day,
when I came home, Everett saw me,
he ran towards my footrest,
climbing his way onto my lap
Ever since that day happened,
he’s found his way up several times,
I don’t know how he can jump that high
but I was smiling ear to ear
There are many more moments,
in which my dog has made me happy,
but learning that he recognizes
that his mom in a wheelchair, tops all
My Dog Everett
One ear up, one ear down
zooming around the yard
bouncing in the snow
with no place to go
Barking at the TV’s
and the squirrels in the trees
playing fetch with his toys
making all sorts of noise
Loves every dog he meets,
including the people he greets
if he could have his way
he would play all day
Everett is his name,
he likes to play all sorts of games,
a Chinese crested powderpuff
and he thinks he’s really tough
Oh, to fly
I wish I could fly like a butterfly,
soaring high into the open sky
with invisible fences around me
feeling the fresh air on my wings
I would fly to many places,
above the earth’s green grasses
go sailing in between the clouds,
dancing with the stars and sun
Since I can only imagine flying
I’ll close my eyes and think of
taking flight into the unfamiliar
finding a stick to land on to
the hot sun shines down
on a wild goose in water
soaking up its twin
