Before getting on to how I “helped out” with a few little jobs yesterday, a brief recap of the last couple of weeks…
I had a second hydrotherapy session on Tuesday. Kate had been given the all-clear by the neuro team to add some body rotations to my exercises. I started doing the walking back and forth across the pool, firstly forwards, then backwards and finally sideways. Then, using a woggle to rest my arms on, I walked across the pool turning my body left and right. We then moved on to the one foot balance. It was far from brilliant, but I could definitely see an improvement over the previous week. Kate then added another new exercise, walking heel to toe across the pool, trying to keep to a single line of tiles. I was very wobbly but managed a few widths.
By the time I’d got showered and changed I was completely knackered. I started walking back to the car across the other side of the site, but needed a break on the way back. I think apart from the pain and weak legs, I’d also got quite hot getting changed in the heat of the pool area, so I picked up a cold drink and then continued back to the car where i sat with the A/C on for 15-20 minutes to get myself settled down before driving home.
I was due to start a phased return to work this week, but given how things have been, and the upcoming week of no stimulator, the GP has signed me off for another month.
No sense of what is sensible
Despite the constant pain, I figured it was high time to start trying to do some gentle “normal” things. After spending a few hours on and off sorting through a couple of boxes of odds and sods. I took the recycling out. There were a few large boxes to take out along with the wheelie bin, but nothing heavy. The garden bin was fairly full but didn’t seem to take too much effort to take out. There were a few weeds in the stones out the front, maybe half a dozen, that have been annoying me, so I decided to tidy them up. Stupid as it might sound, but it half killed me. My legs turned to jelly and my back was agony, both where the old pain was and where it has been more recently. The stabbing pain in my left shoulder blade was happening every 20-30 seconds. Thankfully it’s remained far less frequent in my right shoulder blade.
I collapsed on the sofa, sweating and legs trembling, and took my evening meds. I called Ruth to fess up to what I’d done (before she went out she’d told me not to touch the green bin!😳). I played Xbox for an hour to let the meds work before going to the kitchen to reheat the meal Ruth had left me. The meds took the edge off but it was a good few hours before my back settled to what I would call reasonably tolerable.
When Ruth came home I got her to put a lidocaine patch on – something I’ve not felt the need for for several days.
Given how I still felt when I went to bed, I think I slept quite well, but the pain is very much still there this morning. I think today’s activities will be limited to a bit of admin on the laptop and a stroll round the block.
Lesson learnt! Maybe! 😜