I did another half day on Wednesday last week, and actually stuck to it pretty much. My sister and nephew came round in the afternoon so we had a chance to catch up. Talking to people I haven’t seen for several weeks is quite therapeutic as they see the improvements I’ve been making more than I do.
Thursday and Friday were both supposed to be half days, but me being me I ended up working a bit when I got home at lunch time, to the extent that Friday became a 10.5 hour day. No surprise then that I started to feel the effects Friday evening and Saturday.
At the weekend we did a few bits in the house, preparing the spare bedroom to become an art room for Cat and somewhere to finally get my drum kit set back up. I made a concerted effort not to overdo it and didn’t feel too bad both evenings.
When I did my exercises on Monday I seemed much more wobbly again doing the lunge-stretches. The back stretches Katrina has me doing seem to be getting easier, but the calf stretches really pull on my left calf which still feels like a plank of wood when I do them.
On Wednesday I had another gym session. I started with 5 mins on the bike, which was fine, and then did some leg presses again. As with last week, the movement was very jerky. I then did some balance tests and there is a definite improvement. This was quite a surprise as my balance doing exercises at home has not been good this week. I even managed to stand with my eyes shut and, yes I swayed back & forth, it was 10s of seconds before Katrina felt the need to steady me. We finished with throwing a football between us. We were only about a metre or so apart, and I have to admit I questioned how hard it could be when she threw the ball straight at me. However it was quite surprising how relatively unsteady I was if she threw it even a couple of inches to either side.
I’d booked the afternoon off after the gym session and it was probably a good idea. I had it in my mind to start laying the flooring in the spare room, but was surprisingly tired when I got home, and Cat convinced me I had taken the afternoon off for a reason, so I relaxed for most of the afternoon, apart from having to dismantle what used to be a gazebo but had come off the loser of a battle with the wind and rain.
Wednesday evening I had a lot of pain. The centre of my back felt like it had been beaten up, and I had stabbing pains across my upper back and chest. The electricity/sun burn feeling in my right leg was the worst it’s been in a long time. I was going n bed by 10 as I was so shattered, but it took a long time to get to sleep as I was so uncomfortable. I woke again about 2am still with a lot of discomfort but eventually got back to sleep. When I awoke at about 5.30 it felt just like a normal morning – somewhat stiff but generally not too bad. I didn’t exercise when I got up as I had hydrotherapy first thing.
Hydrotherapy went well. I recapped how I’ve been and explained how I had felt after Wednesday gym session and the fact I’d planned to lay the flooring but instead chose to relax. By the look on the physio’s face I think it’s fair to say I made the right decision! In addition to the normal walking up and down the pool to warm up, Katie had me doing knee to elbow strides (well, as close as my knees and elbows would get to each other. I then did some rotations, and these are now so much better – I’m getting well past 90degrees both sides. I then did some strides and on each stride bend my legs to dip my shoulders under. After a few goes I became fairly balanced doing it with my arms out-stretched. I then started walking up and down the pool doing this and generally was ok, although it was noticeable how much more wobbly I became as it got shallower. Katie then got me to try it with my arms across my chest rather than out-stretched. Not so good. I think I did eventually start to get the hang of it, but it really goes to show how much I rely on my arms (or walking stick) to balance myself.
I really need to make a proper effort to get out on the bike and get to the pool a couple of times a week to practice the exercises. I’ve not managed that in the 2+ weeks I’ve been back at work as I’ve been so wiped out by mid-late afternoon.