August 6, 2013

Physical Therapy Session #5 Out of 9

Tuesday,  August 6, 2013

Another 8:00 appointment for physical therapy meant I had to get moving early this morning.  I think I got moving earlier than the therapists did.  They were all running late today and had a waiting line when they got the door open.  The exercises were all the same.  I start with 12 minutes on the exercise bike that I operate with my hands instead of my feet.  That is followed by 3 minute intervals with my wrist on an inclined support device while: waving my hand up and down; making circles with my hand to the left; making circles to the right; holding the hand flat and making it go from side to side; rotating the wrist from palm down to palm up (painful for me).  Then 3 minutes each working the hard foam egg shaped object; squeezing the neon pink silly putty; pinching the silly putty; pulling the fingers in and then spreading them in a soft rubbery disc; squeezing a hand exerciser device; and then extending the arm as far as possible in front of me, while bending the wrist as far as possible up and then down and holding for10 seconds in each position (also painful).  This is followed by the 15 minutes of "shake and bake" that I have described previously, and finally wrapped up with a wonderful arm massage with a skin lotion and a product called Bio Freeze that leaves my arm feeling wonderful.

Today the elbow was sore at the tip and that made some of the exercises more painful than usual.  In general I think the therapy is helping, but I still have very limited range of motion.  I cannot fully extend the arm or fully pull it in.  So, we keep working and hoping that this will solve the problem.  I don't want to live with the current limited movement of the arm.  The strength is improving, but again, it is still very weak.

The rest of the day was spent at the office and I did a little Immersion Reading there.  I only spent a few minutes on the listening exercises on the computer.  On real windy days, when the wind is out of a particular direction, the wind blows our office door open.  We have a loud bell on it so I will know when a customer comes in, but on windy days that bell keeps sounding without customers.  It was hard to do the practices with that constant noise, so I gave up for the day. 

Once I got home I spent a little time in the yard and the birds were complaining that that don't like the current bird seed mix.  At least I think that is what they were saying.  They were in the trees making a lot of noise but there was still food in the feeders.  I think Wal-Mart is putting more corn in the seed mix and they just throw that on the ground.  That pleases the ducks, but not the birds.  Again I did some Immersion Reading.

Tried another phone call, but with little success.  It was frustrating again.  We continue to look for solutions, but I may end up having to get CapTel (where a third party listens to the conversation and types out what is being said so the hearing impaired person can read it).  That is not my idea of chatting with family, but it may come to that.

Today I had responses from a couple of friends who aren't on Facebook and had not been aware of my hearing loss.  I had emailed them Sunday and told them what was going on and referred them to my blog for details.  Both have started reading it and are catching up with what has been happening in our lives this year.  One lives 5 or 6 hours away and the other is on the other side of the world.  Isn't technology amazing?

This evening I spent an hour or two on line at the Cochlear website trying to find out what they have to offer and how to take full advantage of all that they want to do to help me adapt.  It is going to take a lot more time to fully explore their web site, but it looks promising.  It was sad to go through some of the posted profiles and see how many are of children born deaf.  Many in that situation can now get a Cochlear Implant at a very young age and that is a blessing, but it is sad to know that so many need it.