Physical Therapy with Woody

For the first time since August 7th, I had Physical Therapy today! I even left work a little early to get there, and I was scheduled to be with Z. I got there five minutes early, and started surfing the web with my smartphone. A little while later I heard one of the other assistants say, "Shannon is here" to Woody. Then I smiled and thought, it will be worth the wait. *grin* I was right.

A half hour later, Woody came out to greet me. I was excited because EVERY TIME I am with Woody, I learn something new. That was true again today.

We started out sitting down and talking about where I'm at and where I want to be. I shared about how hard I've been working on walking in my daily life. I also shared about my upcoming appointment with another doctor to help with my muscle tightness. I really enjoyed sitting and talking, as we really haven't done that in quite a while and we agreed that I will continue with PT once a week to focus on my goals in my walking. I'll run out of appointments before the end of the year due to insurance, but that's okay. I'm going to get my goals reached, even if it's not in that building for a while. *grin*

After talking, he cut me some new bands, and I REALLY like the new bands. They help me walk straight, so I can concentrate on my new focus, bending my leg and straightening my leg. My whole life, I have used my hips walk. Now, I'm learning how to walk using the legs instead of my hips. It's REALLY hard, but I'm getting better. He had me use a cane, and I'm going to get one for here at home so that I can focus on straightening and bending my legs and not worry about my balance as much. *grin*

After walking with the bands and cane, he had me take off the bands and walk with just the cane. It was WEIRD after the bands, but it got easier. He recorded me walking with the bands, and then without the bands. Then we sat and watched the videos. I was SO HAPPY to see the new look! In fact, he pulled out the very first video he took of me, then one in the middle, then today. I just smiled.

I am not where I want to be. I mean, I'm still saying my "Finding Nemo" speech to kids at school to explain the walk. I am not ashamed of that, as I had a parent compliment me last night when I explained the limp to his daughter using Finding Nemo analogy. "Lucky fin!" But, I would love to be in a place where the walk is in a place where the limp is less noticeable. Where I walk more like you do. *grin*

Woody and I talked about various strategies we can try if some things can't be changed due to brain-body connections. I was glad to hear that there are new things to try. *grin*

I thanked Woody for staying late to help me, and for all of his help in my journey. He said, "You're doing all the hard work." I said, "Yes, but you are my hero." He said, "Nah, I'm just your coach." I stopped and said, "Yeah, I like that. See ya coach."

*grin*
LIFE.
IS.
AWESOME.