Woody Is My Hero

I have a ton of blog posts running through my head, and will probably blog a couple times this weekend, as there has been so much GOOD stuff that happened this week. The top thing that happened though, was meeting with my Physical Therapist, Woody.

Woody has somewhat shifted his caseload, and I've been working with Zartie who is one of the neatest men I've met. So, it has been an excellent match for me. The majority of my PT at this point is stretching. I am learning that the older I get, the more I'm going to need to stretch or else I won't be able to walk in the years to come. (Woody shared that with me at one point.) So, the bulk of what Zartie and I do is stretch. I do stretch here at home, but there some stretches that I need another person to complete. Zartie does a great job. *grin*

I knew that my meeting on Thursday was going to be to re-evaluate my need to continue PT. I also knew that that meeting would be with Woody. He had cancelled the past two weeks, so it was FINALLY time to meet with him. I always enjoy my time with Woody because he teaches me SO MUCH in the time he spends with me.

After talking about my thoughts on continuing PT, he stated that he wanted to do an evaluation on me. I was a little surprised that he hadn't done it before then, but I imagine that it was because I had SO MUCH to work on. At this point I've made so much progress, that he wanted to see where I would be on the evaluation.

He had me do several tasks, that got harder as it went on. I did fairly well, but in the end the evaluation showed that I could benefit from more PT. He stated that this evaluation is often used by insurance companies to prove that a person really will benefit from more PT. I fell in the range that justified PT. That was cool with me. I honestly want to continue because I see progress within my walking and balance. *grin* However, insurance limits me in the number of visits, so I am stopping for now until after my next Botox injection in October. That is perfect for me, as school is so busy these days that I can use the time after school doing work.

You might think that this is the end of my post, but it's not. True to form, Woody noticed something that I am struggling with and continued to teach me after our time was technically up. *grin*

I struggle with getting up and down out of chairs. Perhaps struggle is too harsh of a word, because I can do it. As Woody stated, the body will get the job done through compensating for various weaknesses. It may not look pretty, and often doesn't for me, but I can do it. So, he taught me a way to practice balance to get in and out of chairs. It was hard, very hard, but it is also a skill I can practice throughout the school day because I am in and out of a chair constantly. *grin*

After that, he shared with me how I can continue to improve my walk. He has always said this, but I have struggled due to lack of usage of the muscles. You know what he said? Tighten my butt muscles when I walk. Hahaha! Okay, seriously, that's not funny because that is a HARD task for me. HARD. However, since it will help my walk, I'm trying like never before. He went on to show me how those muscles affect various parts of the human body. I LOVED it because I was LEARNING things to help me in this journey. And, it gives me something to work on until the end of October when I have my next Botox shot. *grin*

I am so very thankful that God put Woody and Zartie in my life. I tend to think I will benefit from PT in the months to come, and I'm fine with that because if it keeps me moving forward in this journey, that is what I'll do. Encouragement from Woody this week was truly a highlight of my week. *grin* As I was about to leave we walked partway out, and we stopped because he complimented me on my hard work in this journey. He looked at my feet after we stopped walking and noted that just standing there, my feet are now pointed outward. That was huge! He also made note that when I first got there, when we would stop walking, I needed something to hold onto to keep my balance. Now I can just stop and my feet are out. That made me smile as I walked out. Encouragement from Woody made my day!

LIFE.
IS.
GREAT. *grin*