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Both of my usual therapists -- OT and PT -- were off today. Haven't done PT with Ian in a while. He heard that we were working towards trying a floor transfer and he said let's go try one. See how far we could get.
Floor transfers, getting on the floor and getting up from the floor, used to be a hard requirement. But since Mrs. Dr. Phil assembled the oak platform for the futon, we won't be sleeping on the floor. But... since about 1989, I've done two sets of PT exercises every day up until hospitalization. I won't know til I get home how much my back can handle, so it will be good to know I can do a floor transfer before I even leave.
So today we went into the living room like OT gym and on the shag carpet, I used the arm of the sofa to get the right knee on the floor, followed by the left knee. At this point the left knee didn't like being bent that far -- tendons tight? -- and I needed a little push to get the left leg back up with bent knee. Besides weakness and nerve damage on the left leg and foot, I would normally not do this with shoes on. And the current New Balance shoes have a really grippy rubber that has no interest in sliding on carpet.
Then I was partway up, with a very minor boost from Ian, but the next challenge was I was pushing off a squishy sofa cushion and didn't have the leverage at first to get up. Finally I got my right arm on the arm of the sofa and stood up.
Yay! Not a full or unassisted floor transfer, but for a first attempt, I will surely take it. I mean there was a good chance that I could get down but not up. And then things would have gotten interesting.
Also did a lot of walking and stairs and a first time attempt at a ramp with my own single foot cane. Can sometimes almost approximate a normal gait with the cane.
So yeah, it's a good day. Tired and sore now.
Dr. Phil
Floor transfers, getting on the floor and getting up from the floor, used to be a hard requirement. But since Mrs. Dr. Phil assembled the oak platform for the futon, we won't be sleeping on the floor. But... since about 1989, I've done two sets of PT exercises every day up until hospitalization. I won't know til I get home how much my back can handle, so it will be good to know I can do a floor transfer before I even leave.
So today we went into the living room like OT gym and on the shag carpet, I used the arm of the sofa to get the right knee on the floor, followed by the left knee. At this point the left knee didn't like being bent that far -- tendons tight? -- and I needed a little push to get the left leg back up with bent knee. Besides weakness and nerve damage on the left leg and foot, I would normally not do this with shoes on. And the current New Balance shoes have a really grippy rubber that has no interest in sliding on carpet.
Then I was partway up, with a very minor boost from Ian, but the next challenge was I was pushing off a squishy sofa cushion and didn't have the leverage at first to get up. Finally I got my right arm on the arm of the sofa and stood up.
Yay! Not a full or unassisted floor transfer, but for a first attempt, I will surely take it. I mean there was a good chance that I could get down but not up. And then things would have gotten interesting.
Also did a lot of walking and stairs and a first time attempt at a ramp with my own single foot cane. Can sometimes almost approximate a normal gait with the cane.
So yeah, it's a good day. Tired and sore now.
Dr. Phil
