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RED-LETTER DAY!
Oct. 16th, 2009 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elisemSo I thought yesterday was good. And it was, it was; I had a major milestone, which is that I sat in a chair at nearly ninety degrees and suddenly realized that I was finally sitting evenly, balanced, in a way I have not been able to do since I was five years old. It wasn't pain-free, and I couldn't do it for all that long, and I hurt like heck and was very stiff when I got up, but I could feel what it was supposed to be like, and I can even imagine what it might be like to do it and not have it hurt.
This is major, major progress.
However, yesterday's goodness has been eclipsed by the even greater goodness of today.
OK, to understand today's goodness, you need to know that I've been practicing on two-inch and four-inch and six-inch risers, blocks of wood that are like steps of various height. I'eve even managed five steps up onto the eight-inch riser, which is supposedly a regular stairstep height. (Yeah, in old houses, I believe it.) Those five steps, the other day, took a lot of assistance via the hand railing, and I could hardly manage two steps down (I'm talking using the operated=on leg as the stability-and-strength leg). But! Today! FIVE STEPS DOWN from the eight-inch riser... and FIFTEEN STEPS UP. And for most of those fifteen steps up I did NOT use the handrailing for anything other than assurance I would not fall over.
Now, they weren't easy. Stairs are not simple for me yet. But I did 'em, and although I made some serious loud noises of effort, they were triumphant noises. (Doing them with major assistance from the handrailing is coming along nicely, but the no-railing thing is a huge benchmark for strength and function and balance.)
The other thing? Remember those motion restrictions called The Precautions, the ones so I wouldn't dislocate the new hip? Particularly the one that said "Don't bend more than ninety degrees at the hip"?
They ended yesterday. Today, very carefully and with expert supervision, I went to ninety-five degrees with a nice medium degree of effort.
Also, the complicated balance-and-walking exercises that look like dance steps went so completely wonderfully that I'm not even going to mention them except in passing, but you see what I mean about a red-letter day?
This thing? This thing is gonna work. (And to tell you a secret, I have been looking down at my hip affectionately and possessively every now and then, and saying, "My new hip. Mine! Mine mine mine mine mine!" and singing its praises. Which might have helped; you never know.)
WHEE!
And, of course, they gave me new and challenging exercises that ouch me in new and interesting ways, because such is ever the reward of PT, right? Right. It's how ya know you're making progress.
OK. Onward.
This is major, major progress.
However, yesterday's goodness has been eclipsed by the even greater goodness of today.
OK, to understand today's goodness, you need to know that I've been practicing on two-inch and four-inch and six-inch risers, blocks of wood that are like steps of various height. I'eve even managed five steps up onto the eight-inch riser, which is supposedly a regular stairstep height. (Yeah, in old houses, I believe it.) Those five steps, the other day, took a lot of assistance via the hand railing, and I could hardly manage two steps down (I'm talking using the operated=on leg as the stability-and-strength leg). But! Today! FIVE STEPS DOWN from the eight-inch riser... and FIFTEEN STEPS UP. And for most of those fifteen steps up I did NOT use the handrailing for anything other than assurance I would not fall over.
Now, they weren't easy. Stairs are not simple for me yet. But I did 'em, and although I made some serious loud noises of effort, they were triumphant noises. (Doing them with major assistance from the handrailing is coming along nicely, but the no-railing thing is a huge benchmark for strength and function and balance.)
The other thing? Remember those motion restrictions called The Precautions, the ones so I wouldn't dislocate the new hip? Particularly the one that said "Don't bend more than ninety degrees at the hip"?
They ended yesterday. Today, very carefully and with expert supervision, I went to ninety-five degrees with a nice medium degree of effort.
Also, the complicated balance-and-walking exercises that look like dance steps went so completely wonderfully that I'm not even going to mention them except in passing, but you see what I mean about a red-letter day?
This thing? This thing is gonna work. (And to tell you a secret, I have been looking down at my hip affectionately and possessively every now and then, and saying, "My new hip. Mine! Mine mine mine mine mine!" and singing its praises. Which might have helped; you never know.)
WHEE!
And, of course, they gave me new and challenging exercises that ouch me in new and interesting ways, because such is ever the reward of PT, right? Right. It's how ya know you're making progress.
OK. Onward.
