Mike’s Ataxia Blog

Day 12 10/27/08

     Sure enough, a little activity has done wonders for my mood. PT in the morning, acupunture and electrowave in the afternoon. The PT is quite strenous. We start off with leg/butt lifts,so I’m balancing on one foot and my shoulders for a minute at a time (serious hamstring burn). Then “Superman” with the left arm and right leg in the air, balancing on the other knee and hand for a minute at a time, then reverse. Then fifty leg lifts with ankle weights. Then it’s on your knees playing catch “round the world” with a cloth ball.

     Then it’s on your feet for “squats” holding a dowel for balance, going down to a full squat, holding it for a minute, then back up. Then a balance board, like surfing. And what I call Godzilla through Tokyo, which is walking over little hurdles (I do that one back home). Then we move over to the steps. There’s one double step, up and down, left then right, no hands. Then up and down half a flight of stairs, no hands. Twice. Then lots of heavy breathing. It all takes about 45 minutes. I’ve been doing PT at home for a year and a half, but it really doesn’t compare to this. Just completing it belies my thought that I was back to square one.

     Had a talk with Wendy today, turns out it wasn’t the big boss who finally got the spinal right, it was the anesthiologist (that’s a lot easier to spell than say), and he’ll be doing the spinal on Wednesday, with a double or triple dose of valium. I also asked about a seventh injection, and they’ll let me know tomorrow.

     My friends next door. Diane and Chris, brought me a present last night, McDonalds!I’m saving it. They get out more than I do; it was awfully nice.

      Some turnover here, we’ve lost a few folks, and a new mom and her mother and 19 month old daughter from Capetown came in. At almost two weeks, I’m no longer “the new guy”.

     This evening, 7 or 8 Drs., led by “Dr. Joe” gave me the once-over. I’m used to it by now. They did a lot of talking between themselves and even though Wendy was there, there wasn’t much translating, probably a lot of medical jargon. Dr. Joe was in his 70’s, a good 40 years older than the rest, a professor and his students.

     All in all a fairly busy day. More of the same tomorrow and a spinal on Wednesday.

3 comments October 27th, 2008

Day 11 10/26/08

     I think I’ve hit the doldrums. The middle of the voyage when you’ve been gone long enough that the novelty is gone, and yet too much time remains to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last week’s unfortunate incident didn’t help. Nor does the fact that life seems to be going on at home without me. My wife is in the middle of an extremely demanding academic schedule, my children are in the middle of their school year with sports and play dates, and I’m here, at the end of a weekend doing absolutely nothing.

     There’s a big hubbub going on around here, some bigwigs are coming in for an inspection. This morning, a whole team of cleaners, nurses and interpreters swept through here, changing sheets two days after previously doing so, cleaning the place within an inch of its life, asking us to straighten up shelves and closets, refrigerators and laundry. This is not going over really well with the animals in the zoo. Excepting myself (being here alone) everyone is in cramped quarters, most with small children in tow. The last thing anyone wants is to be told to tote that barge or lift that bale. Although one does get the feeling that if there’s a failing grade, someone will be going to jail.

     Tomorrow, therapy schedules are being changed. mine for the worse. My next spinal is scheduled for Wednesday, and I’m getting resistance regarding communicating with the head doctor. I’m not really thrilled about that. I do not want a repeat of Friday’s fiasco. I can feel the ugly American peeping out from under the rock whence he came.

     I think getting busy with therapy tomorrow is just what the doctor ordered, no pun intended. A little honest sweat could be just what I need to kick this poor me garbage right in the teeth.

4 comments October 27th, 2008