Adventures in Walking

Our potluck yesterday evening was a success-- lots of good food and good company. Unfortunately I failed to take any photos, so don't have much to post about it. So I'll talk about walking instead.

In my PT sessions, part of what we work on is walking in lots of different ways. Recently, I've been working on walking a bit with no support, using parallel bars to catch myself when I falter, and last week I made some big improvements. This is a video that Jeff took on Thursday:

My physical therapist, Lola, is the other person in the video with me. She has I think something like 30 years experience working in neuro rehab, and pushes me to work hard every session, always taking me just beyond my comfort zone. And it's working, I'm seeing improvement week to week. My journey into outpatient therapy was a bit rocky-- I went a full two months after leaving the hospital without having any therapy, related to moving, getting set up in a new healthcare system, and communication breakdowns within the system. However, after finally getting into therapy, I have been very lucky to have been paired with an excellent physical therapist, and excellent rehab facilities. No disrespect to my inpatient therapists in Seattle (who were great), but I think the rehab services available here in Regina are actually better than rehab services in Seattle. I never would have predicted that before moving, and it has come as a welcome surprise.

Part of my homework for PT is to walk (with Jeff spotting me) with forearm crutches. Here is a picture from today's walk:

This is a walkway connecting two buildings on campus-- all the main university buildings are connected in a big loop, so it's a great place to practice walking on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Note the cactus plants indoors, in contrast with the snow outside. It is currently about -7F (-22C) outside, but inside is warm and cozy. I walked a total of 40 minutes, with a break halfway through, and went probably a total of about a half mile (it's hard to measure distances inside buildings, but I estimated with this). It takes all my concentration to walk with the crutches, and afterward I'm mentally and physically exhausted.

I mentioned before that my stamina keeps improving,and that walking with the 4-wheel walker is getting easier. Well, inspired by a friend's recent blog post about doing a 5k turkey trot (that would be you, Andrew), I decided to sign up to walk a 5k while I'm in Eugene-- the "holiday hustle." I'm not sure I'll be able to finish, and if I do finish, it will take me a very long time. But I checked with the race coordinator, and since there will also be a 10k and a half marathon happening at the same time, the course doesn't close until three and a half hours after the race starts, so if I'm going to finish, it will be within that time. Jeff is going to walk with me, and maybe my mom too. It's exciting to have a new goal to work toward!