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June 10, 2013
Apr 20 Email: Perpetual Rehab
I had been in the rehab facility for two days on April 20, 2013. That day, I put this email together.
Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2013 19:47:45 -0400
From: Jon Nathan
Subject: Re: Neurological issues
Hello everybody. Thank you again for listening to me discuss my
condition, procedures, and rehabilitation. The act of dictating
them to friends and family is cathartic to me and helpful in the
recovery process. Reading your encouragements and insights is also
extremely helpful, and I am grateful for them.
Yesterday I went through three hours of physical and occupational
therapy. The physical therapy focused on posture, muscular control,
assisted walking, and transitioning between positions such as sitting
and standing. I'm able to use a walker mostly by myself. We did
some backs and forths down a corridor with mirrors at either end.
This allowed me to see my feet and legs, which was extremely helpful
in understanding where they were in space. I still do not have a
good sense of where they are in my head, and I cannot bend my neck
to look at them. We also focused on posture, including how to
position my hips, shoulders, arms, legs, and feet. It is amazing
that what was once second nature now needs a lot of coordination
and concentration to achieve. I think I am slowly making progress
with this, but my shoulders and neck still get tired and sore easily.
We also did some stairclimbing, which was not too strenuous.
Occupational therapy focused on showering myself, drying off
afterwards, and dressing myself. I am slowly getting better at this
as well. The biggest issue is that I cannot bend my neck again.
This makes it difficult for me to see what I am doing. There are
some orthopedic devices that aid me in this process, such as sock
pullers and object grabbers. I am making use of those.
I'm also working to streamline my medications. I'm trying to focus
on a single time-released painkiller, one or two muscle relaxers,
and then the steroids. There are a few ancillary drugs that I'm
trying to wean myself from. It helps to have a clear head when you
need to concentrate on every single movement of your body.
The rehab process is a great big compromise. There are six major
categories among which I need to strike a balance. Exertion, rest,
toughness, medication, comfort, and posture. It is difficult to
optimize all of these at the same time, but that is what I need to
attempt. There are trade-offs everywhere. I am learning that posture
is actually one of the most important factors. All my time doing
yoga should have prepared me better for this! Posture is one of
the most difficult things to master, but should provide great
results. If I can keep my body in a non-stressful position, a lot
of good will follow from that.
I am still fighting with strong lack of sensation on the right side
my body. It feels like my right arm was bound with heavy cord and
the circulation has been cut off. My natural inclination is to try
to stimulate blood flow by keeping it constantly in motion, but
this actually does not help. Right now I think the best thing to
do is to closely watch my motion and try to will the neural connections
to regenerate. I am not sure if this is actually scientific, but
it is my current method. My doctor's analogy is that my nerves are
like a classroom of students with a substitute teacher. The substitute
teacher needs to regain control of them, otherwise they will just
run around like crazy. I will ask him more about this.
Today my neck is still sore, but I think it is slowly getting less
so. Finding good posture, good medications, and just allowing time
for the surgical site to heal seems to be helping. This is still
one of my greatest obstacles. I have to wear my hard collar for a
total of three weeks, so I hope to gain more relief by then.
Today's physical and occupational therapy sessions were also
productive. I had an hour of physical therapy first. We focused on
stretches, posture and positioning, and body awareness. Then an
hour of occupational therapy focused on manual dexterity and regaining
control of my hand-eye coordination. After a break and lunch, I
had a final hour of physical therapy. We did more stretches and
posture work. We also started working on unassisted movements, such
as standing still without my walker. We also did marches in place,
with minimal balance support from either a bar or the wall. Both
therapists emphasized important underlying aspects of movement,
coordination, and positioning. They also gave me a list of exercises
to perform on my own which I will do tomorrow. There are no organized
sessions on Sundays, so I will be exercising by myself and resting.
On Tuesday, there will be a meeting between the therapists, nurses,
and administrative staff at the rehab center. They will discuss my
progress and prognosis. At that point, we will have a better
understanding of how much longer I need to stay here. The factors
involved are my progress, goals, personal safety, and the safety
and support in my home environment. This will determine my further
treatment and discharge plan. I probably won't know a lot more until
after that meeting.
In the meantime, I am working hard to follow the plans of the
therapists and doctors. I'm taking some more time off from work so
I can recover and rehabilitate properly. Once again I really do
appreciate everyone's support and encouragement. I will emerge from
this, it will just take time and hard work.
-Jon
Posted by jon at June 10, 2013 1:07 AM