My trainer leslie and I, have been working on a myriad of different things. Most notably, my hand dexterity. We do hand shakes to stimulate sensation and muscle movement. It feels great to use my right hand again and Leslie uses massage to get the nerves "reminded" again too. I'm not sure how much it will stick long term, but I know it is therapeutic and it makes my hands feel alive, more normal!
We've also been hitting the triceps and the rear deltoids hardcore. These muscles aid in lifting, transferring and pushing. She resists me only using her hands which is enough and I do flies on the cables. Then I'm ready to push in the chair a bit, concentrating on keeping my posture; shoulders down and back, tightening the core. It helps with keeping straight as I've been leaning to the right side. Speaking of the the core, our core exercises include pressing large balls to concentrate using the core muscles, and slowly lifting/transferring medicine balls for the same purpose. It's very tiring!
My transferring is slowly becoming easier over time. I'm still fighting for the vitaglide for Beth Abraham. It's so hard to keep physically motivated after they cut you from therapy! But quads especially need something that can help keep them moving, pushing, so they can have better bed mobility, transferring skills. It also feels good to be able to go out and manage the urban jungle or participate in a handcycling! My hope is that this will be the beginning of quads supporting each other in physical maintenance because unfortunately, there will be more quads at Beth abe.
