Angela's Blog

Yo.

All good over here. Had a good psychotherapy group yesterday and a good morning today. No complaints here. Well, at least no new complaints. Still plagued by the same old same old - pins and needles, increasing tone in my hand, and general stiffness. But besides that I'm doing pretty well.

Like I said, psychotherapy group wasn't half bad. And I only choked up once. I was the only one who choked up, but no actual tears, just choking up. And it wasn't all that surprising because it was when I was sharing that I had a really hard time when Josh went back to work. I just said that I used to lay in bed and cry every morning after he left or when I woke up alone and that choked me up a little. Not too bad. We went over the different kinds of changes in personality that come from a brain injury and the changes in emotions that come with a brain injury. Was nice to hear that some of the stuff I've been struggling with is "normal" and nice to hear that I'm not the only one. And it was good for me to hear about "normal" things other people with TBI are struggling with that I'm not having a tough time with. Helps remind me what specifically to thank God for. And I'm not the only spring chicken in this group. There is an older gentleman that had a brain bleed pretty much when I got in my accident. So spring chickens unite - I am alone no more!

And this morning was great. I woke up early-ish and instead of laying in bed I decided to go to the gym. I got up, got dressed, even managed to tie my own shoes and walked over to the gym solo. I walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes. And for the first time I could actually feel my left hip jacking up and trying to help out. So I practiced walking without hiking my hip up, just moving my leg instead. And I could also feel, also for the first time, rolling to the ball of my foot. So I practiced that too. Big successes!!! Can't wait to tell my PT next week! When I was done with my 15 minutes on the treadmill I did 15 minutes on the stationary bike. I tried the regular kind today for the first time. The kind where you're sitting up just like on a normal bike. I noticed a lot of foot drop on my left side. I couldn't really keep my foot flat for more than three go-arounds with the pedals. And it really started to hurt my ankle. So I switched to the recumbent bike after 5 minutes and did my other 10 there. After my 15 minutes on the bike I did 15 minutes on the elliptical. My left arm was too tight to hold onto the arm part that moves so I just held on to the right side that moves. During this my hair fell in my face so I had to stop, balance, and move my hair behind my ear with my right hand. Then I started up again and my face was itchy on my forehead. So I gave it a shot and was able to reach and scratch my face with my left hand! And then again on my hairline next to my left eye! Awesome! And I was able to reach that far with active movement! Progress!

So to celebrate my big successes I got a tasty jamba juice and continued with my day. Other big thing to report is I am going to start HBOT therapy soon. HBOT is hyper baric oxygen treatment. You lay in a hyper baric chamber with 100% oxygen and it's pressurized. Sound weird and hokey? I know. But check it out on the net. Lots of TBI people reported huge helps cognitively, with memory, even with spasticity. So I'm going to give it a shot. And we were lucky enough to find a clinic that offers HBOT for TBI sufferers right here in Seattle. I think the next closest one is in Vancouver, BC. I'm hoping to start this in the next few weeks and can't wait to see if it's able to help me. If it is, I'll take it - and if it's not, no harm, no foul. Worth a shot, that's for sure.

That's pretty much what I've got for now. Celebrating the small successes and chewing my fur about what HBOT is going to be able to do for me. Send up a little prayer that it's a huge success for me too if you have a minute.

Thanks.

Ang