Sorry I haven't updated in the last couple days, they've been working me pretty hard and when I'm not doing that, I'm eating or sleeping.
Thursday and Friday, PT worked my legs and abs really hard while OT worked my neck, back and hands. All of the OT work is pretty similar, they bring out a bunch of different games and I have to put this peg to that hole and then put it back. It's more or less like going to Cracker Barrel with less appetizing food and I have to sit up straight the entire time.
Today I didn't realize I was going to have any therapy but sure enough, right after I had finished off half of the Jelly Belly's my mom had brought me, PT came in. The gym was pretty empty so she wanted me to walk all over the place. I knew that was going to be my only therapy for the day so I decided to push myself. I was fine for the first 20 minutes but then the stomach full of sugar caught up with me and I had a huge crash and lost all of my energy. If it was just me, I probably would have stopped right then and gone back to bed but after a little discipline by ridicule, she got me up again.
Thursday, I walked about 20'; Friday I tried to double it and went 50' (both of these were after 3 other therapy sessions so I was already pretty tired). Today I went about 500' and rode a bicycle-type machine for 10 minutes. I think I'll be regretting that if they expect me to do therapy tomorrow.
I can't remember if Melissa touched on this earlier so I'll say it again. I've lost about 2/3 of the hair on my scalp. What's still there is well on its way for needing a haircut so Mom bought a set of clippers and I'm going to buzz my head down a bit tomorrow and just let it all grow out at the same time.
Another sign of recovery: The nurses have been having trouble pulling blood since the chemo fried my veins and they haven't been vi sable. One nurse told me that it sometimes takes up to 10 years for the veins to recover after chemo. Well Thursday morning, the veins in my feet and hands popped out again and they have been able to easily hit veins in my arm since. This is good because I was getting REALLY tired of being poked multiple times at 5:30 each morning.
Eric
P.S. How about them Boilermakers! Share of the Big Ten, first since the mid 90's.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
First Day of Rehab
I'm going to try to make this pretty quick so I can get some sleep.
Today was pretty much all assessments of strength. I had two sessions of physical therapy where they focused on my lower body and abdomen and two sessions of operational therapy which focused on upper body.
In the morning I had PT first. I did some leg exercises and then took about 30 steps using the parallel bars. It felt pretty good, I used my arms mainly for stability and was able to walk the entire distance without any help. Immediately after that I went into an OT session but wasn't able to do much, I was so exhausted that I got pretty light headed and spent most of the hour laying down, doing some arm exercises.
After OT, I got to take a 1.5hr nap before lunch. I'm back on a calorie count so they review how many calories I eat after I'm done with my plate, which I'm having no problem with considering the amount of exercise I'm getting. Right now I supposed to eat at least 2400 calories per day, which is pretty difficult on lean hospital food, but I wouldn't be surprised if they uped that number due to the activities they're having me do. I guess I should mention that the threat they are holding over my head is that if I don't average 2400 calories during the 3 day calorie count, they will cut a hole in my stomach and put a feed tube directly into it which doesn't sound pleasant.
After lunch, they came back and got me again for more OT. They took some measurements of how strong my grip was using my full hand as well as a few different combinations of fingers. In the end it looks like my grip is about 25% of a typical 25yr old.
Again I got to come back to the room and get some rest before my last half hour of PT. This was a half hour because we were actually working to build muscle. It was hard but it made me realize what I need to work on the most.
After dinner, I got to take my first shower since the second week of December. It was terrific, all the hot water I wanted! I stayed in there until my neck was so tired I couldn't keep my head up anymore.
We'll see how tomorrow goes but I think I'm going to bounce back pretty fast if I can make it through all four sessions each day.
Eric
P.S.: I almost forgot, they pulled my peripheral IV last night also so I'm now free of all lines and hoses.
Today was pretty much all assessments of strength. I had two sessions of physical therapy where they focused on my lower body and abdomen and two sessions of operational therapy which focused on upper body.
In the morning I had PT first. I did some leg exercises and then took about 30 steps using the parallel bars. It felt pretty good, I used my arms mainly for stability and was able to walk the entire distance without any help. Immediately after that I went into an OT session but wasn't able to do much, I was so exhausted that I got pretty light headed and spent most of the hour laying down, doing some arm exercises.
After OT, I got to take a 1.5hr nap before lunch. I'm back on a calorie count so they review how many calories I eat after I'm done with my plate, which I'm having no problem with considering the amount of exercise I'm getting. Right now I supposed to eat at least 2400 calories per day, which is pretty difficult on lean hospital food, but I wouldn't be surprised if they uped that number due to the activities they're having me do. I guess I should mention that the threat they are holding over my head is that if I don't average 2400 calories during the 3 day calorie count, they will cut a hole in my stomach and put a feed tube directly into it which doesn't sound pleasant.
After lunch, they came back and got me again for more OT. They took some measurements of how strong my grip was using my full hand as well as a few different combinations of fingers. In the end it looks like my grip is about 25% of a typical 25yr old.
Again I got to come back to the room and get some rest before my last half hour of PT. This was a half hour because we were actually working to build muscle. It was hard but it made me realize what I need to work on the most.
After dinner, I got to take my first shower since the second week of December. It was terrific, all the hot water I wanted! I stayed in there until my neck was so tired I couldn't keep my head up anymore.
We'll see how tomorrow goes but I think I'm going to bounce back pretty fast if I can make it through all four sessions each day.
Eric
P.S.: I almost forgot, they pulled my peripheral IV last night also so I'm now free of all lines and hoses.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
One Step Closer to Home
Hello everyone. I want to thank everybody for their your thoughts and prayers. It's really meant a lot to myself and my family. I'd especially like to thank all of the Campbells, Floras, Gotschs, Hesters, Wisthuffs, Rexeisens, Moeschbergers, Louis, and the Guidos who all went together and purchased me the laptop that I'm using to write this.
Sara has returned to NC, my parents back to IL and Melissa is getting back to work again so I'll try to keep everyone updated on my progress.
I have had quite a bit of progress in the last two days but wanted to let it all play out before posting.
As Melissa said, we've been having some trouble with my insurance accepting my next step of rehab. All of the medical professionals agreed that I needed to go into an acute rehab center which would give me the attention and therapy I am requiring to get stronger. United Healthcare (my insurance provider) wanted to send me to a nursing home since it'd be cheaper. Melissa had done a lot of asking around and settled on Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana on the west side of Indianapolis as our preferred acute rehab facility so a representative came up and talked with us yesterday around 3pm. She made some calls and by 5:30 we were approved by insurance, accepted by RHI and my discharge papers were signed. I was transferred down here early this afternoon. The goal set forth by my hematologist is to be able to walk into his office and sit down under my own strength in his office on March 29. If I'm able to do this, they will check me in for ~4days and give me my first round of maintenance chemo through an IV, the same way they had done before which worked extremely well. If I am not strong enough by then, they will have to back down the dosage and administer it differently. So that's my goal, getting walking in 4 weeks.
Now I said that there was a lot of good news and this is true. Not only did we get over the insurance obstacle yesterday, but I also was able to transfer myself to a wheel chair, stand up and take my first steps (with the help of a walker and two physical therapists). I don't remember sweating so much last time I walked...
I start the intense rehab tomorrow morning at 6am so I'm going to roll over on my good ear and try to block out my roommates blaring tv and get some sleep. I'll write an update tomorrow with a summary of how therapy went, if I don't end up sleeping the rest of the day.
Eric
Sara has returned to NC, my parents back to IL and Melissa is getting back to work again so I'll try to keep everyone updated on my progress.
I have had quite a bit of progress in the last two days but wanted to let it all play out before posting.
As Melissa said, we've been having some trouble with my insurance accepting my next step of rehab. All of the medical professionals agreed that I needed to go into an acute rehab center which would give me the attention and therapy I am requiring to get stronger. United Healthcare (my insurance provider) wanted to send me to a nursing home since it'd be cheaper. Melissa had done a lot of asking around and settled on Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana on the west side of Indianapolis as our preferred acute rehab facility so a representative came up and talked with us yesterday around 3pm. She made some calls and by 5:30 we were approved by insurance, accepted by RHI and my discharge papers were signed. I was transferred down here early this afternoon. The goal set forth by my hematologist is to be able to walk into his office and sit down under my own strength in his office on March 29. If I'm able to do this, they will check me in for ~4days and give me my first round of maintenance chemo through an IV, the same way they had done before which worked extremely well. If I am not strong enough by then, they will have to back down the dosage and administer it differently. So that's my goal, getting walking in 4 weeks.
Now I said that there was a lot of good news and this is true. Not only did we get over the insurance obstacle yesterday, but I also was able to transfer myself to a wheel chair, stand up and take my first steps (with the help of a walker and two physical therapists). I don't remember sweating so much last time I walked...
I start the intense rehab tomorrow morning at 6am so I'm going to roll over on my good ear and try to block out my roommates blaring tv and get some sleep. I'll write an update tomorrow with a summary of how therapy went, if I don't end up sleeping the rest of the day.
Eric
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