More than just weights

Physio wasn’t all about weights training.  When allowed there was also the plinth work.  The plinth taught me many things.  It taught me balance.  It taught me exercises.  It taught me trust.  Not just trust in others but trust also in myself.

This started off with me being hoisted onto the plinth.  In the first hospital this had been done a few times with four people to hand.  It hadn’t been at all successful.  Here I’d been sitting up in the chair for a while now and was ready to move to the next stage.  Here there were three people.  The second time we tried it there were two people to hand.  By the fourth or fifth time it was just me and my physiotherapist. 

Because my paralysis is from the chest I don’t have any stomach muscles to speak of so one of the first things I was taught was about balance.  How to sit up and not fall back/forward/to the side.  It took a bit of time.  It took lots of trust.  Once I was comfortable sitting and holding onto the bed we moved onto me sitting with my hands on my knees.  Then sitting with one hand high fiving.  Then two.  It sounds ridiculous.  It sounds simple.  But it’s not.  There were times I’d go to do it and fall right back.  Times I’d stumble.  Times I’d do it ten times in a row, think I’ve finally got the knack and then fall again.  But that’s just all part of the journey.

I was given exercises I could and should do with my legs.  I was given more weights.  I was given stretches.  I was given hope.

During these one on one sessions with the physio she got to know me.  She got to know that the map laid out for me wasn’t really what I would have liked or wanted.  She got to know my capabilities and at some point during these sessions we both realised I was capable of more than I’d ever been given credit for.

I don’t know who thought or said it first, but I know we got to a point where we both wanted to try more.

I didn’t like the idea of having to be hoisted in and out of bed several times of day.  I didn’t like the idea of having multitudes of carers to do it.  We thought we’d do what we could to cut down on that. 

We tried transferring from bed to chair and back again without the use of a board.  It was messy but doable.  We showed the results to the doctor.  She said no. 

We looked at ways in which I could hoist myself.  I practiced getting the sling in whilst in the chair.  Practiced getting the sling out whilst in my chair.  Practiced on the bed putting the sling in and out again.  It was only after I’d managed to master all of that, that we then realised that once the sling was attached to the hoist and I was in midair that I’d nowhere to go as there were no controls to move the hoist left or right once airborne.

We tried a few other things but the doctor shut them down thinking that long term they wouldn’t be healthy.  Looking back she had a point but at the time it was very frustrating.

Finally we got a new transfer board.  It’s worked wonders and made such a difference to my quality of life.  I don’t need a hoist.  I don’t have a hoist.  It was planned that I’d get one going home for emergencies but then it became an issue about money and I didn’t get one.  But I’m doing more than fine without it so no complaints here.