Guess who started walking today?!?! YES! Actual steps!!
She has been working on sit to stand in the parallel bars and even taking a few steps inside the bars. Today was different. She used the “hemi-walker”, which I may have described before. A hemi-walker looks sort of like a lightweight step stool. It’s so she can stabilize herself with only one hand. Traditional walkers need both hands and is also too tall – she needs to be able to lean fully on it, so she basically has a straight arm when she holds on.
Today she worked with both OT and PT together. Mom stood up and used the hemi to get stabilized. She had a therapist on either side of her and I followed behind with the wheelchair for when she needed breaks. Today was her first go at this and she did GREAT. It’s amazing to realize all of the things you have to think about just take a few steps. Stand up straight, shoulders back, butt in, brace your arm and support yourself, lean to one side, move your foot forward, straighten up, shift your weight, take a step, take another step, don’t let your knees buckle…. Over and over… It’s also very scary when you haven’t really used any of those muscles and your structure feels so weak compared to what it once was.
When all was said and done, she walked 17 FEET!! Today marks the first day that she actually walked. Wow. What a big day. She wants to do more. Even though she’s been experiencing some leg pain and fatigue, she still wants to work. She’s such a fighter.
Hopefully with a lot of rest later today and tonight she’ll be rarin’ to go tomorrow!
- AFTERNOON UPDATE – I found out that mom is cleared to eat bananas! Not mushed up or even cut up, but WHOLE bananas! At lunch today she had tuna salad (not a pureé) and FRENCH FRIES! I’m waiting on the paperwork so I can schedule a swallow study. The last one she had done showed “potential”, but she wasn’t approved to have anything other than that water on a sponge or ice chips with supervision. Now she’s starting to sip water from a cup (and the coughing is much less), honey-thick liquids are a breeze and she’ll likely get moved to nectar-thick soon. I expect that she’ll also get to have more textured foods soon as part of a “mechanical soft” diet. This would include things like ground meats, chopped or diced veggies, soft fruits, pancakes, eggs, fries, and pasta. I’m so happy that her diet will have more variety soon. These are all such great changes. I think the plan going forward is for OT and PT to work together as much as possible to focus on standing, turning, and taking a few steps. I don’t expect her to be fully able to walk but these skills are vitally important to help with transfers. When would she need to be transferred? Getting out of the bed and into a wheelchair, getting into a car, getting onto the toilet, showers, etc. Man, there really is so much that we take for granted.
If you haven’t seen her in awhile, you’d really be amazed!!