Physical therapy and upcoming appointments

Physical therapy

This morning in the continuation of upper body exercises a new twist was when Deb indicated we were going to the parallel bars. I was a little confused because morning is more occupational therapy and afternoon is physical therapy concentrating on legs. What we ended up doing was practicing standing. I was able to push myself out of the chair and transfer my hands to the parallel bars which were a little higher. On the first attempt I was able to stand for 40 seconds. On the second attempt I was able to stand for 60 seconds. My right leg continues to lag behind the left. Locking the knee in place is part of the difficulty.

In afternoon therapy, I continued practicing transfers with and without a sliding board (a board that serves as a bridge from one surface to another. You slide your body from bed to chair, chair to bed). Non sliding board transfers involve standing pivoting and sitting. I also used the Omnicycle again. The right leg which I am concentrating on with the bike went from 16% effort to 22% effort so I am continuing to see some incremental improvement in the right leg.


Important appointments and meetings this week

I do have a doctor appointment on Wednesday with my oncologist. It is anticipated that we will be discussing treatment plans for the melanoma and details of the most recent PET scan. On Thursday, Rick and I will be meeting with the rehab center staff to get an overall evaluation of progress since my arrival. They call it a discharge planning meeting which of course concerned me at first until we realized exactly what the meeting entails.

Results of both the oncology appointment and the planning meeting will be discussed on the web later in the week.