Second Hydrotherapy session

Jo had her second hydrotherapy session today and it seems to be having an efficacious effect. The therapist started in the deep end. With Jo standing upright in the water she got Jo to push down on her foot with Jo’s left foot. Although Jo professed she couldn’t feel it the therapist said Jo was pushing down on her foot with some force. This was in contrast to last week when Jo couldn’t bring the left leg down to the floor of the pool

Other exercises included Jo kicking with both legs while floating on her back and performing a scissors movement with both legs in the same position. On land Jo is just beginning to make lateral movements with her left leg. These movements are slight and with little control so this is a really positive effect.

In the swim

Jo had her first hydrotherapy session today and it went very well. She was able to stand unaided in the water and move her leg freely in the water. The buoyancy of the water meant that it was harder to place and control her left leg at the deep end but she managed the stand in the shallower water.

The physiotherapist manipulated the muscles in her arm and leg and I saw some slight movement of the arm whilst in the water. This bodes very well and she has another session booked for next week.

First steps with a zimmer frame

A zimmer frame arrived for Jo and she tried it out with the physiotherapists today. She was very hesitant as the zimmer frame requires her to stand more upright and does not allow her to lean on her forearms as the gutter frame does. Consequently she only managed one step with the zimmer frame before reverting to the gutter frame.

The physiotherapists said this was natural and that they continued to be impressed by her progress, saying she was now lifting and placing the left leg with no assistance.

Like a landslide

An occupational therapist came around to assess Jo and our house today, specifically to look at adapting the downstairs bathroom for Jo's needs, turning it into a wet room to enable Jo to take a shower.

While she was here she related an interesting analogy for brain damage, comparing its effects to that of a landslide blocking off a road. In this analogy rehabilation is like an earthmover clearing a path through the rubble, with each movement of the affected limbs carving out pathways to the brain.

We grow weary

It has been just over a year now and Jo and I are both very weary of coping with all this. The physiotherapist didn't call this week and so there was no session, which inculcates a feeling of being abandoned and robs us of any sense of progress.

On a more positive not Jo had a rehabilitation assessment for her left hand and they agreed that Jo needed another injection of botox, which they did immediately. We also learnt the consultant physician had agreed the state of Jo's kidneys should not preclude her undertaking the hydrotherapy treatments. Hopefully they will schedule a first assessment session soon.