I arrived early to Barwis so I slept in the car for a while. Eric told me that he waved to me twice and I didn’t wave back when I got in to the center. I told him that I was sleeping. It was raining AGAIN yesterday and it was wiping me out! I had been fighting with my body ALL DAY so far but I thought I was winning for the most part! Now, I not only was tired but winning was A LOT more difficult. Phil told me to go to the table. I needed his help to get out of my chair and onto the table because my legs were EXTREMELY stiff. Once on the table, I began winning again and I could sit on the table normally with my legs dangling. Phil stretched me while I sat and we did manual leg curls. Then he helped me get back into my chair and we went over to the Keiser machine. He stopped and got a half popcorn ball. It wasn’t purple. It was orange. I told him that it wasn’t purple. He said the purple one was not there and I told him that is his job to find it. Yesterday, we would have to use the orange one. He positioned the half popcorn ball and told me to stand.
Standing up from my chair is PRETTY difficult. I stand with my hands on the arm rests of my wheelchair and then need to grab the bar that is a little higher than shoulder height on me. Once I grab the bar, I have to fight to stand. I always start with my left hand. That’s my lead hand. Once I grab it. I always say, “Yeah!” Then when I can get my right hand onto the bar, I say, “Yeah!” again. Then the fight is on! Phil tells me to push and is properly positioning my legs. Once I “click” he tells me to hold it. That first stand I held it for a LONG while! Until my legs started to shake. Once I sat back in my chair, I asked Phil how long I stood, he shook his head and said that it was maybe a minute. We fist bumped but then he grabbed my fist and yelled, “joystick!” We did 2 more stands, “Yeah! Yeah!…Click. I stood FOREVER it seemed each of those times! When I sat back in my chair the second time, I asked Phil how long I stood and he said, “an hour.” I thought so!
My time was over and Phil took me to my car. I gave it the college try 3 times and I was spent. Phil put me in my car and once my wheelchair was stowed we fist bump once more. Phil grabbed my fist and yelled, ‘joystick!” again, told me to have a good weekend, and shut my door. Grrr! But it felt REALLY nice to “click” 3 times yesterday!!! Hopefully, it will happen MORE often now!!! Now, I thought *BINK*S were ABSOLUTELY adorable but “click”s are SO much BETTER!!! They FEEL a lot better!!! Closer to standing for real… If I stand for real, then walking CAN’T be THAT far off!!! Right?!