Well, the snow has started to fall and I am STILL in my wheelchair!!! I HATE the snow because wheels and snow don’t go together AT ALL! I pulled up to Barwis (early) and called to have someone come out and help me. Alyssa answered the phone and I told her the deal. She came out with an “almost Adam-sized” guy named Jareth and a shovel. There wasn’t TONS of snow, just enough to make me slip so I told Jareth what we would do to get me into my chair. He would spot me as I stood and ease me down into my wheelchair. He did and Alyssa pushed me inside.
My legs were just a little bit swollen and it wasn’t until Mike pushed me to the blue table that they began to stiffen. That ALWAYS seems to happen once I get to Barwis! He had me lay down on my back and put me in the modified “Ooh Doggie!” stretch. It felt SO much easier!!! He asked me if I felt a stretch and I nodded. I asked him how I felt and he said that we were “definitely gaining ground.” I liked the way that sounded. I need to be reminded that I am making progress periodically. Then he had me lay on my stomach. He put my left leg in an L-shape and moved my foot to the left, right, and toward my butt. He asked me where I felt the stretch each time he changed directions. It was REALLY cool that I was ACTUALLY feeling all of the muscles that I was supposed to when he changed directions. When he was stretching my right leg, I asked him if I feel different from I did the first day he stretched me and he replied, “Absolutely.” SCORE! I liked that response!
Mike took me out to my car. He reminded me of the 4 step process to get into my car but I told him that I can’t do that in the snow. He helped me into my car with a few technical difficulties but I was in. In the process, my legs stiffened and would NOT bend. As he was trying to bend them, I said Phil’s “bends” and ended with the “bend it”s. I said I missed Phil’s “bends” but maybe I really didn’t because I liked when my legs just automatically bent; it felt like I was gaining ground.