i was a bit late to Barwis yesterday. Traffic on I-96. Connor came out to get me. When we got inside, Megan came over to give me a hug. I pulled my pant leg up and showed her my socks for “Wacky Sock Wednesday.” I thought it was #3 and I tweeted the pic that Mike ended up taking of my socks but it REALLY was #4. Mike pushed me to the blue table and put me on it. He started working my calves and ankles and was pleasantly surprised. He kind of grunted in surprise. I said kind of morbidly, “Yeah, if MS doesn’t get you in one way; it will get you in another.” I looked away and Mike asked me if I cared to explain. I looked at him briefly and shook my head saying, No.” Today, my legs may NOT have been very tight but I told a colleague at work that I felt like the score was MS = 1 and Jen = 0. It was THAT kind of day.
Mike stretched me REALLY well. He put me in the, “Ooh Doggie!” stretch and he did a new kind of stretch where he pushed my ankles backward as I was sitting on the edge of the table. I felt the stretch intensely in my quads. After that, he had me lay on my stomach. A few times ago, I asked him if eventually I won’t need such an intense stretch. He answered that it was possible and that I may need less of a stretch and we would do more work walking. I remembered that I liked hearing that and now that my legs were a bit looser I had an easier time almost believing it.
I was having a difficult time taking a picture of my “wacky” socks so Mike took pity on me and took this picture just before we finished:
So, my ankles had become a bit swollen (I don’t ALWAYS have cankles!!!). But, in addition to my TOTALLY RAD socks, I drove home with my legs relaxed and I fell asleep easily. I awoke this morning with my quads burning and painfully aching. I texted Jesse this morning telling him among other things that my quads were KILLING me and that, “One muscle group at a time, (remember, that my butt was KILLING me earlier) slowly my legs are waking up.” He thought that was great about my legs and it made me happy too! It was NOT comfortable to awaken in such pain but I was happy that I ACTUALLY felt something!!! It’s been a LONG TIME since I have really felt sensation below T7 in my spine (where one of my original lesions was located upon diagnosis). So, retrospectively, thinking about that score, I think it may actually be Jen = 1 and MS = 0 in the long run.