My Mom pushed me into Barwis and we headed to the tables. I ran right into Nick Montoni! He was back and finished with college. We hugged and he asked how my hamstring was. I pushed myself over to where Sue was. It had been one week since I had been to Barwis. Sue asked how I felt as she wiped the table off and I told her that surprisingly, I didn’t feel bad. She and Chet (a new intern) helped me onto the table and she stretched me out where almost immediately we began our PNFs. Jake was there (my fellow Bronco) and Jon. Megan yelled greetings to me as she was working with someone nearby.
Sue had me flip over onto my stomach and I used my hamstrings to push my leg down, flat on the table. Then she would stretch my hip by pulling my knee up and had me pull my knee down to the table which I could do with LOTS of grunting on my part. Sue told me that we were going to go over to the shuttle and that she was surprised that my legs didn’t feel that bad (referring to tightness). She helped me sit up and I remained sitting for a while before transferring to my wheelchair. I never thought sitting upright would be SO difficult but it is. I sat for a little while and then transferred and Sue pushed me to the shuttle.
Sue and Chet helped me onto the shuttle and Sue adjusted me once I was seated. Sue told me which muscles I needed to activate to straighten my legs (my quads) and how I need to turn them off and activate my hamstrings to bend my knees and slide down. I straightened my legs with ease but was having difficulty changing up and turning my quads off and activating my hamstrings. Sue was impressed with my “super quads” and I could tell because she was beaming. I completed each rep so well that she added one band for my second set. I completed them nicely but the set took longer. She asked if I wanted to take the band off so I could, “bang ’em out.” I agreed so we took the band off. I closed my eyes, said, ” Activate: Suer Quads!” and banged the reps out. It felt REALLY good that Sue was so happy with my performance! I was tired but felt good as my Mom helped me into the car.