Saturday
Apparently on Thursday, Linda told the PT that she liked having one of the days of the weekend off from therapy. According to her, he said he would see what he could do, and perhaps he did, because we had today free. It's a funny thing, because we did several things that were really therapy things. I guess the therapy things you do to yourself are better than the ones that someone plans for you.
We started on the computer, and Linda sent her second email. She is getting faster on the keyboard even though we have done hardly any practicing.
I also agreed to spend time this morning just working on standing up. She has been frustrated by her right foot, which hurts quite often. The cause is almost certainly putting weight on the outside part of the foot instead of spreading it across her sole. So we sat on the mat, and stood up over and over, working on different things. We worked on foot placement, weight distribution between her two feet, leaning forward enough before pushing up, etc. We did sitting too, since you need to do that before you can stand up again. Lyndsay will be really pleased with Linda's sitting when we finally get to that in OT (assuming Linda does it the way she is supposed to--she still gets lazy sometimes). Later in the day, Linda mentioned that the standing practice helped.
And just because that is not enough, we did electrical stim on Linda's left arm. We had gotten cleared to do it by Lyndsay as long as someone was around to supervise, and Molly was in the gym today. Linda has found that really helpful before, so it was nice we found time to work it in.
There was a new first today, Linda's first McDonald's. Mary and Phil brought Ellie and we all went. The food wasn't actually all that hot, but we enjoyed it anyway. Linda can eat fries on her own, with ketchup even. I helped her with her burger. For a while I was helping Ellie and Linda and eating my own food. I sort of wished I could have another hand on my body somewhere.
We followed that by a trip to the store to pick up a few things. Linda didn't really enjoy that so much. Different people like to look at different things in the store, and they pause for different amounts of time in different places. Since I was responsible for getting her around, we naturally paused longer at things I would look at than things she would, even though I tried to avoid doing that. So she was kind of bored.
This evening we played Trivial Pursuit (genus IV--our favorite). We did it for fun, but don't be confused about one aspect of the game. It's therapy. She had to roll the die, hold the cards and read them out loud. It is an OT and ST activity wrapped together. We didn't finish, and I was a bit ahead, but that doesn't really mean much. Linda and I almost always finish nearly simultaneously, fighting it out for the center, even when one gets an early lead.
One funny thing happened tonight. I mentioned that Linda often cries at things that aren't (very) sad and laughs and things that aren't all that funny. It's called labile emotion. She had some labile crying in the gym this morning when we were working. Tonight when we were playing, she had a bunch of labile laughing. It's hard for her to roll the die in the game, and it often ends up on the floor. After a while she would start laughing every time she dropped the die, more than reasonable (even though it was kind of funny). When it happens, it's kind of like being at a slumber party where everyone gets the giggles. I start laughing and she laughs even more.
As far as labile emotion goes, the laughing is really the better part. Linda says it is all horrible, and I suppose it is. Any time your body expresses emotion that you don't really feel, that has to be not nice. But I don't mind the laughing. I don't mind the crying either, but the laughing is certainly more fun and upsets people less.
I also understand now why Linda used to laugh every time I kissed her. I can't tell you how many times she spit on me that way.
Apparently on Thursday, Linda told the PT that she liked having one of the days of the weekend off from therapy. According to her, he said he would see what he could do, and perhaps he did, because we had today free. It's a funny thing, because we did several things that were really therapy things. I guess the therapy things you do to yourself are better than the ones that someone plans for you.
We started on the computer, and Linda sent her second email. She is getting faster on the keyboard even though we have done hardly any practicing.
I also agreed to spend time this morning just working on standing up. She has been frustrated by her right foot, which hurts quite often. The cause is almost certainly putting weight on the outside part of the foot instead of spreading it across her sole. So we sat on the mat, and stood up over and over, working on different things. We worked on foot placement, weight distribution between her two feet, leaning forward enough before pushing up, etc. We did sitting too, since you need to do that before you can stand up again. Lyndsay will be really pleased with Linda's sitting when we finally get to that in OT (assuming Linda does it the way she is supposed to--she still gets lazy sometimes). Later in the day, Linda mentioned that the standing practice helped.
And just because that is not enough, we did electrical stim on Linda's left arm. We had gotten cleared to do it by Lyndsay as long as someone was around to supervise, and Molly was in the gym today. Linda has found that really helpful before, so it was nice we found time to work it in.
There was a new first today, Linda's first McDonald's. Mary and Phil brought Ellie and we all went. The food wasn't actually all that hot, but we enjoyed it anyway. Linda can eat fries on her own, with ketchup even. I helped her with her burger. For a while I was helping Ellie and Linda and eating my own food. I sort of wished I could have another hand on my body somewhere.
We followed that by a trip to the store to pick up a few things. Linda didn't really enjoy that so much. Different people like to look at different things in the store, and they pause for different amounts of time in different places. Since I was responsible for getting her around, we naturally paused longer at things I would look at than things she would, even though I tried to avoid doing that. So she was kind of bored.
This evening we played Trivial Pursuit (genus IV--our favorite). We did it for fun, but don't be confused about one aspect of the game. It's therapy. She had to roll the die, hold the cards and read them out loud. It is an OT and ST activity wrapped together. We didn't finish, and I was a bit ahead, but that doesn't really mean much. Linda and I almost always finish nearly simultaneously, fighting it out for the center, even when one gets an early lead.
One funny thing happened tonight. I mentioned that Linda often cries at things that aren't (very) sad and laughs and things that aren't all that funny. It's called labile emotion. She had some labile crying in the gym this morning when we were working. Tonight when we were playing, she had a bunch of labile laughing. It's hard for her to roll the die in the game, and it often ends up on the floor. After a while she would start laughing every time she dropped the die, more than reasonable (even though it was kind of funny). When it happens, it's kind of like being at a slumber party where everyone gets the giggles. I start laughing and she laughs even more.
As far as labile emotion goes, the laughing is really the better part. Linda says it is all horrible, and I suppose it is. Any time your body expresses emotion that you don't really feel, that has to be not nice. But I don't mind the laughing. I don't mind the crying either, but the laughing is certainly more fun and upsets people less.
I also understand now why Linda used to laugh every time I kissed her. I can't tell you how many times she spit on me that way.
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