April 7

The weather was gloomy, gray and wet, but that meant Dad didn't have to work and was able to come with us. Despite the gross weather, it was a beautifully happy day! My doctors warned me that not every day would be filled with improvement and good news. Some days may feel like I'm taking steps backwards, but as long as I take a step back and see that the overall trend is a steady incline, that's all that matters.

I rode the stim bike again in the morning because I had worked up to 4x/week.it wasn't quite as good as the day before, but I was still happy with the results. It was also time for my 30 day reevaluation to see what/if anything had changed since I started at KKI.  I knew there had been improvement, but I had no idea how much. I improved my balance and functional reach in all directions...my reach forward (reaching forward then coming back to neutral with both arms still in the air and not touching anything) improved from a pathetic 6cm to 12cm. Still not ideal, but I doubled it! (All those sit ups Dennis makes me do are paying off!)

We did a full assessment of proprioception and movement as well. Proprioception was checked based on if I could tell whether or not my knee, ankle and big toe were pointed up or down (bent or not). That's still not perfect, but it was better than before. I was pretty much guessing the first time I did it, but I felt a lot more confident in my answers this time and instead of getting the majority wrong, I got 4/5 correct. 

During the first assessment, there was absolutely no visible movement, but Becky could feel triggers/traces everywhere. This time, I had actual movement in my hip flexors, glutes, thighs, ankles and toes! There are even videos for proof! It was so exciting!! 

There's another setting on the stim machine (aka the Vectra) called EMG. I found this online to describe it because I know it's a better explanation than what I can give: 

Electromyography (EMG) is a diagnostic procedure to assess the health of muscles and the nerve cells that control them (motor neurons).

Motor neurons transmit electrical signals that cause muscles to contract. An EMG translates these signals into graphs, sounds or numerical values that a specialist interprets.

An EMG uses tiny devices called electrodes to transmit or detect electrical signals.

A nerve conduction study, another part of an EMG, uses electrodes taped to the skin (surface electrodes) to measure the speed and strength of signals traveling between two or more points.

EMG results can reveal nerve dysfunction, muscle dysfunction or problems with nerve-to-muscle signal transmission.

So...I had the stim electrode pads on my legs, which were hooked to the machine. Dennis set a specific threshold on the machine and told me to try to create a movement...like bring my knee to my chest or heel to butt. Once enough movement was detected to reach whatever threshold was set, stim would kick on and finish the movement. It was so cool! And the majority of the time, I was reaching the threshold fairly quickly and we kept having to raise it. I keep watching the videos (with and without stim) because I'm just so excited about all this progress. This is how everything started with my arms...we started with a little movement and then just built it from there. I'm so excited for what's to come next week and how much strength I'm going to build up over time. Dennis already extended my time at KKI so my tentative discharge date is 6/9, but he said we can keep adding time as things progress. Actually, his exact words were "we'll continue with what we're doing like it's all going to come back." (!!!)