May 24

I LOVE working with Rachel in the pool! She's not only entertaining to talk to, but I really feel like she knows what she's doing and she always pushes me to do absolutely everything I can. We were in the small pool this morning and walked on the treadmill at varying speeds. Fast speeds have been shown to really trigger the nervous system, but slow speeds allow for me to concentrate and help more. She waited for me to initiate each movement, then helped me finish it. She told me that she couldn't tell for sure if it was movement coming from my hips and lower abs and I was compensating, but whatever it was, it seemed even better than last week. We also did some smaller squats with her at my knees and Tim (one of the techs) at my hips. She told me to try to use my legs and core as much as possible and not my arms and even Tim offered up the fact that it was mostly me doing them. He said he was barely helping. (And he never says things like that! Haha) 

During PT, I was in one of the standers for the first hour, doing a lot of arm exercises with weights and trying not to hold on in order to challenge my core. One of the trainers from upstairs was shadowing Dennis and stayed with us during the session. When Dennis went to introduce us, Kevin said he'd seen me a lot, but we hadn't formally met. He said he sees me all the time in the wellness gym and commented on how hard I'm always working. When I went to leave KKI, a woman id never seen before asked if I'd just got done on the third floor (where the GEO is) and when I said yes, she said "I knew it, I always see you working hard. You're doing a good job." So that's twice in one day that people I don't know recognized my hard work and determination. I didn't come this far by taking it easy, but it's a good feeling when other people can see that time I'm putting into recovery. I mean, it is my full time job right now. I know it's paying off too, because every time I get in the pool, it's better. 

I'm so thankful that the sun is finally shining this week. Mom and I have been spending all day at therapy and then just going back to the hotel room every evening with not much to do. At least now we can sit outside, but even then, it still gets a little boring. We try to pack all our food for the week and bring it with us to save money (and calories!), so we don't go out much. The house we're at  has tons of DVDs, but the majority are kids movies and we've pretty much watched all the adult ones. That being said, if anyone has any tv series or movies on DVDs for us to borrow, that'd be so great!! Also, if anyone has any books on tape for our car rides, that'd be great too!