The pool went so well! I was kind of upset I wasn't with Rachel (although, thinking back to last week and how she made me "swim" against the jets, making me feel like a drowning dog trying to doggy paddle, reminds me that maybe I'm not that sad haha), but I was with Kim and she was so excited for me. She blocked my knees and I stood...on my own! Eric wasn't even pushing my hips forward! Kim was like yelling in excitement! She said she could feel so much muscle activation in my legs and that the session went even better than last week. She even said she wished Dennis could reevaluate me weekly instead of monthly. I thought that'd never happen...I mean, my arms started to come back so fast and I was constantly achieving each goal I met. My therapists would set a goal for the week and I'd reach it the next day...or they'd give me adaptive equipment and I wouldn't need it by the time they figured out how to set it up for me. Reflecting on how fast all of that came made me frustrated that my legs weren't doing anything. And I was tired of hearing everyone say how well I was doing and how fast my recovery is going when it definitely didn't feel like that to me. All the time, I meet people at therapy that ask when I got sick and are shocked when I say September of 2015 because of how far I've come...everyone assumes it's been two or three years, not shy of just one. But a whole year seems like an eternity if you ask me! Anyways, I really am seeing constant changes and strength in my legs and this is what I've been waiting for. Kim said it isn't just about neural stimulation anymore and letting everyone "walk" me...it's now about seeing how much I can do and actually learning how to walk again.
Mom and I went to dinner with Howard and Patrick. We had so much to talk about and it's nice when there's so much similarity in what we're going through. Howard knew exactly when I meant when I told him how Kim said I'm at the point where I need to "learn how to walk." He's been there- and not very long ago. He's the one that said it all started with a toe wiggle, then I got my toe wiggle that night. He can get up and walk- not far, but it's coming along. He's just struggling with some of the core strength, so he told me to keep working on that. It's so good to finally be able to have the opportunity to talk and get to know some of these people outside the 10minutes we get before the start of therapy.
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