What's Next?

What’s next? That’s a question I get on a daily basis these days, or at least ever since I was discharged from Kennedy Krieger. Last Wednesday was (fortunately) and unfortunately my last day. I was given a home program filled with exercises to do at home and told to return in 4-5 months. I’ll be doing things like: riding my stim bike, using my stander/glider, working on standing with a walker at home, swimming, walking in the water, and strength training at my own gym.

Last time I took a break from therapy was last August, after going 3-4 days a week since that April. I remember being so upset that they were discharging me. I have to go through monthly evaluations to track progress and if I’ve met me goals or new changes were noted, they would extend me. Well, in typical “Kelly” fashion, I was crushing my goals and was seeing a lot of improvement, so I kept getting an extra month added on. Being discharged, to me, meant that I wasn’t improving or that I wasn’t doing as well as I had been. (This really wasn’t the case, but I had it in my head that it was). The next four months, I spent going to the gym, using my equipment at home, and actually having a life since I wasn’t traveling multiple days a week. I reconnected with different friends, got back to doing schoolwork, and actually got a lot stronger. Taking a break turned out to be the best thing I could’ve done, because when I returned, I was able to do so much more than I had before because I actually worked hard while I was gone, making therapy that much more successful once I came back.

During this stent of therapy, I crushed a lot of goals and definitely saw a large amount of improvement, surprising both my therapists and myself. Here are some of my accomplishments:

-First of all, I’ve lost 30lb since January and over 4 inches off my hips! This has to be first because I think it’s one of the main things that has helped make everything else easier and more successful.

-I'm completely independent (that is, if things are accessible, which unfortunately isn't the case in most places). But I've surprisingly even made non-accessible places work for me, which is a huge improvement. 

-I have accomplished a minimum assist sit-to-stand with a walker and can even stand with only a little bit of help at my knees once in a while for an extended amount of time.

-My core is strong enough to support my own hips while standing.

-I'm working on floor transfers, which is something that used to make me cry whenever someone would mention those words to me (I've come a long way...)

-I have my license and am just waiting for vocational rehab to finish paperwork in order to pay for my hand controls (they don't reimburse people, so it's worth the wait in order to save a few thousand dollars).

-I only have five courses left of school (two of which I'm in the process of completing now and one that will be done after a four day continuing education class on campus in June...speaking of that class, I'll be making that trip to Philly by myself if my hand controls come in and if not, I'll be getting a ride and spending the weekend in the hotel by myself...BIG changes, huh??)

-I'm able to load and unload my own chair into the car...not very gracefully because I'm covered in bruises. And not very fast, but practice makes perfect, right?

-My stim bike power is continually increasing and has proven to play a large role in my strength and recovery.

-Dusty and I are working on our slow dancing because we have about five weddings to attend before the end of the year. We danced at a wedding in September and it was sweet, but I think my standing has improved a lot since then, so I know we can make it look more natural and kind of blend in on the dance floor a little better, haha.

A side note about school: it's kind of an upsetting subject. And no matter how many times I say that or explain to people that I don't really know what's going on with it, they continue to ask questions. I'm just taking one (or two) classes at a time and focusing on getting through those. I'm not even as uptight about getting a perfect score on exams like I used to...I literally just want to pass and keep moving forward. Once I finish these last couple classes, I'll move onto my rotations. I don't know when they will be, how long they will be, or where they will be. All I know is that I'll be going on rotations. Thinking and worrying about it just stresses me out. Plus, with all I've been through, I've learned that God laughs when we try to plan everything. I've spent my whole life planning...planning every single detail of my life... and I simply don't want to do it anymore. 

And there you have it...a little update because so many have noticed how much I've been slacking on my posts. I can't help it! Therapy is a full time job (literally over 4-5 hours of working out per day), school takes up even more time than that, and I have luckily reserved the remainder of my time to continue to have somewhat of a social life.