1105 back to therapy

Today I had back-to-back outpatient therapy sessions at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

I met Charro for physical therapy, and after a review of my status, I was given a test drive of a Q600 powered wheelchair. We headed outside to the open sidewalks, as I "sped" along at a clip of 1.3 mph. We crossed a couple of roadways and I was full of questions like ... how long does it take to recharge the chair and how long will the charge last? .... how steep of a grade will the chair climb? .... how much does the chair weigh? .... why is there an image of a cellphone on the display panel with a red crossout over it? Too many questions, not enough answers.

The controls were easy to operate and the "stick" only required fingertip pressure to make turns or to just go straight. Charro wants me to be more mobile and to get out of the house more often than just Saturdays. She sent me some info on Adaptive Programs through UCLA Recreation. Apparently, UCLA offers adaptive programs in cycling, kayaking, and sailing.

That brought back memories of when Walt, Linda and I took a beginning sailing course at the UCLA Marine Aquatic Center back in 2003. One day, Walt and I capsized our boat by accident (we discovered that if we both sat on the same side of the boat, it tipped over). I remember the instructor coming up in a motorboat, shaking his head. He said that we were ahead of the class, since he wasn't going to teach capsize recovery until the following week. He gave us a choice: we could either stay in the water with the boat for a week or we could listen to his instructions very, very carefully. We chose the latter and were sailing again about 30 minutes later. I'm not sure about doing that all over again. I'll look into the cycling and the kayaking.

Jenny met with me for my occupational therapy. We started out with a check on my handwriting with my right hand, followed by shuffling, cutting and manipulating a deck of playing cards. I described the game of Sequence to her, and how my friends at SBCC want me to play a game with them. There's only one way to find out if I'm ready for it.

We finished off the session with a game of Jenga, using my right hand only, and standing at a table for about 15 minutes. We didn't finish the game, but it was a good way to exercise my right arm and hand. And standing for that long was not as much a strain as I thought it would be.