The topic of today's post is "How is Karmel doing?"
So many have asked me how my rehabilitation is progressing.
Something positive is needed between the war news!
March is my birthday month.
Today is Cream Bun Day!
One of the sentences I have carried with me recently is:
Keep your spirit light, your body tight, and your goals in sight.
So I have to keep the mood positive, I have to keep the body in shape and the goals always in front of me - ALWAYS!
And in answer to the question, how am I doing, as you may have read from the beginning in the form of a hint, then -> PROGRESSING. It is progressing very well.
One of the first major changes that have taken place is that I have much less spasticity in my arm. This makes it easier to stretch my arm and keep it moving. I have also started to use it more subconsciously - for example, leaning on it, closing the doors, etc. The fingers still don't work (I said STILL), but I can already control the movement from the wrist! With push exercises at the gym, I have noticed that the wrist is staying more and more in a neutral position. Only a month ago, I was able to move my hand slightly to the left of my wrist and barely lift it off the table so that my fingers no longer touched the table.
Pretty fast the capacity rose and here's an example of it now for you! Pretty badass, right? đ That being said, soon I will start working on the blouses with buttons and I will be angry because of the failure and cry and give up and try again, etc.! Honestly, I'm so looking forward to this stage of my recovery. Otherwise, I wouldn't have tattooed a phrase on my skin when I was 16: "Fall down seven times, stand up eight." - this sentence is still VERY relevant in my life. I try, fail, cry, but then I get up again and try again - and so on for the rest of my life! Thereâs no success without failure!
I've noticed that a lot of people hate occupational therapy and these kinds of hand rehabilitation activities, and Iâm not a fan myself, I would rather press 50 kilos from my chest, but oh boy, how excited I am already just thinking about that I will be able to use my fingers soon! It certainly won't be easy, but the end result is worth every tear!
Finger sensitivity has also begun to recover. In the middle of January, the occupational therapist introduced me to a massage ring to roll around my fingers - I felt something, but not much. Just two weeks later, stimulating my fingers with it, it started to hurt me - HYPERSENSITIVITY! The same feeling I had in my leg, my body and my arm as their touch sensitivity began to recover. I remember that when people even touched me gently, I was in A LOT OF pain. And now the same thing happens quietly in my fingers - EXCITED MUCH! đ€©đ
Although I haven't been able to go swimming much yet, I can confirm from yesterday that swimming is already much better, too. I can straighten my arm while swimming and my leg works much better. And by the way - the upgrade has taken place - if I couldn't go to water without a swimming ring in the summer, today I am already successfully using a swimming noodle! And I can say that even that is no longer used all the time. I'm telling you, this participation of Ironman is not that far away after all! đ
Letâs move on to the scapula, which mobility has also improved dramatically. You can also see this comparison in the video - the video on the left was made on September 2, 2021 (weights 2.5 kg), and the video on the right was made on February 10, 2022 (weights 10 kg). Let's just say - wow. I myself am super surprised and the therapists are insanely proud of the work that we have put in all together. Thank you to all of them!
And then my leg. Those who saw the âReedeâ show know the first great running steps of mine, but I'll add it here, too (done January 23). But speaking of my leg, I would like to make a joke about what I threw in the meantime -> Where it happens, there will happen more! <- I was able to drop a 10-kilo disc on my right leg (luckily nothing broke), but I couldn't do much for a while. Not even the upper body, because it hurt to put weight on the leg. The big toe was so swollen, that it was stiff as a rock and in the colors of the rainbow. Now let's wait and see if the nail stays on or not. 2 steps forward and 1 step back. At least that's what I thought. However, as it began to recover, I noticed that the spasticity of the toes had decreased since that accident! So. After that is the balance much better because before that the foot often started to sink through the ankle because of the big toe that was curving.
One therapist then said that there are people who had been in a wheelchair for years and fell down the stairs and started walking. How is this possible? Easy. We repeat the action to get proper nerve connections so that we can make this movement automatically. The same way babies learn to walk, for example. They stand up and fall and repeat this process stupid amounts before they finally do it without falling and make their first steps. Often, after trauma, people are unable to reconnect these nerve connections. When something happens then and a person is in a state of life or death, that nerve connection can eat through the 'thread maze' and start working, because they desperately needed it - to survive. Pretty cool, right? And apparently, the same thing had happened to me.
NB! I'm not telling people in rehabilitation to hurt themselves. It probably wouldn't work that way if it happened consciously. So don't do it - it may not end as happily as it happened to me that time (donât get me wrong, it still gives me trouble). đ
The knee also pulls less inwards. If you watch my walk today, my leg won't go to as crazy X shape as it did some time ago.
And then there was another breakthrough - we lessened the spasticity in the calf and I don't have to move so carefully without an orthosis anymore, because the foot no longer twists so much from the ankle joint. So soon I'll be able to do dorsiflexion. đ
Singing. âșïž My voice is almost back. đ The face is still resisting - the mouth does not open so well yet. But I have also been actively working on this too and the sensitivity of the face has improved. Today, the feeling of anesthesia is only around the corner of the mouth, when before it was a whole cheek width.
And so that I wouldn't break down doing just rehabilitation, I have done a couple of websites (one more is coming), training plans, and even done some PT sessions! AND! I'm going to study again. I'm a little scared because I just got a timetable and there's photography, but I only have a left hand, and planning an idea, but I only have a left hand that can't do anything yet (yes, I started learning to use my left hand a few days ago, but school starts as early as next week already). I'm honest with you, yesterday I was stressed only when I looked at the timetable, it stressed me out so much so that I cried and thought about removing myself from the list of students many times, but luckily a couple of people calmed me down and I got back to the opinion that if I don't try, I won't know. So, starting next week, I'm a student again! đŹđ€©
And to end this, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported my rehabilitation to this day! Honestly. It has helped so much and, as you can read, it has brought results! Thank you to all previous helpers and thank you to all future supporters (details here)! đâ„ïž
What's next?
My fingers start working and I can start walking without an orthosis. Simple as that. The date is 29.04.2023 when I have to be recovered. By the way, there is a long story behind this date, but I will talk about it another time. And the car. My dear friends started the car fund for me, too, so Iâd like to thank them again one more time! Thank you! â„ïž From there, the money has already been taken for rehabilitation during difficult times and added back again after working, so I will get my car! Why am I so anal with car? Because owning a car would help me make a drastic jump in mental health - it would give me so much more freedom (that's literally one of the main things that stresses me - living with my mother and depending on her daily basis) and then we wouldnât have to put stupid amounts on Bolt during treatments in Tallinn, because I'm NOT such an awesome lady that I could move without a car, YET. đ€
Closing remarks -> I have so many wonderful people around me and more and more of them are coming. I put my hand on my heart and say out loud in a clear voice:
"I love my life."