I went to see the neuro-physio yesterday. I have been before and I really like the lady I had. She was on my wave-length. This time they gave me someone more senior. She seemed quite cold and so I was a bit worried she'd be a bit of a slave-driver. I wasn't wrong. She really was making me work hard. She had no time for friendly conversation. Just got straight to it. She started by looking at my gait (the way I walk).
(As any of you who know me will know I use crutches to walk these days due to a incident that happened two and a half years ago. I was in an unfamiliar hospital as I wasn't in my area when I got sick. I was therefore taken to the nearest one. I was very sick and spent 3 weeks on life support in Intensive Care there. Unfortunately due to poor care, and downright neglect effectively, I got compression on my spinal cord. As a result my nerves no longer worked as they used to. As an extra stroke of bad luck, this was around the same time as I started to develop Avascular Necrosis in my hip joint. With the both happening in unison I struggled to control my pain and walking was very difficult).
I had only walked a few steps and she asked me to come back to the physio bed. She examined me and to my surprise announced that there was no point in treating my legs, as all the problems I had were now stemming from my spine. At the time of my initial spinal cord compression, I was not given the right care. No trust would accept responsibility for the payment of my treatment and I was therefore left with no neuro-rehab. I waited for over 18 months for someone to agree. As a result, my problems have only worsened. She said eventually they will be able to begin working on retraining my legs to do what they should be, but for months yet, the work she will need to do will be totally focused on my spine.
So despite her coming across as a bit of 'little Hitler' at first, she seemed to really know her stuff when push came to shove. She seemed so confident about her plan. I found this encouraging, as for so long now I've remained pretty hopeless as far as regaining my ability to walk unaided. I'd even began to rely more heavily on wheelchair as walking was becoming too tiring and painful to bare.
We've scheduled 3 months ahead for appointments, and there will be many more than that I'm told. I'm just excited at the prospect of walking again. I don't care if it takes ages, I just want my mobility back if I can get it. Mobility is also crucial if I want to retain any kind of lung function. Since I haven't been able to do any exercise my lung function has plummeted.
There are no promises of course, and she didn't even speculate as to whether I would ever retain any of it, but for now I feel hopeful at least.
