Day: March 10, 2020

Well everyday lately I’m looking more at my Guillain Barre Syndrome recovery time and I need to look at increasing muscle strength for my legs. It’s not just muscle strength that needs work as my legs are pretty strong now. It’s my nerves that still need to heal. I know, but I’m going to do everything I can to help further my recovery from Guillain Barre. If my muscles are really strong and the nerves continue to heal I’m hoping one day here soon everything will just click and come together.

With your Guillain Barre Syndrome recovery you can’t help but think of when your discharge is going to happen. I know my discharge is coming up here soon on April 10, 2020. I feel lately I haven’t been progressing any further as I hit a stand still more or less. That doesn’t mean I’m not benefiting elsewhere. But when it comes to walking at the next level in the walker I’m not there yet.

At the start of this week I decided I’m going to Level 10 on the SciFit bike. This is a hard level but I’m okay with it so I can continue towards more leg strengthening. Not a bad day! Level 10 on SciFit bike, 3.48 miles in 25 minutes…. I always work hard, always willing to up my physiotherapy and always willing to try something new. I need to try. When people stop progressing here they go home. I’m hoping more progress shows here soon. As long as I continue to show some significant advancement in my recovery my stay here at The Stan Cassidy Rehabilitation Centre in Fredericton will be extended. Hoping anyways. As much as I want to go home I haven’t got where I need to be yet. Don’t give up on me yet Stan Cassidy, I’ll get there, I just need more time.

When it comes to recovering from Guillain Barre Syndrome, everyone is different. The severity of the variant of GBS the patient has, the effort one brings to the table, how soon treatment for the patient was given etc.. More time allowed for the nerves to be damaged before treatment, the more time required to heal. Just because 1 person went home, walking and healed pretty good at 193 days doesn’t mean the same for the next. I might need an extra month before I get to same level of recovery. Everyone is different.. Time will tell.

I have to get my DonJoy knee braces here soon and hoping this helps with my recovery. As I always say one day at a time and all you can do is work your butt off and hope for the best. You got to keep going full steam ahead. Hoping to have knee braces next week to help more towards walking.

Is Guillain Barre Syndrome rare? I thought it was but I’m thinking not so much really now. I knew last week that there was a new patient coming up here with GBS to The Stan Cassidy Rehabilitation Centre this week. Did I ever think in a million years that I would know the person? Not all all. What are the chances in that? Guillain Barre Syndrome is rare, 1 in a 100,000 people get it every year. Now having an old friend having Guillain Barre Syndrome at the same time as me really, that’s more like 1 in a million. Yes! The new patient up here in Fredericton that has GBS is an old friend of mine and my brothers. I haven’t seen him in years until today!

This morning I went to physiotherapy worked out my arms on the Bowflex machine. After that I wheeled myself down to occupational therapy.

When I was outside waiting for my therapist when a guy says, hey Jamie. At first I was like hey there, just assuming this must be the guy that has GBS and one of the therapists or nurses told him about me. I had already given them permission to tell the person about me if they wanted to talk or ask questions. Then the guy says, do you remember me? I started looking at him more from the hallway as he was in the room and I was saying to myself he looks familiar. He then says Pinder? I’m like oh my god, how are you? What are the chances of this? So your the one with GBS? I said I knew someone was coming but didn’t think in a million years I would know them. We talked for a bit before I had to go to my next session.

I’m happy to hear that he’s doing well. He’s walking and his recovery is coming along pretty quick. When you can get treated in less then 12 hours versus waiting 3 days for me makes a huge difference. When allowed to progress the severity of your GBS will be worse causing more damage to your nerves. Guillain Barre Syndrome started for me on August 1, 2019 as was allowed to get worse before treatment started. He’s lucky and happy his doctors treated him right away. That has definitely improved his recovery time. I haven’t seen him in like 15 years probably. Not the way you want to reconnect with an old friend, but someone to talk to now. I’ll have to hear his full story the next time I see him this week. So how rare is GBS, not that rare I’d say!