Well with my discharge coming up soon, I figured I’d push myself further with more leg strengthening in Physiotherapy on the SciFit bike. Lately I’ve been doing Level 15, was level 10 before, but today I put it up to Level 20 on the SciFit bike for my complete session. I maxed out the levels now, it doesn’t go any higher. I did 25 minutes on Level 20 and 3.5 miles. With Guillain Barre Syndrome you lose a lot of muscle mass at the beginning and it takes time to build muscle back. I need more strength in my legs to be able to stand up on my own out of the chair to a walker. I’m not pushing myself to hard, I can do it. I feel my legs and muscles in my quadriceps and also my hamstrings getting stronger.
My discharge is set for May 29th. I need to be able to stand up on my own before I leave. Working out my legs using the SciFit is the best exercise equipment to help reach that goal. Increasing intensity and resistance to level 20 will also help me to accomplish this I feel along with walking everyday. I only have two possible weeks left so time to push harder.
I’ve also been discussing how I would like to increase my upper extremity program. This will help by building more muscles in my arms. My hope that for whatever my legs may be lacking to help me stand up to a walker on my own that my upper body and arms can make up the difference. I’ve always had a strong core, strong shoulders, arms getting bigger so we’ll see. I started doing more sessions now on arms in physio too. I’ve increased the weight, so lower reps now with focus on building more muscle.
In occupational therapy I continue to work out my arms daily as well. I’m hoping that with all of this that everything will just come together and help me accomplish my next task. I know this is the hardest challenge yet I face in my opinion but we’ll see. Once I’m up walking I feel I can walk forever. I just need to be able to get to a stand up position. Hoping that the continued use on the SciFit bike at max level 20 now going forward till my discharge date will work. Time will tell and we’ll see how tomorrow goes.
I know tomorrow the plan is to try my first attempt at standing up between the parallel bars to start. We’ll see how it goes!!