I've now been in California for almost three weeks, and I'm hooked. My constant stream of companions has almost come to an end - my mom just left today and my dad is in the vicinity but is actually in L.A. until Friday. Kasey arrived on Tuesday and stayed until Saturday, when my mom arrived. The trip isn't as close to over as you might think, however - I'm staying for two more weeks! Yep, I've caught "the bug," as they call it. I'm going to continue the intensive program that I've been doing for two more weeks starting on Monday. I'm also going to move to a different hotel - the Homewood Suites, which is more of an extended stay hotel, with a full kitchen and laundry services. Should make my life a little easier (and cheaper!) while I'm here.
I've basically been following the same exercise regimen that I wrote about last week. Personal training in the morning from 9-11, either the FES bike or the gait trainer (or both) after that, and pilates with either massage, Jin Shin, or acupuncture in the afternoon. I work with different trainers throughout the week, which is nice because everyone has their own style and I enjoy the combination of workout methods and programs. I can see improvements in several areas even after only the two+ weeks that I've been here. I'm able to make a connection with my glute muscles, especially on my left side. I can feel them firing when I'm on the FES bike, and today during acupuncture I could feel the left glute pulsing with the electrical stimulation.
The main thing I've been working on in most of my sessions is my posture/alignment. Because of the hardware in my back (spinal fusion from vertebrae T7-L1), I don't enjoy the same flexibility in my back that I used to as a dancer. In addition, my hip flexors are extremely tight - since I'm sitting down all the time they never get stretched appropriately - so my body isn't completely straight and flat when I'm lying on my back, or when I'm standing up. This doesn't bother me so much on a day to day basis, but it makes supporting my own weight in a standing position very difficult. My back is extremely arched and my upper body is thrust out in front of me instead of being balanced over my hips and legs. I've been doing exercises to tire out and stretch the hip flexors so they will relax, as well as working the muscles in my low back. I'm not sure what the situation is with the rods in my back, but I'm thinking of talking to my surgeon about the possibility of removing them. I've talked to a few people who have had their hardware removed and it sounds like it really helps some of these issues. I would have to build up the muscles in my back enough to support the area without the hardware, but it sounds like it's definitely something to keep in mind. Other than those specific areas, I've just been working out my upper body, gaining strength in my arms and my core through various exercises.
Kasey and I spent some time enjoying our surroundings during her stay this week. She arrived on Tuesday, so we went out in Ocean Beach, which is just north of San Diego, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Ocean Beach has a much different feel than Del Mar or Solana Beach - it's home to a much younger, more alternative crowd. Wednesday night was spent in downtown San Diego, at a restaurant called Extraordinary Desserts. The place certainly lives up to its name - we each had some sort of decadent chocolate cake dessert - and also serves great appetizers and drinks. After dinner we ventured up to Altitude, a bar on the roof of the Marriot that overlooks Petco Park and has a beautiful view of the city. It was surprisingly foggy that evening, so it felt like we were floating in the clouds! There was also a baseball game that night, so the atmosphere on the roof was very laid back. Thursday we decided to get a feel of the area closer to home, so we went out in Encinitas. Friday was Kasey's last night, and we spent it in La Jolla at Trattoria Acqua for dinner.
Saturday was an entertaining day, to say the least. We decided to go on a road trip to the north, and turned it in an OC sightseeing tour (as in The O.C., the TV show that aired on Fox several years ago). We stopped at several places where they filmed different scenes from the show, and along the way got to see another side of California that you don't really get in Del Mar. Ironically, most of the scenes from the show were actually shot further north than the Newport Beach area in Orange County (where the show was supposed to have taken place), in the beaches just west of L.A. At the conclusion of our tour, we headed back down the coast to the airport and Kasey headed back to New York.
My mom arrived a few hours later. The weather was supposed to be iffy on Sunday, so we planned to explore the nearby outlet mall and have dinner downtown. The sun came out, even though it was a little windy, so we ended up having a nice day at the mall and then enjoying dinner at an Italian restaurant in Del Mar. Mom got to experience Awakenings with me on Monday and Tuesday, and after an evening out in La Jolla on Tuesday, she headed back to Richmond this morning. She hasn't quite made it there yet, though - her flight was delayed so she missed her connection and is staying in Detroit for the night. Wish her luck getting out of there tomorrow! My dad will be here on Friday after working in L.A. all week, and we'll be able to spend some time with family this weekend before he heads back on his (what was supposed to be our) flight Monday.
I'm so excited to spend two more weeks here! I really want to give my body the chance to take in everything I'm doing at Awakenings, and three weeks just didn't feel like enough time, especially for the treatments that I only get once a week. I know that I'm lucky to be able to devote so much time to this at this point in my life, and I don't want to rush into any other responsibilities until I've fully explored what I can get from Awakenings. Obviously I do have some financial responsibilities that I still have to uphold while I'm here, but I can at least spend a couple more weeks focusing on my mind and body before going back to the real world.
That being said...I am seriously considering relocating to Southern California. Like I said in my last post, it's the ideal place for me for so many reasons. I'm hoping to take advantage of the added time here to talk to anyone that I have connections with in the area - hopefully do a little networking so I can maybe find a job! I'm hoping to at least get my foot in the door before I go back to Virginia, then continue working on it from there until something works out, at which point I'd be able to come back for good (with my Prius, which I miss dearly)! If I could find something that gives me some degree of flexibility as far as the workday goes, I could at least continue to work out at Awakenings to some extent almost every day. I know it's overly hopeful of me to think that I could find something in this economy, but I'm definitely going to try! Today as I was driving back to the hotel after my acupuncture session, the temperature was 70 degrees and the sun was about to set over the Pacific and I thought "no wonder everyone wants to be here!" The natural environment and the mind/body connection I'm working so hard on at Awakenings are really in harmony here. I can't wait to see where the next two and a half weeks will take me!
Thanks to you all for your encouragement and support. It means a lot to know that you are all so interested in what I'm doing. Thanks for being so excited for me! I'll keep you updated as things progress.
PS-Pictures to come later!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Southern California: Week 1 at Awakenings
beware: this is a long post. i'm going to try to break it up by day so that it doesn't quite seem like the novel it is becoming. each day of the week, i tried something new in addition to my regular routine, so if you want to skim to those sections, feel free!
I came out to San Diego to attend Awakenings Health Institute for three weeks, March 9 - March 30. I've been lucky enough to have great friends who have journeyed out here to go on this adventure with me (some still to come), and so far it has been an amazing experience. Awakenings is a rehabilitation center for people with neurological disorders, with a focus on those with spinal cord injuries (you can read all about it on their website, www.awakeningshealth.org). Beginning this trip, my goal was to learn everything I could from the people here and the work they do, then take that information and experience with me back to the East Coast, where I could continue personal training and other aspects of the program (like massage, acupuncture, etc.). Now that I'm here, I see that I am going to get much more out of this experience than just knowledge and a stepping stone to the next chapter in my life.
Monday
I showed up at Awakenings on Monday, Allison and Laura in tow, not really sure what to expect. I knew a decent amount about the general workings of the place from what I read on the website and learned from Kristin Beale and her family, but as far as the feel of it, I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Laura Karch greeted us and instantly made us feel comfortable. She went over the paperwork with me, asked me a few questions, then started my physical evaluation. (I should add that she made Laura and Allison feel at home immediately - offering them a place to put their purses and jackets and two exercise balls to use as seats while they observed.) She did some basic range of motion exercises with my legs and asked me some questions about my spasticity, then gave me some good news right away. As I was already aware (but unsure of the implications), the muscles in my legs still have a lot of tone. They resist movement involuntarily and spasm often when stimulated (by touch - as many of you who have helped me move around have experienced!) I had heard mixed things about the benefits of spasticity - some doctors (including my rehab doc, Dr. Alfano) have said that they understand spasticity to be inversely related to recovery, while other experts (like the trainers at Project Walk) maintain that spasms are a good sign and mean that there is still a connection between the brain and the muscles, albeit not a reliable one. Laura showed me that, in addition to still having good tone, my legs still "remember" how to walk. When she flexed my foot and ankle and stretched my calf muscle as far as it would go, my knee bent and my leg jumped up. This is the same reflexive action that your leg muscles take when you walk - once your weight moves from your heel to the ball of your foot and your ankle is as stretched as it can be, you pick up your foot and move it in front of you. Basically, my legs still want to do this, even though my brain isn't telling them to do it. Laura said that it takes some patients a long time to get to that point (lots of repetive walking motion is required to remind those legs what to do) and that it's a really good sign that my legs are already there. She was very excited about that, which made me excited too!
After working with my legs a bit (with me lying down on the exercise mat), she had me get down on the floor and sit with my back up against the wall and my legs out in front of me. She was testing my core strength and my ability to keep my pelvis neutral, which is not very good - I tend to either arch my back or slump over to steady myself, as opposed to being right in between. I did a few weights and other exercises to test various muscles in my core and in my back, then they put me on a stationary bike. With my feet strapped into the pedals and people keeping my legs steady on either side, I was able to push my legs down into the pedals with my hips and actually use the bike, which was certainly a good workout for my abdominals!
After this initial evaluation, we had a lot of free time, so Allison, Laura and I went to lunch in downtown Del Mar and then headed to the airport to drop Laura off (or so we thought) and pick up Carter. Laura planned to check out the possibillity of taking Tuesday off at work and taking a flight out Tuesday instead (Southern California really seems to do that to people...no one ever wants to leave. Or so I'm told...) When we got to the Continental counter, they told her that it would be $150 to change her flight. Bummer! Then more bad news - her flight (which was supposed to leave at 5) was delayed 30 minutes, meaning she would have only 10 minutes to make her connection in Houston. In order to make the flight, she would have to leave in 45 minutes, and miss seeing Carter for the hour or so that they would overlap in the airport (Carter's flight came in at 3:15 or so). The Continental rep then got this twinkle in his eye and looked at Laura and said "Well, since you're going to miss your connection, I could bump your flight to tomorrow at no extra charge..." and all was right again! So Laura got to stay for another whole day, and spend the evening with Carter after she arrived!
When I went back to Awakenings that afternoon, I had a pilates session with Andrea Plichta. It was much of the same type of exercises that I remember from pilates classes I took over the years, just slightly modified. We talked a lot about working on my low back and getting my pelvic alignment right, which seems like it is something I am going to be focusing on a lot. I really liked her method of teaching - she uses lots of helpful metaphors to explain the exercises and appreciated my dance background!
After pilates, I had my massage evaluation. I had never had a professional massage prior to this, so I was really excited...and a little nervous. Complete relaxation has never been my strong suit, so I was a little apprehensive of my ability to relax and experience it appropriately. Matt McCall is my massage therapist (I learned from the AHI website that almost every trainer is also a certified massage therapist) and he talked a lot about breaking up the scar tissue at the site of the injury to my spinal cord. He said he could feel a lot of it and explained that breaking it up if at all possible is an important step in making it possible for the nerves to reconnect. Needless to say, it was a pretty intense deep tissue massage, and he said that it will take a lot of work to break up the scar tissue - that's what the next two weeks are for! He also relieved a lot of tension in my neck and in my hands and fingers (an area that you don't usually think of as tense - unless your hands are what you propel you on a daily basis!).
Needless to say, I was pretty relaxed after the massage, but unfortunately that relaxation didn't last. I encountered some problems with some medical supplies that were supposed to be shipped to the hotel, and long story short, I was in a desperate search to find what I needed. CVS and other 24-hour pharmacies don't carry urological supplies, but luckily Laura (from Awakenings) was able to find a client of theirs who was generous enough to lend me what I needed. It wasn't the most fun way to spend our one evening together (Allison, Laura, Carter, and myself) as a foursome, but we definitely made the most of it.
Tuesday
Allison and Carter rented a car for themselves for the week, and on Tuesday Allison took the car to visit her grandmother near LA. Laura and Carter entertained themselves in the town of Solana Beach while I was at Awakenings, and were also able to see some of the other activities I participated in on Tuesday.
I had personal training again 9 am (Monday-Friday), this time with Andrew Braga - a JMU grad. Apparently there are an awful lot of East Coast transplants out here. He did some workouts with my legs, similar to what Laura had done, then had me work on my core and upper body strength on the floor on my hands and knees. He came up with a lot of creative exercises to work different muscles, and I was throughly wiped out at the end of it!
After a short break, I used the gait trainer. This is basically a treadmill with a harness hanging above it that is suspended from the ceiling. Once I am fitted in the harness, they wheel me up onto the treadmill and strap me in so that I'm secured from the ceiling and the sides of the treadmill. My weight is entered into the machine and a percentage is chosen of my body weight that I will be supporting myself. I started at 70% - meaning that the machine is still holding up 30% of my weight and I'm supporting the rest on my legs. As the conveyor belt starts to move, trainers seated on either side of the treadmill hold onto my feet and legs and facilitate the walking motion. This is where my muscles' natural walking reflex comes in handy. When my legs are completely extended, they pick up and want to kick forward on their own. The trainers just have to hold onto my feet and make sure they step in the right spot. I was on the gait trainer for about half an hour and it seemed to go really well. Laura and Carter were there to watch and they said that they could the muscles in my legs and my gluts really working as I was walking.
After a trip to the airport to drop off Laura, I had a Jin Shin session with Chris Capitelli. I have to confess that even after he explained it to me, I probably don't understand it as well as I should. This website can describe it better that I can, but Chris basically told me that it's a method of channeling energy in the body and "fine tuning" the energy. For people with spinal cord injuries, it's especially important to bring energy down into the limbs that are paralyzed - to balance out the body's energy so it isn't all concentrated in the head, but flows throughout the body. His method is to touch two different points on the body and feel the beats of the pulse in each point eventually sync with one another. He told me that people tend to get very relaxed and often fall into a state of quasi-sleep during the session, which definitely happened to me. I kept falling into these really intense through processes, only to "wake up" out of them and realize I was still in the massage room. It felt like I was in there for hours. Chris also said that people often notice very intense dreams in addition to a change in energy levels, which I haven't noticed too much. He is learning the technique of Jin Shin from a woman who has done work with people with spinal cord injuries, and he said that there have been some really good results for many people. I was more relaxed during that Jin Shin session that I have been in a long time.
Carter and I decided to order sushi Tuesday evening, since Allison got back late from her visit with her grandmother and had already eaten dinner. We had an entertaining experience trying to physically find the restaurant we had ordered from (that we found online) and eventually discovered that it had moved 30 minutes outside of Del Mar. Whoops! We found another restaurant that was luckily still open, and had our first taste of delicious California sushi.
Wednesday
I worked out with Matt Wednesday morning, followed by another gait training session and more pilates. Wednesday's new experience was acupuncture. I sat down with Adam Gries, the acupuncture director, before our session. He talked about the benefits of acupuncture, especially for people with SCIs, then asked me many questions about my accident and my goals. He told me that the high level of muscle tone in my legs is quite rare for a paraplegic 1 year post-injury, and that if I really want to pursue recovery, I'm already well on my way. That was uplifting and exciting for me to hear, and made me all the more interested in what acupuncture could contribute! I was definitely nervous about the acupuncture - the thought of something poking needles all over your body isn't exactly calming - but it was really very relaxing. Adam said that in addition to targeting the muscles in my legs, he was also going to target my bowel and bladder, because some people have seen improvements in sensation and function in those areas after acupuncture. After inserting the needles in my calves, quadraceps, abdominals and obliques, he attached a cord (that looked like a miniature jumper cable) that was hooked up to an electric current to each needle. Once all the cords were attached and the current was turned on, all the targeted muscles started to pulse together. It was surprisingly relaxing. Adam told me to visualize myself doing the movements that the targeted muscles would control, like flexing my ankles or pulling my legs up toward my chest (calves and quads). He left me there for about 20 or 30 minutes to visualize and feel the effects of the acupuncture, and I actually almost fell asleep a couple of times! It was very relaxing and just really cool to see all my muscles working in harmony.
Wednesday evening was Allison's last night here, so she, Carter and I went to an Italian restaurant with a beautiful plant-filled, twinkling patio for dinner.
Thursday
Thursday was a relatively short day, as far as workouts are concerned. I had personal training with Andrew in the morning, then another gait training session. In the afternoon I got on the stationary bike again for about half an hour. Carter and I had lunch at a great sandwich shop in Del Mar and just took it easy for the evening - napping and reading and such. We ate some Chinese for dinner and enjoyed Thursday night TV.
Friday
I had personal training again with Andrew on Friday, then pilates and gait training back-to-back. After gait training, I ate lunch with Matt, one of the trainers, and returned to Awakenings to find that the FES bike, which had been missing a part all week, was fixed! Angela, who is the nutritionist and is also a chiropractor, set me up on the bike. She attached electrode patches to my quads, hamstrings, and gluts. Laura programmed my information into the machine, so all we had to do was plug in my unique ID number and password and the machine logged my usage statistics as I exercised. Once the machine is turned on, it sends an electrical current to the muscles where the patches are, stimulating the muscles to fire. That firing, in conjunction with the pedals on the bike turning, causes the legs to start pedaling the bike. I don't have to get out of my wheelchair - I just wheel up to the bike and strap myself in. I used the bike for an hour and could definitely feel it when I was done. I also noticed that I could feel my glut muscle on my left side firing as my legs were working. I'm not sure if it was the actual internal muscle working that I could feel or the external patch on my skin, but either way that is an area that I don't usually have any sensation or control. I've been told that the FES bike is the single most important piece of equipment, other than a standing frame, that I should have at my home. Using the bike every day is the only way to give my leg muscles constant exercise and keep them from atrophying. After being told so much that the muscle tone in my legs is a great sign, I really want to keep that up by using the FES bike. Now that it's fixed, I'll be using the one here 4 times a week, and even more if I'd like to.
Friday night, Carter and I went to downtown San Diego and had a fabulous dinner at a beautiful restaurant. She left Saturday morning to return to Atlanta, and I spent the day running a few errands and just enjoying the time to myself. Kasey arrives on Tuesday, so I'll have a few more days alone before the last member of my entourage (as the people at AHI called it) arrives.
After my first week, I feel fantastic. I can't believe that I only have two more weeks to continue what I've started here. Awakenings is an amazing place, and that is 100% due to the incredible people who work here. Every person is genuinely invested in the recovery of every client, but they are all still personable, fun, and extremely inspiring. They are all also incredibly knowledgeable about what it is they do. They are able to come up with creative exercises on the fly to work specific areas of the body, and notice even the smallest details in muscle movement and control. As a former dancer, I really appreciate working with people who view and work with the body as intricately as I do. They all have given me the motivation and inspiration to work really hard while I'm here, and the positive feedback that I've gotten already gives me a kind of hope that I haven't really experienced since my accident.
The atmosphere at Awakenings is laid back but at the same time intense and focused. One gets the sense that every client, while still able to joke around and join in the general camaraderie, is on a mission to push his or her body as far as it will go. The same goes for the trainers. I really get the sense that they see each other as family - they share in each others' (and the clients') successes (and they bring their dogs to the gym!)
I have to say that I am going to have a really hard time going back to Virginia, and that's after only one week here. Aside from the great feeling I get from being at Awakenings, southern California is just an ideal location. Everything (and everyone!) is so wheelchair friendly, the weather and the land is absolutely gorgeous, and the atmosphere here is just different. I am very excited to see how things go over the next two weeks, because I can already notice a difference in my body. I don't think that the type of workout experience I get here is something that I can replicate when I return. So much of it, for me, is about the environment and the people that I am starting to wonder if this is the place for me!
I came out to San Diego to attend Awakenings Health Institute for three weeks, March 9 - March 30. I've been lucky enough to have great friends who have journeyed out here to go on this adventure with me (some still to come), and so far it has been an amazing experience. Awakenings is a rehabilitation center for people with neurological disorders, with a focus on those with spinal cord injuries (you can read all about it on their website, www.awakeningshealth.org). Beginning this trip, my goal was to learn everything I could from the people here and the work they do, then take that information and experience with me back to the East Coast, where I could continue personal training and other aspects of the program (like massage, acupuncture, etc.). Now that I'm here, I see that I am going to get much more out of this experience than just knowledge and a stepping stone to the next chapter in my life.
Monday
I showed up at Awakenings on Monday, Allison and Laura in tow, not really sure what to expect. I knew a decent amount about the general workings of the place from what I read on the website and learned from Kristin Beale and her family, but as far as the feel of it, I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Laura Karch greeted us and instantly made us feel comfortable. She went over the paperwork with me, asked me a few questions, then started my physical evaluation. (I should add that she made Laura and Allison feel at home immediately - offering them a place to put their purses and jackets and two exercise balls to use as seats while they observed.) She did some basic range of motion exercises with my legs and asked me some questions about my spasticity, then gave me some good news right away. As I was already aware (but unsure of the implications), the muscles in my legs still have a lot of tone. They resist movement involuntarily and spasm often when stimulated (by touch - as many of you who have helped me move around have experienced!) I had heard mixed things about the benefits of spasticity - some doctors (including my rehab doc, Dr. Alfano) have said that they understand spasticity to be inversely related to recovery, while other experts (like the trainers at Project Walk) maintain that spasms are a good sign and mean that there is still a connection between the brain and the muscles, albeit not a reliable one. Laura showed me that, in addition to still having good tone, my legs still "remember" how to walk. When she flexed my foot and ankle and stretched my calf muscle as far as it would go, my knee bent and my leg jumped up. This is the same reflexive action that your leg muscles take when you walk - once your weight moves from your heel to the ball of your foot and your ankle is as stretched as it can be, you pick up your foot and move it in front of you. Basically, my legs still want to do this, even though my brain isn't telling them to do it. Laura said that it takes some patients a long time to get to that point (lots of repetive walking motion is required to remind those legs what to do) and that it's a really good sign that my legs are already there. She was very excited about that, which made me excited too!
After working with my legs a bit (with me lying down on the exercise mat), she had me get down on the floor and sit with my back up against the wall and my legs out in front of me. She was testing my core strength and my ability to keep my pelvis neutral, which is not very good - I tend to either arch my back or slump over to steady myself, as opposed to being right in between. I did a few weights and other exercises to test various muscles in my core and in my back, then they put me on a stationary bike. With my feet strapped into the pedals and people keeping my legs steady on either side, I was able to push my legs down into the pedals with my hips and actually use the bike, which was certainly a good workout for my abdominals!
After this initial evaluation, we had a lot of free time, so Allison, Laura and I went to lunch in downtown Del Mar and then headed to the airport to drop Laura off (or so we thought) and pick up Carter. Laura planned to check out the possibillity of taking Tuesday off at work and taking a flight out Tuesday instead (Southern California really seems to do that to people...no one ever wants to leave. Or so I'm told...) When we got to the Continental counter, they told her that it would be $150 to change her flight. Bummer! Then more bad news - her flight (which was supposed to leave at 5) was delayed 30 minutes, meaning she would have only 10 minutes to make her connection in Houston. In order to make the flight, she would have to leave in 45 minutes, and miss seeing Carter for the hour or so that they would overlap in the airport (Carter's flight came in at 3:15 or so). The Continental rep then got this twinkle in his eye and looked at Laura and said "Well, since you're going to miss your connection, I could bump your flight to tomorrow at no extra charge..." and all was right again! So Laura got to stay for another whole day, and spend the evening with Carter after she arrived!
When I went back to Awakenings that afternoon, I had a pilates session with Andrea Plichta. It was much of the same type of exercises that I remember from pilates classes I took over the years, just slightly modified. We talked a lot about working on my low back and getting my pelvic alignment right, which seems like it is something I am going to be focusing on a lot. I really liked her method of teaching - she uses lots of helpful metaphors to explain the exercises and appreciated my dance background!
After pilates, I had my massage evaluation. I had never had a professional massage prior to this, so I was really excited...and a little nervous. Complete relaxation has never been my strong suit, so I was a little apprehensive of my ability to relax and experience it appropriately. Matt McCall is my massage therapist (I learned from the AHI website that almost every trainer is also a certified massage therapist) and he talked a lot about breaking up the scar tissue at the site of the injury to my spinal cord. He said he could feel a lot of it and explained that breaking it up if at all possible is an important step in making it possible for the nerves to reconnect. Needless to say, it was a pretty intense deep tissue massage, and he said that it will take a lot of work to break up the scar tissue - that's what the next two weeks are for! He also relieved a lot of tension in my neck and in my hands and fingers (an area that you don't usually think of as tense - unless your hands are what you propel you on a daily basis!).
Needless to say, I was pretty relaxed after the massage, but unfortunately that relaxation didn't last. I encountered some problems with some medical supplies that were supposed to be shipped to the hotel, and long story short, I was in a desperate search to find what I needed. CVS and other 24-hour pharmacies don't carry urological supplies, but luckily Laura (from Awakenings) was able to find a client of theirs who was generous enough to lend me what I needed. It wasn't the most fun way to spend our one evening together (Allison, Laura, Carter, and myself) as a foursome, but we definitely made the most of it.
Tuesday
Allison and Carter rented a car for themselves for the week, and on Tuesday Allison took the car to visit her grandmother near LA. Laura and Carter entertained themselves in the town of Solana Beach while I was at Awakenings, and were also able to see some of the other activities I participated in on Tuesday.
I had personal training again 9 am (Monday-Friday), this time with Andrew Braga - a JMU grad. Apparently there are an awful lot of East Coast transplants out here. He did some workouts with my legs, similar to what Laura had done, then had me work on my core and upper body strength on the floor on my hands and knees. He came up with a lot of creative exercises to work different muscles, and I was throughly wiped out at the end of it!
After a short break, I used the gait trainer. This is basically a treadmill with a harness hanging above it that is suspended from the ceiling. Once I am fitted in the harness, they wheel me up onto the treadmill and strap me in so that I'm secured from the ceiling and the sides of the treadmill. My weight is entered into the machine and a percentage is chosen of my body weight that I will be supporting myself. I started at 70% - meaning that the machine is still holding up 30% of my weight and I'm supporting the rest on my legs. As the conveyor belt starts to move, trainers seated on either side of the treadmill hold onto my feet and legs and facilitate the walking motion. This is where my muscles' natural walking reflex comes in handy. When my legs are completely extended, they pick up and want to kick forward on their own. The trainers just have to hold onto my feet and make sure they step in the right spot. I was on the gait trainer for about half an hour and it seemed to go really well. Laura and Carter were there to watch and they said that they could the muscles in my legs and my gluts really working as I was walking.
After a trip to the airport to drop off Laura, I had a Jin Shin session with Chris Capitelli. I have to confess that even after he explained it to me, I probably don't understand it as well as I should. This website can describe it better that I can, but Chris basically told me that it's a method of channeling energy in the body and "fine tuning" the energy. For people with spinal cord injuries, it's especially important to bring energy down into the limbs that are paralyzed - to balance out the body's energy so it isn't all concentrated in the head, but flows throughout the body. His method is to touch two different points on the body and feel the beats of the pulse in each point eventually sync with one another. He told me that people tend to get very relaxed and often fall into a state of quasi-sleep during the session, which definitely happened to me. I kept falling into these really intense through processes, only to "wake up" out of them and realize I was still in the massage room. It felt like I was in there for hours. Chris also said that people often notice very intense dreams in addition to a change in energy levels, which I haven't noticed too much. He is learning the technique of Jin Shin from a woman who has done work with people with spinal cord injuries, and he said that there have been some really good results for many people. I was more relaxed during that Jin Shin session that I have been in a long time.
Carter and I decided to order sushi Tuesday evening, since Allison got back late from her visit with her grandmother and had already eaten dinner. We had an entertaining experience trying to physically find the restaurant we had ordered from (that we found online) and eventually discovered that it had moved 30 minutes outside of Del Mar. Whoops! We found another restaurant that was luckily still open, and had our first taste of delicious California sushi.
Wednesday
I worked out with Matt Wednesday morning, followed by another gait training session and more pilates. Wednesday's new experience was acupuncture. I sat down with Adam Gries, the acupuncture director, before our session. He talked about the benefits of acupuncture, especially for people with SCIs, then asked me many questions about my accident and my goals. He told me that the high level of muscle tone in my legs is quite rare for a paraplegic 1 year post-injury, and that if I really want to pursue recovery, I'm already well on my way. That was uplifting and exciting for me to hear, and made me all the more interested in what acupuncture could contribute! I was definitely nervous about the acupuncture - the thought of something poking needles all over your body isn't exactly calming - but it was really very relaxing. Adam said that in addition to targeting the muscles in my legs, he was also going to target my bowel and bladder, because some people have seen improvements in sensation and function in those areas after acupuncture. After inserting the needles in my calves, quadraceps, abdominals and obliques, he attached a cord (that looked like a miniature jumper cable) that was hooked up to an electric current to each needle. Once all the cords were attached and the current was turned on, all the targeted muscles started to pulse together. It was surprisingly relaxing. Adam told me to visualize myself doing the movements that the targeted muscles would control, like flexing my ankles or pulling my legs up toward my chest (calves and quads). He left me there for about 20 or 30 minutes to visualize and feel the effects of the acupuncture, and I actually almost fell asleep a couple of times! It was very relaxing and just really cool to see all my muscles working in harmony.
Wednesday evening was Allison's last night here, so she, Carter and I went to an Italian restaurant with a beautiful plant-filled, twinkling patio for dinner.
Thursday
Thursday was a relatively short day, as far as workouts are concerned. I had personal training with Andrew in the morning, then another gait training session. In the afternoon I got on the stationary bike again for about half an hour. Carter and I had lunch at a great sandwich shop in Del Mar and just took it easy for the evening - napping and reading and such. We ate some Chinese for dinner and enjoyed Thursday night TV.
Friday
I had personal training again with Andrew on Friday, then pilates and gait training back-to-back. After gait training, I ate lunch with Matt, one of the trainers, and returned to Awakenings to find that the FES bike, which had been missing a part all week, was fixed! Angela, who is the nutritionist and is also a chiropractor, set me up on the bike. She attached electrode patches to my quads, hamstrings, and gluts. Laura programmed my information into the machine, so all we had to do was plug in my unique ID number and password and the machine logged my usage statistics as I exercised. Once the machine is turned on, it sends an electrical current to the muscles where the patches are, stimulating the muscles to fire. That firing, in conjunction with the pedals on the bike turning, causes the legs to start pedaling the bike. I don't have to get out of my wheelchair - I just wheel up to the bike and strap myself in. I used the bike for an hour and could definitely feel it when I was done. I also noticed that I could feel my glut muscle on my left side firing as my legs were working. I'm not sure if it was the actual internal muscle working that I could feel or the external patch on my skin, but either way that is an area that I don't usually have any sensation or control. I've been told that the FES bike is the single most important piece of equipment, other than a standing frame, that I should have at my home. Using the bike every day is the only way to give my leg muscles constant exercise and keep them from atrophying. After being told so much that the muscle tone in my legs is a great sign, I really want to keep that up by using the FES bike. Now that it's fixed, I'll be using the one here 4 times a week, and even more if I'd like to.
Friday night, Carter and I went to downtown San Diego and had a fabulous dinner at a beautiful restaurant. She left Saturday morning to return to Atlanta, and I spent the day running a few errands and just enjoying the time to myself. Kasey arrives on Tuesday, so I'll have a few more days alone before the last member of my entourage (as the people at AHI called it) arrives.
After my first week, I feel fantastic. I can't believe that I only have two more weeks to continue what I've started here. Awakenings is an amazing place, and that is 100% due to the incredible people who work here. Every person is genuinely invested in the recovery of every client, but they are all still personable, fun, and extremely inspiring. They are all also incredibly knowledgeable about what it is they do. They are able to come up with creative exercises on the fly to work specific areas of the body, and notice even the smallest details in muscle movement and control. As a former dancer, I really appreciate working with people who view and work with the body as intricately as I do. They all have given me the motivation and inspiration to work really hard while I'm here, and the positive feedback that I've gotten already gives me a kind of hope that I haven't really experienced since my accident.
The atmosphere at Awakenings is laid back but at the same time intense and focused. One gets the sense that every client, while still able to joke around and join in the general camaraderie, is on a mission to push his or her body as far as it will go. The same goes for the trainers. I really get the sense that they see each other as family - they share in each others' (and the clients') successes (and they bring their dogs to the gym!)
I have to say that I am going to have a really hard time going back to Virginia, and that's after only one week here. Aside from the great feeling I get from being at Awakenings, southern California is just an ideal location. Everything (and everyone!) is so wheelchair friendly, the weather and the land is absolutely gorgeous, and the atmosphere here is just different. I am very excited to see how things go over the next two weeks, because I can already notice a difference in my body. I don't think that the type of workout experience I get here is something that I can replicate when I return. So much of it, for me, is about the environment and the people that I am starting to wonder if this is the place for me!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Southern California: pre-Awakenings
Sunny California!
I've arrived in San Diego and have been attending Awakenings Health Institute for a week now. I can definitely say that I'm so happy to be on the west coast, for so many reasons - #1 of which is Awakenings. For more information about what exactly Awakenings is, please click the link - I have enough other things to describe that I'll refrain from going into detail about what they do in this post.
My friend Allison and I arrived in San Diego last Thursday evening around 8:30 pm (Pacific time) after two relatively uneventful flights from Richmond. The experience of transferring into a miniature aisle wheelchair and being strapped in, then wheeled backward to my seat is a slightly harrowing one to say the least, but was much better on our second, much larger plane from Houston to SD. Upon arrival I called Enterprise, our car rental company, so they could send someone to pick us up and take us to their off-site location. Allison and I were a little concerned that we didn't know what sort of vehicle we were looking for to pick us up curbside at the terminal, but that proved to be irrelevant when a sleek, black Hummer H3 pulled up and a young guy in a shirt and tie got out to load our bags into the massive vehicle. Picking up the car was no problem at all, and they even waived the $20/day under age 25-fee because the car has assistive controls. Once we got in the car (a Dodge Avenger), I realized that the controls were actually different than the ones in my car, so that took some adjusting. Luckily the new controls are relatively intuitive, so I'm managing just fine. We headed for our hotel, a Hampton Inn in Del Mar, checked in, and passed out.
After a good night's sleep, we set out to explore Del Mar and Solana Beach on Friday. First, we checked with the hotel to see if we could move to a bigger wheelchair accessible room, because the one we were in was a little tight and the bathroom wasn't quite big enough. They moved us when a much-improved room came available in two days. We drove out to Solana Beach so I could scope out the Awakenings location, then we found a cute little cafe called "Americana" where we ate lunch. We wandered around the town for a bit, Allison dipped a toe in the Pacific, and we headed back to the hotel. We stumbled upon this really nice Italian restaurant around 9:30 for dinner and had a fantastic meal.
On Saturday, we did some more exploring. We drove down to La Jolla, parked the car, and started looking for a place to have lunch. While strolling down the sidewalk next to all the waterfront restaurants and shops, we found a public wheelchair lift that allowed access to several floors in a large plaza. Not knowing what to expect, I took the lift up to the first floor of the plaza, and Allison and I followed "To Restaurant ---->"-type signs around some corners, up a couple floors in the elevator, around another corner, and through a blank looking door. We popped out at the back entrance of this beautiful, trendy terrace restaurant with a fantastic view of the ocean. Pretty lucky! We definitely felt like we were at the "place to be" on a Saturday afternoon in La Jolla.
view from the restaurant
After lunch (which basically turned into dinner), we did some shopping and headed back to the hotel. After a couple of hours, it was time to pick up Laura from the airport. To pass the time, we decided to have a drink and an appetizer in downtown San Diego near the airport while we waited for Laura. We ended up at a very authentic Argentinian restaurant, where we had a glass of wine and some empanadas before picking up Laura and heading back to the Hampton Inn.
We expected Sunday to be the only full day the three of us would have to spend together, so we decided to go on a little scenic trip up the coast. We got to Laguna Beach around 2 and had chips and guacamole, fish tacos, and margaritas at La Brisas (thanks to Crystal's recommendation). The view from the patio was amazing and the food was excellent.
view from the gazebo next to the restaurant
After lunch/dinner (seems to be a theme with us...), we drove up to Newport Beach and watched the sun set over Balboa Island. Then we made our back to the hotel so I could get prepared for my first day at Awakenings!
One of the things that I noticed immediately here is the accessibility of all the restaurants and public places. Everywhere we've been has had a ramp and a wheelchair accessible bathroom, no matter how remote or small the place. I can't express how much easier that makes life for me - I feel like I have the freedom to go wherever I want without the constant worry of being able to get in or get to the restroom. It's definitely helping me fall in love with Southern California...
I've arrived in San Diego and have been attending Awakenings Health Institute for a week now. I can definitely say that I'm so happy to be on the west coast, for so many reasons - #1 of which is Awakenings. For more information about what exactly Awakenings is, please click the link - I have enough other things to describe that I'll refrain from going into detail about what they do in this post.
My friend Allison and I arrived in San Diego last Thursday evening around 8:30 pm (Pacific time) after two relatively uneventful flights from Richmond. The experience of transferring into a miniature aisle wheelchair and being strapped in, then wheeled backward to my seat is a slightly harrowing one to say the least, but was much better on our second, much larger plane from Houston to SD. Upon arrival I called Enterprise, our car rental company, so they could send someone to pick us up and take us to their off-site location. Allison and I were a little concerned that we didn't know what sort of vehicle we were looking for to pick us up curbside at the terminal, but that proved to be irrelevant when a sleek, black Hummer H3 pulled up and a young guy in a shirt and tie got out to load our bags into the massive vehicle. Picking up the car was no problem at all, and they even waived the $20/day under age 25-fee because the car has assistive controls. Once we got in the car (a Dodge Avenger), I realized that the controls were actually different than the ones in my car, so that took some adjusting. Luckily the new controls are relatively intuitive, so I'm managing just fine. We headed for our hotel, a Hampton Inn in Del Mar, checked in, and passed out.
After a good night's sleep, we set out to explore Del Mar and Solana Beach on Friday. First, we checked with the hotel to see if we could move to a bigger wheelchair accessible room, because the one we were in was a little tight and the bathroom wasn't quite big enough. They moved us when a much-improved room came available in two days. We drove out to Solana Beach so I could scope out the Awakenings location, then we found a cute little cafe called "Americana" where we ate lunch. We wandered around the town for a bit, Allison dipped a toe in the Pacific, and we headed back to the hotel. We stumbled upon this really nice Italian restaurant around 9:30 for dinner and had a fantastic meal.
On Saturday, we did some more exploring. We drove down to La Jolla, parked the car, and started looking for a place to have lunch. While strolling down the sidewalk next to all the waterfront restaurants and shops, we found a public wheelchair lift that allowed access to several floors in a large plaza. Not knowing what to expect, I took the lift up to the first floor of the plaza, and Allison and I followed "To Restaurant ---->"-type signs around some corners, up a couple floors in the elevator, around another corner, and through a blank looking door. We popped out at the back entrance of this beautiful, trendy terrace restaurant with a fantastic view of the ocean. Pretty lucky! We definitely felt like we were at the "place to be" on a Saturday afternoon in La Jolla.
view from the restaurantAfter lunch (which basically turned into dinner), we did some shopping and headed back to the hotel. After a couple of hours, it was time to pick up Laura from the airport. To pass the time, we decided to have a drink and an appetizer in downtown San Diego near the airport while we waited for Laura. We ended up at a very authentic Argentinian restaurant, where we had a glass of wine and some empanadas before picking up Laura and heading back to the Hampton Inn.
We expected Sunday to be the only full day the three of us would have to spend together, so we decided to go on a little scenic trip up the coast. We got to Laguna Beach around 2 and had chips and guacamole, fish tacos, and margaritas at La Brisas (thanks to Crystal's recommendation). The view from the patio was amazing and the food was excellent.
view from the gazebo next to the restaurantAfter lunch/dinner (seems to be a theme with us...), we drove up to Newport Beach and watched the sun set over Balboa Island. Then we made our back to the hotel so I could get prepared for my first day at Awakenings!
One of the things that I noticed immediately here is the accessibility of all the restaurants and public places. Everywhere we've been has had a ramp and a wheelchair accessible bathroom, no matter how remote or small the place. I can't express how much easier that makes life for me - I feel like I have the freedom to go wherever I want without the constant worry of being able to get in or get to the restroom. It's definitely helping me fall in love with Southern California...
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