Ups & Downs

Trish woke up to her worst nerve pain day so far. It was hard to get motivated for therapies and treatment today. Usually when her nerve pain escalates like this it is an indication that her body is fighting something, usually an infection. She has had a sore throat for the last couple of days so we called the Dr. and asked if they would take a look at her while we were at the hospital.

Therapy went good. They spent a lot of time stretching due to the increase in nerve pain and spasms. Then it was back to work on her core strength and balance. Trish’s core and balance are really improving. We are really starting to notice some changes. The greatest is that the muscles all down her back are working! She still doesn’t feel them when I touch them, but when she flexes they are starting to flex all down her back and sides! She is so excited to have these working and to start getting them stronger so she can sit up straighter. She also had a very different feeling down her abdominal muscles today. She said it is hard to explain, but that she feels them working from the inside all the way down to her belly button! We can also start to feel small contractions 2 abs lower than normal. This is all very great and exciting progress!

The second hour of therapy was spent in the pool. They do a lot of the same exercises as on the mat and standing up, but everything is easier since there is less resistance. Trish enjoyed it, but prefers working outside of the pool. I took a lot of video so that we can continue this therapy in our pool once we get home.

After therapy it was off to another injection. Dr. Thomas also looked at Trish’s throat. You know it isn’t good when the Dr. says, “Oh, wow, that’s bad.” So she has strep and they gave her antibiotics to kick it. The injection went fine, plus she got another IV treatment. There was some confusion with the drivers so we ended up sitting in the hospital for an hour longer than we were supposed to, but Trish was still laying down so it wasn’t that big of a deal. We got home and she did her 5 hours of rest and then sat up with no headache. She felt sick and achy so she just went to bed for the night.

We are planning on hanging around the hotel on Saturday and maybe later going downtown to the shops and market. Most of Trish and I want to make sure she gets lots of rest to get better so she can finish with a strong last week! If she feels OK on Sunday we are planning on heading to the Atlantic side of the country. This is on the Caribbean and is suppose to be a very dense rain forest with lots of wildlife.