Jason’s MS Blog

The next lumbar puncture

March 24th, 2009

The next lumbar puncture is Wed. Mar. 25 at 2:00 pm in China (again, 14 hours earlier in Calgary). It is definitely less stressful than the last one – the lead up to it, that is, anyway. The stress at the moment, for me, is the fact that I have been exhausted following the bone marrow transplant last Friday. And they are working me hard here! My day begins promptly at 8:30 am with an hour of physio. My physiotherapist, Tina, is great. She is about half my height, but works me hard – she’s tough! The big revelation today was that I use my neck and shoulder muscles way too much to compensate for my weakness in other areas. So today I was focussed on lifting my legs, etc. on their own without straining my neck. It took a lot of concentration as my compensating habits are well ingrained. Also, it’s not fun finding out I am weaker than I thought!

Then right after physio I have 30 minutes of elecric wave therapy – pads on my leg muscles conducting current through them; actually more pleasant than you might think. The torture of the day, though, is the acupuncture session which happens for 30 minutes sometime between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm each day. It is a curious quirk of Chinese culture that they are very punctual, but also very fluid in their scheduling. Pretty much I just show up when they say (a bit early as a rule) and don’t question the changes in my daily schedule that will almost inevitably occur! Anyway, I have had a lot of acupuncture in Canada, but it was not until I came here that I found out how pampered I have been. The acupuncturist here puts needles in my arms and legs, and every time there is at least one point that hurts enough to make me howl out in pain. Unfortunately, this seems to incite the acupuncturist not to pull back but to try again – usually with more vigor! Then he hooks the needles up to electric current which makes my legs spasm even more strongly. So I don’t look forward to acupuncture really (not that I have ever really looked forward to being poked with, albeit very thin, needles). I console myself with the idea that the acupuncture is awakening my leg muscles, something I am more than willing to endure a little pain for!

The final therapy of the day is called standing therapy. It consists of standing (surprise…) on a slanted piece of metal pushing my toes up and heels down so that my calves are stretched. This is only possible for me to do because my hips are strapped to a vertical board in front of me with my legs pushed straight with pads between the board and my knees. Does that make any sense? The point being to get me standing straight and to stretch out my hips, lower back, hamstrings, and the muscles that lift my knees (hip flexors?). And after being strapped in for 30 minutes a day (40 minutes today) things are indeed stretched! I literally fall back into a wheelchair afterwards as I have no strength in my back, and then collapse in bed for at least half an hour.

I have been going to bed by 8:00 pm every night. I feel tired just writing about my day!

Entry Filed under: ms,Uncategorized