Taking It Easy

Today is Wednesday, July 12, 2023 and I woke up early from a restful sleep after yesterday’s strenuous work. I believe the water exercises also played a big role in helping me get a good nights’ sleep so yay to hydro therapy for that! My intention for the day was to take it easy and let both my PT and OT know that my body was truly challenged the past few days and I felt like we needed to tone it down a bit. But it was like they already knew!

My first appointment was occupational therapy at 9:00 am today and the first thing my therapist told me was, ‘Don’t worry, I know you’ve done a lot the past few days so today we’ll only work on stretching your lower body and relaxing your muscles with the vibrating machine’. She used the same hand-held device that emanates slight heat and vibrations that I have mentioned in a previous post. The focus was on my legs and to help release the tension in all the muscles there. As always, it was painful at first, especially as she applies pressure on my muscles while the machines vibrates, but then when she’s done, I feel great! We also worked on stretching my thigh muscles, the most painful muscles in my body right now. I practiced standing up from a kneeling position (on the therapy bed, not from the floor). She worked on stretching my foot and toe muscles…As tiny as they are they can also be so painful when they’re all tensed up.

Next up was my physical therapy session at 11:00 and it consisted of work, rest, then a little more work at the end. We started by doing the usual lower body exercises but now at 15 repetitions each. Then she used the deep oscillation machine to relax my upper arms and shoulders…aaahhh such a nice feeling, I almost slept! Then we headed to the gym room where I continued with stair exercises, forward, backward, side-walking on the double bars, and we ended the session with the much treaded squats! I was never a fan of squats, and now with my thigh muscles in their current state, squats are my nightmare.

I’m so glad I only had these two appointments today…I needed a chill day to relax a bit. I’m also happy that both sessions were relatively easier than they have been the past few days. Looking forward to tomorrow…the last day of the week!

اللهم امنحني القوة لأقاوم نفسي، والشجاعة لأواجه ضعفي، واليقين لأتقبل قدري، والرضا ليرتاح عقلي، والفهم ليطمئن قلبي.