Transferred back to the main hospital!

Oh well, I went for my follow-up with the consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's main site in Novena and was told they wanted to keep me in for a few days to suss some things out. Psst...they have no clue why my Polymyositis is not responding enough to their tricks! Pulling all the stops now eh...my CK Levels went up to 2500 from 1700. Progress in Physio has been rather flat and I haven't put on any weight. I look anorexic, probably no thanks to the chemo drug, Methotrexate that I've been on for the last 7 weeks. At least I got a nice two-bedded room for a change. They ran out of space elsewhere.

Jailbreak to hit the BEACH!

One is allowed to make an occasional escape from rehab hospital. Of course there's a lot of paperwork to be filled in, and one has to bribe and convince the doctors that there will be no medical emergencies. Rehab medicine encourages patients to take a break from the hospital environment to prevent institutionalising a patient. Hence 'home leave' is encouraged...I decided to take BEACH LEAVE....Hey, it did wonders for my waterbaby soul!



Jennifer was back from Chicago for a visit and Alex was in town! Too bad I couldn't get in the water yet!

The OB Arm Machine

Nearly sounds like ObiWanKenobi. I really could use some his 'force' right now. I've been huffing and puffing on this machine for weeks, and my scapulas ( shoulder blades on your back on each side ) are still somewhat frozen. Lost most of the muscles in my trunk, which a very good number of them support the shoulder, scapulas and back. The good thing is I can now sit in a wheelchair without completely crumbling. Here we go again...huff and puff and try to move the arm in any direction. The elbow-gator (splint) is on to stop my elbows from bending which is a natural tendency when one doesn't have much upper arm muscles.

Robogal is in da Easystand

I've been asking the therapists ( also affectionately known as the-rapists ) when do they think I can stand again. The last time I was able to stand up was on 4th Jan, that's nearly a month ago. I was anxious to know whether I would be able to stand again. The whole bedridden thing just doesn't suit me. I'm normally up to far more monkey business on the ground than on the bed ( hmm, now that might start another debate! ) .

So they decided to stick me in this contraption called the Easystand machine. I was transferred into the seat first, then straps and a harness were attached to my chest, waist and hips. My knees were secured in place and foot straps were applied. Then like a carjack, I was pumped up into the standing position. I could feel my body weight passing all the way down my spine, through my hips and then onwards through my calves and onto my feet. I didn't feel dizzy, though as a precaution, a blood pressure cuff was attached to my arm to monitor my pre-standing and post-standing blood pressure. There was some pain in my back, hips and calves, whatever muscle that was left was being tested.

I stood like this for 20 mins, and was given some gooey dough to play with on the pyrex tabletop to "shut me up" I was told. I made a curry puff, a tooth, and a snail out of the dough, before they said " time's up ". Hey! Leave me like this for longer, standing is cool, even though I wasn't really standing on my own. Can't wait for more of these Robocop sessions.