Having a Ball! *

I was exhausted when I got home from physical therapy this afternoon. This was the first day I got to use the weight machine where you push against a big area with your legs and the chair you are in slides back. I got to do thirty {in two sets of 15} pushes at 2 pounds with each leg separately. The interesting thing for me was that my weak leg, the left one, responded almost as well as the right one. I felt a little discomfort, a sort of tiredness in the right leg at the fifteenth push. With the left leg it was around push number 13.  The left leg is still weaker, but not much weaker–not the way it used to be.

I forgot to mention that for the last couple of visits, Jill suggested I might want to get one of those large exercise balls, the same kind I am using at the PT place,  to use at home. Well, I kept saying I would and kept forgetting so last week she asked would I like her to get me one at Walmarts. She said I didn’t need anything complicated  or expensive with a DVD and they has bought the ones they use at the clinic there at around $10 each. I was thrilled that she was willing to do this for me and handed her a $10 bill. So, today she produced the box and the receipt and it was only $9. I told her to keep the $1 to cover the gas, so after a little arguing, she did so. She and another physical therapist decided to blow it up for me, and you have never heard such giggling and laughter from three apparently-adult and mature women! {I am including myself because I took my turn using the foot operated pump!}

So, the last 20 minutes or so were spent with Jill taking me through some exercises with my own ball. Then she accompanied me outside to my car with the ball and put it into the car where it fit very well on the back seat. I knew it would because I used to put Fred’s walker in there which was much larger than this ball! When I got home, I first took all my usual stuff– hat, purse, and cane–into the apartment and then made a separate trip to move the ball. Fortunately I live on the ground {first} floor and use a handicapped parking place very close to my apartment so I didn’t have a long way to go with it. but, I was VERY tired. I have been fighting a nap all afternoon and there is no doubt I will sleep well tonight.