Learning More and Preparing

It is the first weekend of December, and it's feeling like a repeat from last week. We received more snow yesterday and the night nurse wasn't able to come. I pray this doesn't become a trend until spring. Thankfully, this week was fairly calm and provided time for work and learning my chair.

When my chair was dropped off a few weeks ago, my caregiver and I checked if my feet would reach my bike petals. They did, and we left it at that. This week was my first time actually biking while sitting in my chair, and it took some trial and error.

I started using the FES bike in July 2015 with my Action Arrow. In August that year, I received my TDX SP and used it for every bike session since. Therefore, we expected to have a learning curve in using the new wheels.

First time biking

Thursday took nearly a full hour of adjusting electrode placement, testing wire reach, and seeing how to access connections. Getting the four electrodes on my glutes was the biggest challenge. We quickly discovered that the placement we used for the last decade won't work, but further on my hips did. Eventually, after some popping knuckles and wrists, my caregiver and I figured it out. Friday went more smoothly, but we still have a few areas to adjust.

Since early November, I have been putting drops in my trach button to try to open the plug at the end of it. They have helped some, but the month of use hasn't completely cleared it. In some positions, it's just as blocked as it always was. It is also making suctioning very difficult. The catheter can get through, but any junk it picks up gets scraped off by the flap at the end of the button. Friday night, my caregiver tried clearing my lungs twice, but wasn't successful. I was eventually able to clear it on my own, but that isn't always the case.

This coming Thursday, I am scheduled to have surgery to open up the trach stoma again. The last time I had surgery on my trach area was around third grade. I'm thankful it has been over 30 years since I needed more serious work on it, but it is still frustrating to need intervention. Since I have full feeling of my trach area, it will also be one of the very few procedures I've had that I will fill the aftermath. I don't expect it to be anything major, but still a different experience.

Even after 40 years of living the quad life, I learn new things. Heading out to Des Moines in December is also something I haven't done in many years. Whatever may come, I know God is in control and I look forward to my neck being fully open again as it should.