Gym TIME!! (AKA: Andrew's been waiting for this for 10 years)

Andrew has recovered from his surgery and has gained back his pre-PERCS, post-SDR level of strength. He is back to using his walker full time, but can now get his heels flat on the floor and his knees mostly straight. We are continuing with 5 days of physical therapy and are trying to add in more physical activities on top of that. The newest activity? Andrew has been going to the gym.

For years, Andrew has wanted to go with me or my husband to work out at the local YMCA.  He saw it as a sort of rite of passage since only grown-ups go to the gym. Ours has a 10-year old minimum to participate, but Andrew wasn't physically capable of walking on a treadmill until recently. Now, it has become part of his daily routine. He eagerly awaits our workout time in the evenings, even on days that he has already had physical therapy. I eagerly await seeing his achievements from day to day.

What's gym time without a little stretching?

Stretching those legs out after a good workout.

Andrew walks on the treadmill while holding onto the same hand holds that anyone uses. I stay behind him as a spotter in case he trips, falls, or gets really tired. When we first started, Andrew was able to walk about 30 seconds at a time at .5 MPH, the slowest speed on the treadmill. I stayed with him and gave him a break by picking him up for a few seconds when he needed a break. He has quickly been able to build up his endurance, however. The last time that we went, he was able to walk a full two minutes without a break at .7 MPH. He also did 5 minutes with 2 breaks a little later at the same speed. Considering he couldn't even do a minute a few days before, I think that his progress is amazing.

After walking, Andrew wanted to use the hand weights. We already know that he has tremendous upper body strength and the focus really needs to be his legs. So, I agreed that he could do the weights as long as he was standing.... which basically means that he is only holding onto the walker with one hand while doing so. Got to sneak in that standing practice whenever I can.



All of Andrew's hard work is definitely paying off! Look what he was able to do this week at therapy! (This video was taken a couple of hours before the gym pictures).

Cast Removal! 3 weeks post-PERCS

After 3 weeks of counting down, the day finally came... Andrew's was allowed to get his casts off!

When Andrew had casts removed 2 years ago after his traditional hamstring lengthening, he flipped out and his behavior was completely out of control. He was terrified that the saw would cut him and the noise made him completely overstimulated. I was very nervous that this cast removal would be the same, but I had nothing to worry about. 

Here's a video of his cast removal:

 http://youtu.be/YnzuUYLgzWk

Andrew was slightly nervous about the noise at first, but once the removal got going, he was just excited that his feet were going to be free. I think that it helped that we had them removed by our orthotist, someone that Andrew knows well and trusts. It was all around a positive experience.

Here's Andrew's first "freedom" picture. 

He now has to wear his tall AFO foot/leg braces full time for several weeks to continue with his healing, and then he will hopefully be ready for shorter SMO foot braces after that. 

I'm so excited to see his improvements over the next several months!