I like my physical therapist a lot. Like many others I've encountered in my hospital, she is not just professional and knowledgable, she has a warm and kind personality as well.
Most of today's session was spent massaging the cording in my right underarm. It hurt a bit as she rubbed the cords, but it also felt better afterwards. There are still a couple stubborn little cords that haven't snapped.
Every week she measures the range of motion of my arms in degrees. She takes two measurements for each arm. First, while lying down, I raise my arm straight up and as far back over my head as possible. Then, still lying down, I hold my arm at my side and sweep it outward like I'm doing a snow angel. I like that there is a quantifiable way to track my progress.
Each week so far there has been some improvement in all measurements. I can also feel some muscles being used where I usually feel numb, so I hope that's a good sign. Anyway, my forward range of motion is improving more quickly. The sideways range of motion is still pretty limited; I can just barely hold my arms at shoulder level.
The physical therapy room is right across the hall from the chemotherapy infusion room. My physical therapist said she may be able to visit me and work on my cording while I get my infusion. She'll check her schedule against my infusion schedule to see if she can make that work.
For my range of motion, I just need to keep doing the exercises. I'm not sure if the physical therapist can take measurements during infusion, too, or if I'll end up having separate appointments, which might not be needed every week.
It's great that the personnel are all so nice! And so convenient to have different things all in the same building! Great to hear that you're making improvements each time!
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