It's great to hear about your increased movement and return of feeling
(even if it's pain). I absolutely believe that you will continue to
progress, largely because after 5 1/2 years, I'm still progressing!
It would probably be great if you had more to do, so you'll have less time
to have negative thoughts. My theory (not original to me) is that you have
to have the dream before you can work to achieve it (and try to figure out
as many ways as you can to achieve the dream). Ask for exercises to do on
your own. Do visualizations of your legs moving. Do Inner Smile
Meditation to promote healing and reduce pain. Learn Spanish. Study car
engines. There are plenty of things you can do instead of sitting around
worrying. Some of the things you do can be toward the goal of increased
mobility and health. You might also have time to work on some of your
other goals, if for no other reason than to distract yourself. If you
don't have a list of goals, making lists of short and long term goals is
another activity that helps the time pass. Goals can be anything--when I
was in rehab one of my goals was dancing (and I can dance some now),
another goal is living some place with a washer and dryer (still working on
that one).
I think that with a problem like injury to the nerve, as you improve, you
reverse out of the problem. So if you felt pain and hypersensitivity on
the way to being numb and immobile, as you progress toward feeling and
mobility, you'll pass through a period of increased pain and
hypersensitivity again. I like to think of changes in my condition as
encouraging, even if they're not back to pre-TM status, yet.
I told everyone I'm trying a new course of acupuncture to promote more and
more rapid healing, and it's been very interesting. Every week after I get
the treatment, I usually have some kind of reaction. For instance, after
one treatment, my left leg got a wierd rush and felt like buckling (but it
didn't). Last week, my legs seemed more painful when I walked and I seemed
stiffer getting up and down. This morning, after a treatment last night,
my right leg got a rush and felt like buckling (but didn't), and the
increased pain of last week was gone when I walked 20 minutes to the next
bus. Some of the changes are more obviously good, like last night, my
lower back was slightly sweaty after walking to the clinic for my treatment
(sweating is one of my goals), and my back is not as hypersensitive as it
used to be.
Aurore
ableck(AT)nas.edu
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it." Johann W. von Goethe