second day of physio

Like any other day at the neuro ward at Sir Charles Gairdner, I would wake up in my room at around 7 or 6 in the morning to get started with my routine. I will be patiently waiting for my breakfast as always. Though the food they gave me was terrible as they made most of it tasteless and mushy like porridge, I still had to eat it to give me a bit of energy to do my physiotherapy. The only reason why they had to make my food in such a way was that my esophagus movements had been affected by my stroke and I found it hard at times to swallow things down my throat, especially normal fluids like water. So they even made the water thicker in order for me to swallow it easier. Other things that I have to consume were liquid antibiotics to prevent any infections from developing inside my body. Thankfully I didn't have to consume them through my mouth as they would most certainly taste disgusting instead they fed me the antibiotics through my feeding tube that was still attached to my stomach. Whenever they inject something down my feeding tube I can feel it directly enter my stomach, the sensation was weird and somewhat uncomfortable.

After taking my antibiotics I would then have to take my levetiracetam otherwise known as Keppra, Anti-seizure pills to prevent me from having seizures and Baclofen to ease the spasticity in my muscles particularly within my triceps and my hamstrings. these muscles were stiff to the point that it feels I have rocks in my arms and thighs. to get rid of this extreme spasticity, my physiotherapist Mena suggested getting a bit of botox injection into the area where the stiffness occurs, this way the botox will help loosen up the muscles which will make it easier for me to move. So one day she called one of the doctors by the name of doctor Gosh to come to the hospital to give me the botox. The syringe he used was like any other ones that most health physicians would use to draw blood from their patients but the one that Dr. Gosh was using had botox in it and the syringe was a bit longer to penetrate my stiff muscles. Thankfully I still had paralysis at that time on the left half of my body so I can't really feel any pain. The moment he injected that syringe into my hamstrings, I felt something was penetrating my leg but it didn't feel painful at all it just felt something sharp was going through my flesh.

The injections were made in two places; my hamstrings and in my pectoralis major. After these two injections, Dr gosh told me and Mena that the dosage is enough to loosen up the muscles but the results will not be permanent as botox is only a temporary fix to muscle spasticity. after the brief explanation Mena and her physio student, Ellie took me to the physio gym to start another daily session of physiotherapy but this time they got something special in my mind for me. As I entered the gym Ellie brought in a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulus otherwise known as a TENSE device to help me stimulate certain muscles in my arm so that I can move them again. Mena attached the first two diodes on my forearm and the other two on the back of my hand particularly on the radial and ulnar nerve. these nerves have a specific function in moving my fingers. The ulnar nerve controls the ring and pinky finger, the radial nerve controls the thumb and index finger. So it was pretty obvious that Mena and Ellie placed it on the specific location of these nerves. Once the electrodes are in place, they turned up the voltage. my initial reaction to it was nothing since I didn't feel that much of a jolt of electricity rushing through my arm but then it hit me hard and I could feel the electrical pulse rushing through my hand. during this moment I felt like a real-life version of Frankenstein being brought back to life from the dead. Surprisingly the electrical current was enough to move some of my fingers for a short while. after countless attempts, the amount of electricity flowing became unbearable and it was starting to hurt me. having realized that I was in pain, my therapists decided it was time to stop the cruel experimentation. Instead of continuously frying my arm with the electrical nerve stimulation, they decided that an alternative treatment would be better, so they prescribed me a muscle relaxant drug called baclofen. That night before I head off to sleep, one of the nurses came into my room and gave me the baclofen tablets, of which I consumed immediately upon receiving them.