2008-04-14 - 12:49 a.m.
I went to physical therapy Friday morning and I went in a pool for aquatherapy for the first time. And I walked! It was so exciting; I hadn�t done that in years. Granted, I was up to my neck in water and holding onto a rail on the side wall of the pool, but still� I felt so unbelievably proud. I probably overexerted myself going back and forth, but it was just so awesome!
I had been a little nervous that my leg muscles had atrophied from lack of use to the point where they couldn�t support my body weight anymore. Apparently though, I still have enough strength. Now that I think about it, I shouldn�t be too surprised. I pull myself up to a standing position (there�s a convenient chest-height shelf in our house to do this with) all the time.
I was also a bit reluctant to do physical therapy before. When my MS was more progressive, I figured what�s the point? As soon as I learn to do something, I�ll just get worse. But with the new drug I�m on, if my decline hasn�t stopped entirely, it�s certainly slowed to a glacial pace. I often say that, while it�s never a good time to get any sort of autoimmune disease, now is a better time than even ten years ago to get MS.
I realize this is just the first small step of many. As I�ve said, my dream is to someday walk on the beach with Nya�
� 2008 Geoff Gladstone
If you�ve ever enjoyed my writing, please donate to the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis and/or the Montel Williams MS Foundation.
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