Bio-Fit & Injections - June 24, 2011

The Bio-Fit therapy started with stretching and range of motion with Eric's legs.  Next was abs.  Alexis increased to sets of 50 for a total of 200 crunches holding an 8 pound medicine ball.  Today's workout was upper body and Alexis showed Eric some new methods for bicep and shoulder workouts using cables. 

We met two new patients with spinal cord injury that started their treatments this week.  Joseph was injuring diving into the ocean and hitting a sandbar and injured his C4/C5 resulting in paraplegic condition.  Chris was injured when when he was clearing trees in his backyard and a tree fell on him injuring around the T6 leaving him paralyzed from mid-chest down.

Tracy & Eric, Joseph & Kelsey

After finishing physical therapy today, Eric returned on the van back to the hotel and Tracy went for a walk. The Pacific ocean is only a few minutes from Bio-Fit and there is a walking path that goes along the ocean seawall.  There are no beaches near Panama City; I think the closest is an hour away.  Within 15 minutes I was over enjoying the fresh ocean breeze, looking at the cargo ships in the ocean waiting to go through the canal, and enjoying looking at the scenery of Panama City.  The walk back took 30 minutes and I evaluated whether or not I thought I could get Eric all of the way from our hotel to the ocean front in his wheelchair.  

When I returned it was time for lunch, then back into our van to go to the stem cell clinic for injections.  Today Eric had a lumbar puncture in the spine and an IV injection.  They has some issues finding his vein in his arm and eventually used a vein in his hand for the IV. 

Upon returning Eric is supposed to lay down, but that only lasted 30 minutes today because by the time we got back we were hungry for dinner.  Scott had found that we could order Pizza Hut pizza and have it delivered to the hotel.  So we had the front desk order us pizzas and they guys laid down briefly while it was delivered.  It actually did taste like a Pizza Hut pizza, unlike the local pizzas which are very thin and have a miniscule amount of sauce.  After we enjoyed the pizza together in our room, Scott returned to his room and Eric did laid down.  He never got a headache, though his lower back was sore from the injections.