Went into MGH Boston for an appointment with SLC. We checked in and discovered that I was not scheduled for an X-ray, so we were prepared to hear that the brace had to stay on for another four weeks. It sounds as if I’ll be getting an AFO (Ankle Foot Orthosis) or at least something that will allow me to bend my knee. That’ll be a relief, and it’ll mean a whole new set of exercises to build up the muscles that have been atrophying all the time my leg has been in the brace.
Discharge day! I slept poorly again and felt slightly nauseous as a result. I managed the coffee, cereal, and wheat toast, but couldn’t face the bacon and eggs! Maureen arrived while I was getting things ready for packing up. I had already signed the discharge papers with the nurse, so off we set! It’s been over a month since I was last home, but I feel so much better prepared for it than the last time I was discharged. At Spaulding we ironed out the kinks for getting into the house and manage the stairs and practiced it several times. Trixie was happy to see me, and I was honored by having her show her excitement by peeing on the garage floor.
This is my last full day at Spaulding. It was a really good move to come here for all the PT and OT, and good nursing care. The food was pretty good too, but I don’t have much of an appetite today after my rough night. Yesterday, I was officially promoted to independent care, meaning that I can get myself out of bed, use the walker to get to the bathroom, sit in the wheelchair and move around the room. It’s still difficult and I don’t have much stamina, but it’s what I’m going to have to do at home without the nurses and PCAs around to help me. At home, Maureen has set up the trundle bed in the front room on the ground floor, so I don’t have to tackle stairs for a while.
Maureen came in at her regular time of 11 am when I was already scheduled for PT. I had mentioned to Zaya that I’d like to practice walking and using the wheelchair outside, so we went over to a specially designed therapy trail that has different walking surfaces and slopes. The architects that designed Spaulding thought of everything!
I posted my review of the Aceso Sphere Patient interface and sent the link to their support email. They sent me a nice reply.
Re: [#4184] Thoughts on the patient interface as installed at Spaulding Rehab in Charlestown.
1 message
Aceso Support <[email protected]> Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 8:34 PM Reply-To: Aceso Support <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Mr. Doutch, Thank you for reaching out and providing this valuable feedback from a patient perspective. It is uncommon for us to receive this type of feedback directly from a patient and it is appreciated. We will ensure this is circulated to appropriate parties for review. Best wishes, Kevin
We’ll see where it goes and if they want to do anything with it. But note the “Dangerous Assumptions” listed on my blog.
Maureen came in early at 10 am for caregiver training. We did bumping up and down stairs, with transfer from the wheelchair, via the exercise step, to the floor, and back again. Then we went out into the parking lot and did the transfer into the backseat of the car, and back again. Returning to my room, Chris took off the brace so that he could ace-wrap leg to reduce the swelling. Maureen watched and will need to do it at home.
Got an attack of my old enemy, Proctalgia Fugax, in the middle of the night, probably brought on by the bumping up and down the stairs. Neither the PCA nor the nurse knew how to respond. I asked for a small heating pad to relieve the cramps, but they didn’t have any. So, I was in quite a bit of pain until it eased off by itself, and I was able to get back to sleep.
I went to sleep early, around 9:30 pm. I was exhausted from a hard PT session yesterday with the two therapists: Zaya and Tori.
It was a lot, but I managed it, except for the transfer which they had to help me with.
Today, being Saturday, I see I have no OT or PT sessions scheduled, which should give me time to recuperate. Tomorrow, Sunday, I have a single OT session scheduled. It all starts up again on Monday.
Martha and Charles visited yesterday. They brought me a large bag of Liquorice Allsorts, and a bag of Jelly Babies. We talked about Charles and my experiences being brought up British. Charles came over in 1968 as a small child so doesn’t have many memories of England. His father was an engineer and came over as part the “Brain Drain,” as the exodus of technical talent to the US was referred to at the time. However, since others from his father’s company came over at the same time, Charles found himself as part of a British ex-patriate community. I was Charles’s reference for his gaining his British passport recently, and he’s thinking of visiting in the next few months. I asked them if they’d heard of the upcoming by-election in Clacton, where Nigel Farage (boo, hiss!) is running as the Reform party candidate. The Lib Dems, Tories, and Labor are not competing, but a whole slew of joke third party candidates have paid their £500 deposit to be entered on the ballot; amongst them Count Binface. He probably won’t win, unfortunately, but such is the backlash against Farage that he’ll probably get more than 5% of the vote1 and his deposit back.
Maureen got here at 11 am, by which time I’d already gotten up, been to the bathroom, got dressed, and in my wheelchair. We went outside and she pushed me around the outside of Mayor Menino Park, jutting out into the channel that connects the Mystic River with the inner harbor. It was already in the upper 80s and sunny, and I wished I had my hat and sunglasses! It was good to be outside, the first time since May when I attempted a bumpy ride in the backyard to the greenhouse and back. I would love an all-terrain wheelchair, but they’re vey expensive and not covered by Medicare. And anyway, since the end goal is that I be able to walk under my own steam, it’s not worth it. Back inside, we took a tour of the facility, looked at the swimming pool through locked doors, and visited the gym, stocked with all the toys that a therapist could wish for, and more..
Back in my room, I ate lunch and got back into bed. After Maureen left, I realized how tired I was and fell asleep for a bit less than an hour. Google showed me that I immediately fell into a deep sleep for 20 minutes.