This was the trip I had been waiting for … I was going to take my first steps in four and a half years.
Day one with Ekso. I woke up early and was excited to go to therapy (not a common occurrence). Each session with the Ekso is an hour long. I knew it was going to take about 45 minutes to get all my measurements and it setup, but I would take at least a few steps.
Then we had a scare and moment of panic … “Oh uh, we may have a problem,” said the therapist getting my measurements. Turns out my left femur is longer than my right femur and if one leg is more than a half inch longer than the other you can’t use the Ekso. My leg was measuring at 5/8 of an inch longer. I asked the therapist, “it’s okay, you’ll lie for me right?” She called over another therapist to measure who agreed it was longer but only by 3/8 of an inch. Phew! I could still do it – we went with the second therapist’s measurements.
Now it came time to get in Ekso, stand up, and take those steps. Too bad once I stood and found my balance I got dizzy, nauseous, and had to sit right back down. By the time I felt better we had run out of time and would have to wait to walk until the following week.
Day two with Ekso. I had tried to get a good night sleep to be fully energized and feeling good but wasn’t able to fall asleep until 4 AM and was running on three hours of sleep. Needless to say, I was exhausted and worried it wasn’t going to go well again.
Since all my measurements were already done I was able to get right up. This time I felt great … no nausea or dizziness. The program setup was so the therapist would initiate the movements. And then it happened I took my first step. Words can’t describe how I was feeling. It was awesome. I was quickly able to change programs so I could initiate the steps on my own based on weight shifting. By the end of the session I had taken 389 steps.
Day three with Ekso. I was able to do even more of the movement and walking by myself and took 400 steps. My new record!
Day four with Ekso. I got up and was doing so well with the walker the therapist asked me if I wanted to try something fun. Anybody who knows me knows of course I said, “Yes!” I got to graduate from the walker to forearm crutches. Apparently crutches take most people a while to get the hang of, but not me, I was a pro. At the end of the session I had taken 583 steps! My newest record!
Now that we’re back home I miss the Ekso. I wish I could spend an hour in it every day walking around. Until next time … June 2017! My new goal is 600 steps!
