No Germs

"That's not sterile!" I was talking about gloves. People will think the gloves are there to protect them. That's not the case. The gloves are to protect me.  I don't want your germs.
 

Now this video shows super-ultra sterile gloves before a surgical procedure. I watched a nurse once train a new/student nurse. I used to have a trache tube in my neck, and the cleaning kit (the trache was removed for cleaning) had some. Student nurses were common at this hospital, so I was in school again.

This video gives you an idea about sterility. We don't have to be this sterile at home since we are not doing surgical procedures. However, we do need to be clean and take general precaution against germs, especially if your loved one recently got out of the hospital after an extended stay. A person can lose his/her immunity to general household germs if in a sterile environment for a while.

At home, I keep a box of exam gloves. It's common to use 1-2 boxes a month. Keep a can of Lysol or something like it handy. A can can last me about 2 months, but I use it daily (almost daily) on the main computer keyboard as I am not the only user. The box of exam gloves say 'non-sterile', usually. That's because they are not individually wrapped and protected from the elements like the ones in the video. I don't know if other measures are taken.

The gloves are for the patient's protection, not yours. You can't catch a brain injury, but (this happened to me) a brain injured person can get e coli because you didn't wear gloves after feeding your dog. (That was the plausible explanation the doctor came up with.) You can pick up germs from touching surfaces, shaking hands, or even going to the bathroom. Germs can be missed during hand-washing, but exam gloves protect against these.

Just a quick mention, use a face mask if you have a cold. I don't want your germs and I don't appreciate your snot dripping on me!

Positive Energy

THIS IS POSITIVE ENERGY!
 

I was just goofing around. I am holding a cut piece of pool noodle suggested by an Occupational Therapist. My right arm had been paralyzed. It had been 15 years since you saw it move like that.

The pool noodles are sold in packages on Amazon. I understand that the dollar store sells individual ones during the summer.

Little kids (and big kids) like them. They make great swords.

I use mine for exercise. It's a great way to take the disabled arm along. My other arm does most of the work, and my right hand holds on for the ride.

Sure this is a small success story, but I'm not an over-all success. I was just goofing off one day. Is it a success that I sit in a wheel chair? It isn't if you compare it to walking. It is if you compare it to me being bed-ridden.

I'm supposed to be the latter, bed-ridden. It's how you look at it.

Ugly Boot

I now use this blue one:

The SoftPro AFO is a transition boot and gait trainer.
There is a bed only version without the foot pad.

From Google, a CONTRACTURE is "a condition of shortening and hardening of muscles, tendons, or other tissue, often leading to deformity and rigidity of joints.

AFO stands for Ankle-Foot Orthotic. They are braces and train positioning of the foot and ankle, just like braces for the teeth keep the teeth straight.

I "HAD" a contracture of my ankle. That's unusual, "had." It's gone. I thought that they don't go away. I asked a PT. It has happened, so it wasn't impossible that they should disappear. I had started wearing these big ugly boots cuz they are more comfortable than the plastic AFO. I wore it much longer.

I had a plastic AFO made here in town a few years ago. My goal was to keep it on 2 hours straight. I usually had it on an hour and a half. Then it started hurting and I'd take it off. I keep the ugly boot on all day.

I took one apart for washing. It's just a plastic AFO with tons of cushy covering on it. No wonder why I could keep it on so long. It's padded for comfort.

These things are made for non-weight bearing. I had a night splint, a big, ugly boot for sleeping. That means you can't stand on them. I could keep that night splint on all night and it didn't wake me. I was learning to stand and walk again, though, and had to stand on my foot. I made it my quest to find a boot that could take standing. I found the blue one pictured above. It is also called a trainer.

My foot still turns in, but half of what it was doing. That's major improvement. The contracture was because my ankle fully turned in and then turned up. It froze. It formed a bump. The bump is gone and my foot isn't frozen anymore.

I can now work on walking. I don't think it could be done without the foot.

I have a white boot here in the picture below. I don't wear this anymore because it was two pieces.