August 23rd, 2022

Alyson West, August 23, 2022

Well, my mother stole my thunder and posted before I could🙄. I’ve struggled with what

to write for my next post just because the last month has been very challenging. In the

beginning of July, we noticed that my legs were weaker and was having way more

spasms than normal (which usually only happens in the mornings until my meds kick in).

An infection was suspected and it was confirmed that I had a kidney infection. I went on

antibiotics for that and a short time after, a scrape on my elbow ended up becoming

infected, prompting more antibiotics. My symptoms were a little better, but I still felt

weak and was experiencing spasms. We found out that I still had the kidney infection

and went on another round antibiotics to get the rest of the infection out (I am going on

an antibiotic strike).

During this time, my parents went out of town to visit family and friends in Chicago and

the weekend on my own was not off to a good start. I started the weekend (Thursday)

with accidentally taking my bedtime medication instead of my morning medication. I

truly thought that I could go to work that morning and just “power through” the

drowsiness (egg on my face). I realized that I couldn’t drive to work safely and called out

of work (2nd time in my life!!!). I went back to bed and woke up around 1p and took dom

out to go to the bathroom. At this time, I was in my wheelchair and let dom out to the

screened in porch. I was making my way down the step when dom thought he should get

out of my way and go back inside, making me lose my balance and tipping back in my

wheelchair and hitting my head on the concrete outside (hit the ground and my head

bounced so my head hit the ground x2). I remember being dazed and also thinking the

worst (me laying on the concrete in the screened in porch and having to wait for my

*brand new* neighbor come out back to yell that I need help). Luckily, after a few

minutes, I was able to get back up and continue to let dom out. Unfortunately, these

concussions have had some lasting side effects; headaches, dizziness, brain fog, lack of

attention, etc. Luckily the headaches and dizziness has gone away for the most part.

After being sent to the ED from PT to make sure I didn’t have a brain bleed (my pupils

were unequal), I was cleared and sent on my way!

They say bad things happen in 3! I ran out of PT/OT visits from insurance and haven’t

been in PT for about 3 weeks now. I finally got in touch with my insurance case manager

and they are reaching out to my PT/OT to get them to submit a request for more visits.

Since I haven’t been going to PT, I have been trying to walk a lot more. It was harder to

walk with the infections due to my legs constantly having spasms, but now since we

have cleared the infections and went up on my anti-spasm medication, my legs seem to

want to work a lot more. As my mom said in her post, we went to the Y to try to get a workout routine started to maintain/ continue to improve my muscle mass and strength.

On a happier note, biking on Sunday was a very big achievement for me. When I am in

PT, the bike I use is hooked up to the stimulation machine that activates the muscles for

me, but I obviously don’t have access to an FES Bike outside of PT so I had to use my

own muscles/ mobility to bike on my own. It was extremely challenging for me, but I was

able to bike a mile in 34 minutes. I plan to work out and continue biking in the hopes that

I am able to do a mile in less time or do more distance in the same time. Yesterday I was

sore in places I haven’t been in awhile, but I am excited to continue to work on that on

my own.

My recovery from my injury is as much of a mind game as it is physically challenging. It’s

hard to not constantly think about the “what ifs” and how long my recovery will take. I

am coming up on a year from my accident, which is when they typically say whatever

abilities you have then is what you will have. I know that this is just a guideline and is not

a definite timeline so I will continue to work hard on my recovery to gain back as much

as I can. I am coming to terms with the fact that I won’t have a full recovery, but I am

hoping to one day be able to walk without an assistive device. My ankle is still paralyzed

and not wanting to participate, but by strengthening the muscles in my right leg, we are

hoping to gain back more ability. I appreciate all of your guys’ support!! I promise I will

update this more with what’s going on with my recovery and in life :)

Comments

Love you Aly!!!! You've got this!!!! Pls update more thank u!!!

—Elizabeth Welwood, August 23, 2022

Alyson, Thank you for the update! We are rooting for you! Hugs!

—Jackie Eckert, August 23, 2022

You’re awesome Alyson. Keep giving it 100%. What a badass!

—Lia Walker, August 23, 2022

Yes Al!!! You’ve been through so much but you’re absolutely smashing it. Love you!

—Jianna Casamento, August 23, 2022

You are amazing! Thank you for the update. ❤️

—Lori Usrey, August 24, 2022