I’m glad I started weight lifting.
Now don’t think of me as anything more than a sit in the wheelchair and lift 25 pound dumbbells 30 reps, 10 at a time, in 8 different ways kind of guy. That’s for me, weight lifting. But besides the benefit of being able to push myself further and further and up steeper ramps, there’s another benefit.
A few days ago Joe started to complain about pain in his shoulder. He’s got a doctors appointment all set up to check it out, but until then I decided that he would no longer load my wheelchair in or take it out of the trunk. I would take over that duty.
We arranged for me to do this in an underground parking lot with no one around. I didn’t want to fall or look foolish in front of an audience. I needed to learn how to pick the chair up, how to position my body, how to get the car from trunk to ground and all without falling over myself. The first time wasn’t pretty. The second time still wasn’t pretty but it was effective.
So it’s been a few days now that Joe has been able to completely rest his shoulder and that I’ve been getting the chair out of the car. I’m still a bit clumsy doing it, but I do it. The strength isn’t the problem, it’s the ballet movements involved in positioning and lifting, that’s the issue for me.
Today Joe said his shoulder was feeling slightly better. I was so pleased. He’s still going to see the doctor to check it out, but I felt that I was actively helping him to heal.
He does so much for me, it’s nice that in doing for myself I’m doing for him.
It’s nice to have the strength to make this an option.
Balance would be another thing, but there aren’t weights to lift for that!
