The Citizen, 2015-09-17, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015. PAGE 11.
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muscles, which are well below her
area of injury, which is just an inch
or two below her armpits.
Her smile is radiant and
contagious as she flexs and unflexes
her “newfound” abdominal muscles.
It is victories like this, which
cannot be classified as “small” in the
grand scheme of Sawchuk’s injuries,
that continue to give her hope. Her
goal, of course, is to one day walk
again, but she hopes that in the
future she will regain at least some
feeling in her legs, so perhaps they
can aid in the process of readjusting
her sitting position and slightly
taking pressure off of her arms.
Those victories, she said, excite
her for the next day’s physical
therapy, wondering what it is she’ll
“awaken” in her body next.
On Friday, Sawchuk worked hard
at her physical therapy at exercises
where she had to lift herself from her
chair to the physiotherapy bed and
back again, roll herself over with
only her arms and shoulders to carry
her entire body through the motion
and “push-ups”, which involve
handles on the bed and Sawchuk
pushing her entire body slightly up
off of the bed with only her arms to
do the work.
As Julie puts it, you don’t realize
how heavy one of your legs is until
you’re in a position where you have
to lift it with just your arms.
The most difficult exercise, by far,
she says, is a balancing drill where
she must support her entire upper
half in a sitting position without
anchoring her arms to her legs
for balance and support.
Sawchuk attends both physical
and occupational therapy daily,
while she has just begun cognitive
testing to ensure that the collision
did not harm her mind beyond the
concussion she suffered.
Sawchuk’s physiotherapist Kristin
Wanless says that when someone
with use of muscles throughout their
entire body sits up, they
unknowingly use countless muscles
in their core to aid the process.
Without benefit of those muscles,
sitting up on her own is one of the
most difficult things Sawchuk will
have to learn.
Wanless says Sawchuk has been a
model student, however, in more
ways than one.
In just a few weeks at Parkwood,
Sawchuk has advanced at a rate
quicker than almost all other
residents, Wanless said. After her
surgery, Sawchuk had to wear a
body brace to support her spine; a
shell she shed one week earlier than
anticipated.
(She still has to wear an abdominal
wrap for the time being that keeps
her organs where they need to be and
promotes proper blood flow. As
Wanless puts it, in the body of
someone with feeling throughout,
abdominal muscles are always
working ever so slightly to promote
blood flow and keep organs
suspended, a luxury Sawchuk no
longer has, which is where the wrap
comes in.)
She has continued on that path
throughout physiotherapy, Wanless
says, developing skills and learning
living tactics far earlier than most of
the other patients.
Wanless chalks Sawchuk’s
progress up to her determination, her
will to work hard and her foundation
as an endurance athlete.
Physiotherapy for Sawchuk also
includes intense stretching of her leg
muscles. Wanless says this is a
process that will likely continue for
the rest of Sawchuk’s life.
Due to Sawchuk’s injuries, her leg
muscles are always staying in a
“short” position, whereas someone
with use of their legs would be
unknowingly stretching their leg
muscles out of a short position when
they stand and walk around. The
stretching ensures that Sawchuk’s
muscles stay fresh and ready for that
hopeful day when she regains
feeling in her legs and may be able
to advance her physiotherapy to
potentially walking again.
Sawchuk says that the physical
therapy room at Parkwood is a place
of struggle, of course, but that it is
also very much a place of hope.
She looks around at machines and
equipment meant for those with
feeling in their legs hoping to work
towards walking again and sees
them as a future challenge she hopes
to face.
Another future experience that has
Sawchuk excited is swimming for
the first time since her accident.
A swimmer her entire life,
Sawchuk says she began discussing
the possibility of swimming in
Parkwood’s pool on her first day,
saying that when she found out
Parkwood had a pool, she made sure
her bathing suit made the trip with
her. It was in her room on her first
day at Parkwood, ready when
needed.
Her first swim was scheduled for
Wednesday. The swim will represent
another fork in the road, where she
says she half expects the water to
shock her legs into motion, but that
she needs to be realistic and know
that likely isn’t going to happen, she
says through tears.
She has been told that her pool
experience will be very regimented
and monitored, despite her hopes
that she could just be “rolled in” and
left to do what she wants. But, again,
she realizes that freedom isn’t a
realistic prospect at this point in her
life.
When she returns to the
community, she says, people will
likely see her at the pool in
Wingham as often as she can get
there.
While swimming certainly
intrigues her, Sawchuk’s next
summit is educating herself
sufficiently so she’s able to return
home to live with her husband Theo
and children Oliver (nine) and Ella
(12).
Sawchuk estimates that she is
about two weeks away from clearing
that hurdle, but it’s unlikely that the
family’s house will be ready for her.
The Sawchuks live in a two-storey,
100-year-old farm house on the
outskirts of Blyth that is, in no way,
capable of accommodating a
wheelchair.
Days before The Citizen’s visit to
London, Sawchuk says the family
received a pair of quotations for
simple renovations to the house that
would install two ramps, widen
some door frames to allow
wheelchair access and make the
bathroom accessible.
The Sawchuks are in luck,
however, as Parkwood’s third floor
is comprised of a handful of
“practice apartments”. At the
Sawchuks’ disposal are fully-
furnished, accessible apartments that
the family can stay in for the
weekend to get used to the idea and
the challenges of living alone, all
Sawchuk’s physical recovery ahead of schedule
Determination
Julie Sawchuk, under the watchful eye of Kristin Wanless, her physiotherapist at Parkwood
Institute, has taken on both physical and occupational therapy daily since arriving at the
institute. As Sawchuk puts it, she had no idea how heavy one of her legs is until now. She is
seen here during last Friday’s physical therapy session positioning herself on the rehabilitation
bed. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
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