Last August, Chan went to an abilities Expo here in Minnesota. It was a three day event that was designed to put everything that a disabled person could possibly need to enhance their daily lives all in one place. Everything from catheters and catheter cleaning supplies to alternative seating options for wheelchair users, and everything in between! You name it, it was probably there! Just as Chan and I thought we had seen everything there was to see, and tried out everything we thought we wanted to try out, something caught his attention.
When he first started heading in the direction of this mysterious object, I had no idea what it was, or where we were going. He was just bound and determined to get where he was going, and I was going to follow. As we got closer to what this was, and he was getting ready to stop, it all started making sense. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of something that he was going to fight until he had what he wanted, or die trying!
It turns out that it was an exercise bike. However, by no means was this an ordinary exercise bike. In fact, this exercise bike was so extraordinary that I'm not even sure that my description of it will do it justice, but I'm going to try. It's a bike that's manufactured in Germany, and the original idea for it came about because there was a lady who the inventor knew who had MS. I'm not sure of the entire story, but I do know that she was his inspiration. Eventually, it went into production, and Chan was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to be able to demo it. There are many many features on it that make it entirely unique! One of my favorites and the one that will be most beneficial for me if I ever have one is the fact that if you aren't able to peddle the bike with your own pressure, it has motors, and the motors will move your legs for you. As you get stronger, and your brain and legs start to make a connection with one another, giving you the ability to provide some of your own power, the software that is designed into the bike will detect this and shut the motors off so that you can do it all by yourself! Pretty smart technology, isn't it?
Another one of my favorite features is the "anti-spasm control". With this feature, if you have a spasm during your training session, and the software detects it, it will gently stop the motors, and after about a five second pause, the peddles will go in the opposite direction. The changing of directions will continue until the spasm has completely stopped. So in other words, if the spasm that you're having lasts 20 minutes, the peddles will continue to switch directions for that entire 20 minutes until the spasm is no longer detected by the software.
Although I think the entire piece of equipment is nothing less than ingenious, I do have one more favorite feature. On the bike, there is an analysis button. At the end of each training session, you can press the analysis button, and it will show you everything from the amount of calories you burned during that session, to how much work your right and your left leg did during that particular training session. This would allow someone like myself, who has had no purposeful movement of her legs since fifth grade, to be able to track my progress, and see whether or not I was improving, and if I was, by how much.
After a lot of phone calls, and a lot of begging and pleading, this six-month long endeavor finally came to an end for Chan last evening. He can now say without hesitation that he owns one of these ingenious pieces of equipment. I was there during the setup process, and I was also there as he started using it for the first time since he tried it in August. I won't be able to describe to you using words what an amazing feeling it was to be a part of the moment when, for the first time in a very long time, if ever, his legs were actually moving together! It was absolutely, positively amazing! I can't even begin to put into words what that probably felt like for him. At this point, all I can do is imagine.
Maybe at some point I'll demo his bike, and I'll be able to give you a first-hand account of what my legs moving together actually felt like!
For now though, all I can do is ask myself these questions, which are in no particular order: will there come a point where he is able to bare weight again? He hasn't been able to bare weight since approximately 1995. Will there come a point after a lot of repetition that he may be able to even take a few steps? As far as I'm aware, he's never actually walked. What other health benefits besides the obvious will we see as a result of using this on a regular basis? Lastly, and what I feel is most important, is he peddling toward a better future?
Although I can't answer any of these questions definitively at this point, I can tell you this. I will be noting any progress no matter how big or how small, right here! I say that for both of us. So that means that if I start using it as well, I will be documenting my progress as well as his!
Now that I've reached the end of what I have to say, all I can say is: thank God for technology!