TARA’S BLOG: --MOM TAKES A TURN

November 5, 2007

5:20 p.m.

Hi everyone....this is Tara's Mom, Barbara. Tara asked me to give you an idea of how her classes went today, because her back is hurting and she wasn't up to doing this today, but knows how a lot of people look her to see her progress.

Her day started off with her OT class. We went down to the basement with Jen, Anne and the therapist so Tara could practice transferring from her chair to a double bed with no side rails like her hospital bed. "Transferring" means moving herself from one surface to another by essentially picking up her own body weight. This room is full of interesting things. There is a full on Honda car with the exception of the engine that people practice getting in and out of. There are two rows of airline seats and the transfer chair they use to take people from the door of the plane to their seat. This chair is only 13 inches wide so it can fit through the isle. They have a bathtub in there so they can teach patients how to transfer into the tubs also.

The next class was Mat Class, which is a group class. Each patient starts by transferring to a workout mat that is about two feet off the ground. They take their shoes off and put a strap around their foot and then pull on the strap to stretch their hamstrings. After they do both feet 3 times, they lie down and pull their leg up into the air and stretch some more with each leg. After that the therapist put two sets of folded mats on top of a 6 inch tall box on the floor and Tara had to transfer from the workout mat to the folded mats. Each time the therapist would take a layer of mats away so the transfer was lower each time. Tara has to lean really forward to do the transfer and the brace makes it more difficult, but she did a great job. I think this is why she is hurting so bad this evening, all the leaning forward probably pulled on her lower back muscles.

Her next class was PT. Today was spent transferring to the stand assist machine which Tara explained a week or so ago.

Ahhh........finally a break!!! I get tired just watching her work so hard! Back to the room to grab a bite to eat, answer a couple of phone calls, try to check a few emails, visit with Jen and Anne and we're off to the next class.

Next class was the FES bike which Tara has already explained. Then she went to an education class. Last but not least was her PT wheelchair class. The class met in the gym, did some warm ups around the gym and then took off outside to practice going up and down curbs and stairs for the next hour. I went back to the room to make some calls. Tara said she rolled around, "like an idiot and kept slamming into the curbs because her timing was off." So I'm sure that didn't help with her back pain. Then she said they worked on going down stairs backwards and on the second step her brace got caught and she "slammed" her way down the rest. The first few times she went down stairs it really scared me, but now that she has the hang of it, I'm not as scared.

So there you have it, each class is an hour long and very physical except for the education class. There were six classes today and we started at 9 a.m. Tomorrow her first class is at 8 a.m. and she has seven classes, so I'm sure she'll be just as tired tomorrow. Hopefully she will be able to write about her day because I enjoy her sense of humor and the way she writes about her days, but at least you got some info today! :)

Hey, this is Tara. It's like 8:30 p.m. and I'm going to bed, but before I do I want to say congratulations to Jimenez Dolzadelli (formerly known as Jimena Florit). She just gave birth to twins named Gianluca and Mateo. Here is her link: www.jimenacycling.com/1.html

Editor’s Note: Tara Llanes is recording her progress in rehab at the Craig Hospital in Denver as she continues to recover from the spinal cord injuries she suffered in a mountain bike race in Colorado on September 1. This is the latest update she has posted to her MySpace page. She’s been blogging about her recovery since September 23rd. All of her blogs, new photos of her recovery and many, many good wishes can be found at:
www.myspace.com/mtbtara
Her family, friends, and supporters are urging those folks who want to help contribute to a special fund set up for Tara’s recovery to visit:

www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com

On November 17, a 4X race will be held at Sand Hill Ranch in Brentwood, CA, with all proceeds going to Tara’s recovery fund. For more information go to:

www.racefortara.com