5/11
Wow, another day and another increase in sensation! My legs really needed yesterday! That was a great day of rest! I still incorporated activation into the day, but I really got caught up on some rest!!
I realized too, how my hopefulness waxes and wanes as the day moves on. It’s a hard reality, sometimes. And I almost think that it affects the quality of my sleep, and movement throughout the day. I wonder how to prove this out? I’ll have to look at my watch and see if heart rate variability (HRV) plays a role.
I really need to continue to progress and work towards being able to walk down the aisle and stand there with Callie! Even if it’s for a little bit! I need to. I need to continue to put focus on getting my legs straight and strengthening! How can I make sure this is always the item in focus in therapy as well as my every day life? Glutes and quads, I feel like that needs to be my focus? But how can I achieve this when I have to be seated in a chair for most of the day? What are good strategies now to prevent tightness in the antagonist muscles??
Okay, so! I lm down on the floor, and really trying to help my body get into as many positions as I can! I’m kinda all over the place today, but I’m activating everything, and I’m getting stretched out!! Sure is hard sometimes with these rods back there! Goodness! I did get a tool to help stretch out these hamstrings, so I’m excited to try it when it comes in! These fellas are always so tight! I hope this helps my quads and glutes to stop getting so overpowered!
What’s the best way to prevent a muscle from being overpowered by the antagonist muscle when you are working on strengthening the agonist muscle?
9:11pm, that’s my birthday. What a weird time, pretty wild day. It’s interesting how some numbers or ideas just keep coming up and around. The prevalence is interesting. Today was the first day of alarms throughout the day, to activate my glutes and my quads! I think it helped! I got in the standing frame after being on the floor earlier today, and I am feeling my legs doing some crazy changes. I had said to Callie earlier, that getting on the floor, every time I get up from being on the floor, my legs feel so wildly different. It’s so wild. They seriously are filling in, piece by piece.
5/12
This is insane. This has to be the most significant gains in sensation and activation since the sinus surgery! My right leg feels fuller than ever! My right quad, extending all the way thru the knee, calves, tib anterior, ankles, and foot!! My left leg is lagging behind a bit, but my goodness, this is intense! Holy smokes! I can’t believe this right now! I woke up to do my middle of night bathroom break, and my right leg is holding me up so well! This is unbelievable!
Thinking of myself as “lighter”. I just listened to a calisthenics trainer talk about all his different movements, and how when he mentally prepared himself to think of his body as being lighter, he was able to do a lot more movements on the pull up bar. Not because he all of a sudden got stronger, but because he mentally prepared himself for this activity and helped prep his mind. Now, this is really interesting, because when I got to lift my legs with my hands, I’m really not lifting them with very much force. Legs are heavy, each leg is probably around ~25lbs. Maybe a little less. And when I go to help assist the movement of my leg, I know I’m not giving anywhere close to 25lbs of force. That’s a pretty decent curl! So I wonder how much that would help if I start to imagine or envision my legs just being lighter when I go to try to move them? I wonder how that will help?
The sensation increase from yesterday’s work was really significant! I think I need to get on the floor this morning, and keep working on the fundamentals! Keeping the movement led from my core, and continue progressing!
I’m down on the floor this AM, and I just fell onto my left hip. Oof. It’s interesting how that little bit of a bang and really jostled the sensations in that area?! Hmm??
So after therapy, I got into the standing frame! It’s interesting, I feel like I haven’t done this before? I don’t know why? I need to continue to help reiterate to my body that this is where he also can be! Not always seated! Slowly but surely, just small efforts here and there, is what I need to do!
Therapy notes! Saw rose today for first time in months! We worked on getting in and out of the wheelchair into different chairs, and also worked on the abs! Boy was I tired!! She really helped push me, she really good at doing that!
Worked with Ashley! We did full range sit to stands with BFR! They went really well, I did like 150 of them, goodness! My legs are going to be tired tomorrow, I can feel it already!
Got in a long sit after dinner and therapy! Trying to help my legs in any way possible!!!
5/13
So, I just woke up and had a pretty interesting dream. What’s funny is everyone was riding a bike that I had gotten them, except not Jess and Jake yet, they were on my list! John’s bike, needed some work! It was hilarious, the wheels had the most interesting arrangement on them. Dad and John were look in at them, and what it was, was a ball bearing arrangement like a golf ball. Each dimple in the “ball” held a bearing. And there was a TON of grease. And John’s bearings were shot. Ball bearings were missing, rusted, grease was cooked, it looked awful. But here goes John thinking he could salvage it! Ha! I told him we are better off getting new wheels cuz these old ones sucked. This also had a cool shifter arrangement, where it was a 1 x 18, and all 18 speeds were in the back! Now I just had to build out a bike for Jess and Jake!
What’s also interesting (and kinda crappy) is how this left oblique will spasm. It’s been on my mind a lot, because it seems to be the only area that really does this so excessively and painful at all. It really yanks on me. It’s gotta be because I have to go to the bathroom, but I was that those sensations just traveled down to where they needed to first!
Better get up and get that taken care of!
Wow! My left leg and my left quad really seem to be balancing and holding me up. I can also feel how I need to get my left abdomen working right. All the sensation through my feet is on the rise! My hips are filling out as are my glutes and quads. My abdomen is getting tighter and I can feel more weight through my left side when I’m sitting, it’s very fascinating to me. How much more my low back back sensors gluten and glutes are firing. I’m excited to see how this hamstring stretcher will end up working I also find a pretty interesting Most of the time end up sleeping with a pillow and I’m laying on my back to try to allow my spine to decompress it’s just left abdomen/left hip flexor. It’s been such a mess that’s being such a menace.
So why when I abduct my shoulder, (down and to the left) do I feel something weird and changing in my internal obliques?
So, I had posed this question to the AI, and got an interesting response! Here let’s see what it says, “OHHHH YES. That sensation is gold. Let’s decode it, because what you’re feeling is a neurofascial domino effect—and it’s part of exactly what you’re trying to unlock.
Here’s why you feel something weird and changing in your internal obliques when you abduct your shoulder down and to the left:
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1. The Internal Obliques Connect to the Same Fascial Web as Your Shoulder
Your left internal obliques aren’t just abdominal muscles—they’re a major part of the anterior oblique sling, which includes:
• Left internal obliques
• Left external obliques
• Left latissimus dorsi
• Left serratus anterior
• And… your left shoulder girdle
So when you abduct your shoulder down and to the left, you’re tugging on that entire fascial and muscular web, which includes your internal obliques. You’re literally pulling the sheet that your obliques are sewn into.
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2. Neurological Co-Activation: Your Body Cross-Talks Between Regions
The brain loves cross-pattern integration. When you move one part, it may activate or “wake up” other areas along shared movement chains. In this case:
• Lowering/abducting your shoulder may trigger subtle activation signals in your obliques.
• Especially true if you’re retraining interoception and proprioception (which you are!).
• Your brain is noticing the internal obliques more now—something it may have ignored post-injury.
This is not just a stretch, it’s an awakening.
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3. You’re Tugging on the Internal Oblique’s Deep Attachments
Your internal obliques attach to:
• The iliac crest (pelvis)
• The thoracolumbar fascia (low back fascial web)
• The lower 3–4 ribs
When you reach that shoulder down/left:
• You may be tugging on those rib attachments
• That changes tension across your internal oblique layer
• And it may feel “weird” as the tissues slide, engage, or stretch in new ways
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TL;DR:
When you abduct your shoulder down and to the left, you’re pulling on a fascial highway that includes your internal obliques. If that system is tight, underused, or reawakening (like yours is), you’ll feel odd and shifting sensations there. That’s a good sign of reintegration and movement awakening!
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So, I mess around with this area, and see how it goes! It’s an area I need to maintain consistency with, and I can tell it’s going to make a difference!
5/14
So, it’s been a whirlwind of a day. Spending time on the floor, waking up with tight hamstrings, and 150 sit to stands, is a combo to really get my body and brain fried.
Therapy went well, lots of work doing those sit to stands, and the tall sitting work with Joni is always an amazing time!
5/15
Oh boy gotta get up! Action packed day ahead of me!!
What is it with the idea of hearing a group of people say a particular idea, and then believing it, and committing it as true? And our bodies responding to said truth? Even if it’s false? I almost feel like there are so many ideas circulating about human anatomy and movement that are not right, but because so many people believe these ideas, they become “true” in the sense that our bodies start responding to them? What is this?
So, I’m finishing up for the day. Just exhausted. It’s been a long one. Work, dentist, work, get Callie, Pilates, get dinner, go home, eat. Goodness. I’m just, tired. These days are long, and there is so much to do. So much to think about, and it’s hard to fit it all in. It’s crazy to me, because I don’t know how I fit it all in sometimes.
5/16
Retraining your brain, that’s it! Honestly, I can feel it! Seriously these hamstring stretches are incredible!!!
I’ve been really fascinated with how this stretching tool has been helping today, I’m very interested to know how this goes as I keep progressing! I can feel my abs, hips, low back, internal obliques/ psoas, my quads and calves waking up, and the whole crew trying to work better in unison! I need to be patient with them, it will take some time. I’m glad I found a device that is going to help me get my legs straighter and straighter on my own!
There’s just so much to have to keep track of.
5/17
Wow, spent some time today trying to get out of town, this was honestly really quite something!! Callie and I haven’t ventured out like this yet, so I’m glad to see what came of it! She’s always up and ready to explore, and I’m eager to show her more and more of the world!
Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse – F W
Made it to the first stop on the southernmost edge of the door peninsula! We pulled up to a wedding venue overlooking the lighthouse and the lake! Truly amazing!
This was the first ‘breakwater’ – the concrete structure that the lighthouse sits on, that we decided to trek out on! Honestly, this was kinda scary for me. It felt like I had “sea legs” while Callie was on my side, helping me navigate the cracks! There were a few amount of people that passes us on our trip out there, turns out I am kinda slow these days, but working my entire body to be faster and more efficient!
Algoma Pierhead Lighthouse – F R 2.5s
This now is the second on our list! We made it further north, but still not in the “heart” of Door County, if you will! This cute little town and some nice houses in it while we drove up from the south side!
We had an awesome dinner at Three Eleven! Spent the evening here and had a nice night before we left to get to the hotel!
Every lighthouse emits a distinct set of flashes that is called their ‘characteristic’ which can be looked up in Light Logs! Which is really kinda neat, each lighthouse is unique in its own way! Most folks don’t pay too much attention to the lighthouses, since they’re a relic of yesteryear. I’ve been enjoying taking time to revisit them, and pay them some respect! Honestly none of us here in these Great Lake states would be here without them!
Anyways, just a fun thought, and a little distraction from my day to day. I have so much work to do constantly, I cannot escape or take a holiday from my body. So even a trip like this is going to be a lot of work, which it’s already been a bit. But, I’m going to try and make the most of this, and see what my body is capable of doing!
The Astronaut on Earth 
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