6/21/26 – Problem Solving
Holy crap, my lower abdominals are feeling CRAZY!! I’m always amazed at how significant of a jump they make whenever I do some cardio + extended positioning! This positioning and sequence I need to really continue!
My recovery is absolutely insane to me, sometimes. I’m thinking right now how my low paraspinals, glutes, quads, and hip flexors are feeling right now! Not to mention my lower leg activation, my knee tightness, and feet and ankles waking up as well! It’s just so wild!
It’s also extremely hard in the darkest of the lows, and darkest of the dark places my mind can drift and go to throughout the weeks, when I’m not up to a lot of movement. But I need to realize, IF you’re taking a slight break, DOES NOT cancel out all the gains you have been making in the nervous system! My sensation and feeling is all still there, on the lighter days of movement. It’s just my muscles get tight, and for some reason (is it a paradox?) when my muscles get tight, it also gives me a headache, and causes my brain to hurt? Almost like the squeezing of my muscles is also squeezing my brain?
The consistency is the best route, but I have to remember that all bodies need breaks. And also, just because I’m not going to have a lot of movement one day, does not cancel out the fact I will have a lot of movement in the following days! It’s hard to remember this. It’s hard to not get angry when I can’t move in the way I want to either. Speaking of which? I have an idea here,
Problem Solving —- Body Edition
When I encounter a physical obstacle / hurdle / or any sort of inconvenience, what do I need to do?
- Take a breath
- Observe your surroundings (is there another way?)
- Do you need help? (Do you have help?)
- What’s it gonna take to pass through said hurdle?
I really need to run through this more often in my head. I also was wondering what kind of challenges I might encounter on this trip? I got the wheel- attachment for tougher terrain, some bungee straps for the suitcases?! What else?!
6/22/26 – Why Do I Talk So Much?
Encountering problems.. there seems to be this innate need or want inside my head, to vocalize in some form (talk, writing) the ideas that are floating around and ruminating in my head. It’s very odd and interesting to have picked up on this over my period of recovery? How or why did this happen??
I try to focus on my body in extension when I’m side lying and before I get up in bed in the AM. It’s so interesting feeling the muscles in my body activate in areas I was not quite feeling from the day before! Also interesting to feel my legs move reciprocally in bed too! There’s something to this, just trying to sense and feel where they are in space!
Breath is opening up! Movement and activation is on the rise! Trying to get in a groove is tricky right now, with so much happening! It’s almost like getting used to change and lack of a schedule is what I need to be working on? Maybe that’s it? How do you fit the important activities in a day when nothing is actually scheduled? How to get help when needed?
OUWCH!!! That was the wildest spine twisting event to date?! All the way down my neck to my butt I felt my spine twist and I felt it, and I felt it, … AND I FELT IT!?! that was INSANE!!?! I know you don’t want to experience pain but goodness, that felt wild!! Just leaning over to set something on the ground and I’m like, MY SPINE IS WAKING UP!!!
I’m shocked with how awake and alive my legs have been today and this afternoon! There really is something to the constant attention / activation / and hope in my body and legs. Sitting there moping around doesn’t do anything. But actively engaging your legs while you’re doing things? Yep, it does something! That intention I’ve learned is so much more important than I know. It’s so weird! It takes a lot of repetition, attention, and focus, but at the same time, it doesn’t? The intention + movement seems to really help it along? So odd!
It felt like I was in some delusional dream-like state after work got done, looking at the trees outside in the yards around me, shimmering and glittering from the reflections the leaves would cast glittering in the sun! So wild, because it really has been quite some time that I’ve seen a Birch tree in this way? Almost like I’m seeing them for the first time again?
working this abdomen with near constant attention as I’m getting ready to sleep. The asymmetry from the left and right sides is real? I don’t know fully understand it?! Entire left torso / trunk is extremely tight, and the right side is lax / loose? Like what is this?
6/23/26 – Micromovements
Micro movements. Constant input. Always trying to make something move. Turns out I’ve found that just working on sending signals down there + actually doing movements has really been getting my body to fire up! It’s unreal! It’s even like the Chalazion I had in my eye. It needed mechanical input. It needed the hot compress, for a LONG time. This wasn’t something that was magically going to go away. It needed feedback, input, and manual work. Kinda reminds me of my muscles and nervous system? If I don’t put in the input, and give it stimulus, why would it have and reason to respond?
6/24/26 – International Flight!
LEFT TO ENGLAND!! what a busy day! lots of packing, and what a hectic time at the airport as well! Huge line to wait in and only 1 TSA agent, so that was cool.. thanks Chicago!
Also if there’s going to be a problem, I swear there is! We made it though!
6/25/26 – The Boot!
So we made it to St. Albans! Julian’s home town! what a wild and interesting time! We made it to some pubs, and I am also so shocked at how I have been able to get around! Very tired but we are doing it!
We made it to this pub that Julian had told us serves the best pint of Guinness in the town! The Boot! We chatted with the family and also met many locals from the area as well! We had some really fun conversations over the pints of Guinness! We met a “new Jules” and boy, he had some kind words to say. He was just utterly amazed, at everything Callie and I were doing together. We had to have talked to this gentleman for well over an hour and he was just amazed at us as a pair! We are IN ENGLAND! Somehow! I’m in this wheelchair and her and I made it all the way over here! He said just keep it up, keep doing things, and don’t stop! He was overjoyed for us and the conversation was such a great way to help Callie & my spirits after a rocky start to the trip! We were ecstatic!
Got back to the hotel room for the night, idk where I found the Video ‘Until your wheels fall off’ ! By Rodney Mullen! But honestly was the perfect way to end the night! I needed to hear it. Really cool way to end the day!
My legs are seriously going to get back to doing so much! I need to keep it up! My body is feeling wild in bed right now!
6/26/26 – The Big Day!
The big English wedding today! Really excited for Laura and Julian! Really happy for those two! And happy to have been able to share the day with them!
In the meantime here, I gotta find some time to use these leg braces and walker!! My body really needs that!! Boy oh boy is this body a logistical charade sometimes, goodness!
I can’t believe where I just went today! Not on pavement, or sidewalks! This was great! Goodness gracious was I glad this made it in time to make it on the trip! 30min before we left for the airport this came! Unboxed it, threw it in the suitcase, and away we went! This was great! I can’t believe where I was able to go! Thanks Jake for the help setting it up!
So it’s crazy how our body responds to all the input it’s constantly receiving. Whether it’s from walking with the braces, or using the FreeWheel attachment on the chair! It’s really interesting, when you realize it’s from everything we do, and not just singular events we do. Granted, my hamstrings are getting tight from these days seated, but honestly they are just working overtime to keep me placed and seated in the chair. They are just doing what they are being “told” to do. Stay glued into the seat and not fall out? Welp apparently the hamstrings do just fine on that on their own, they don’t need a separate muscle group to help. It’s tricky when the muscles to keep you seated aren’t the same ones that keep you extended. Theres something weird about all of this. Not that I’m against the Botox, but because I see how my legs respond? They’re just doing what they probably should? We could definitely work out a scenario of world where my quads are worked just as much, but I do think that short of the standing frame and braces, it’s hard to do it otherwise?
What a wedding! Absolutely stunning! Love those two! Had quite the day!!
Not sure? But we will see! Need some rest.
6/27/26 – Day In London
The Saturday after and im still up at 1:12am. Not am I cooked. My body really is needing some rest! One day at a time.
We had many adventures to get to The Gymnasium! The freewheel really helped!!
The Queen’s Larder! What a fun little pub!
The hard instances are always hard, but how do I get it more palatable? That’s always the question! Trying to get all figured out but what a day! We had quite the journey and I’m glad I had this Freewheel attachment!
The Astronaut on Earth 
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