9/6/26 – Family Celebrations!
Laura and Paul’s birthday! Therese’s birthday! Julie’s birthday tomorrow! Goodness!
We had a blast just being at the house, celebrating, drinking and eating with everyone! I am so glad the family that was able to come, was able to! Even the surprise trip in from Laura, Julian, and Eloise!!! What a special surprise that was!!
Not alot of notes from today, since we were all busy hanging out and enjoying one another, glad to say I don’t have alot of notes for today!
We had quite the day today. Thinking about all of the events of the day, thinking about Critical Joe, thinking about everything, really.
9/7/26 – Creativity for Movement
Imagination. Funny isn’t it? With children, it keeps them moving, exploring, and searching out new ideas, possibilities, places to go, activities and ways to move. The options are endless. I was thinking about how important it is, for movement and walking. Yesterday, I unfortunately only got up in the standing frame. I wanted to get up in the braces everyday this week, but instead I got busy socializing with all the friends and family in town. I don’t always know how to balance and manage both. I don’t always know how to keep it all together and wrangled just right. It’s hard to keep up with it all sometimes!
Low calves and shins, feet are teeming with life right now. I can feel when I inhale in just the right way that my hip flexors spasm? Why do they do this?
My legs right now, all the way from my glutes on down, is wild because I get these fleeting moments of regularity, and then I flash back to reality. My legs are all there and fully present, ready to go, and then I jump back. I can wiggle and squeeze the muscles throughout my legs, and just observe and notice everywhere throughout my legs, but I don’t know if it is too much to ask them just kick my foot or leg up? It’s so weird, honestly my body really needs to relearn how to do everything over again? How do I even pick my leg up? What do I need to do?
Thinking about it, legs extended, foot flat, quads engaged, glutes engaged, gastroc’s engaged, is doing something awfully interesting, when I wake up? I feel these areas more pronounced, active, full, present, and ready to handle life’s challenges more and more! This is insane! I’m trying to do it, and my legs are really focusing and trying to stay out!! What is this!?
I also have HenWen laying in the crease / corner of my knees, as my legs are lying to my left, slightly bent at the knees! She hasn’t moved!
9/8/26 – Alternating Leg Focus
What’s been very interesting, is laying on my back, focusing on my feet, and alternating focus between my left and right foot??? My legs stay out straighter, they’re settling in to extension, I feel my glutes and hips surrounded to my obliques, QUADS ENGAGED, knees, gastroc’s and tib anterior, ankles, heels, beds of feet and toes!!!!! Everything is really working to try to hold in together! I can breathe deeply, legs and hips stay calm, and I can feel myself settling into extension more and more! I am able to breathe into my left and right side, and spams don’t start?!? What was the big change this weekend???
I’ve been working on getting this low back get into extension more and more, trying to tilt my pelvis, and engage my glutes. My under glutes are firing up, and for some reason, alternating between left and right, instead of focusing on both, seems to help as well?? When I feel a spasm coming, I think “toes and feet straight, left and right engaged”. Maybe it is all this shake up to the schedule and body???
I was also trying to do the two-way stretch, pushing my arms above me on the head board, and stretching my feet and legs out below me, I really feel it all engaging!!
I’m noticing, I had waited to go #2 till after lunch today. I had gotten in the standing frame for lunch, and boy was my body trying to fight it for some reason??? It’s so odd, it’s almost like there’s like, a ghost or phantom or something traveling thru my body to create some sensations. Right now he’s in my feet. The urge to have to “go” before lunch was so different? Like, almost like my mind doesn’t have the mental capacity to send signals to everywhere in my body all at once?
It honestly feels like all this focused attention to my feet is really helping turn them back online? So that my mental capacity can then be diverted elsewhere? Huh who knows??
Why do humans repeat certain behaviors? Like me and sometimes having words stuck in my head, like “egg bug”? What’s the purpose of this?
9/9/26 – Big Brace Day
Filled day today. Jam packed. Wednesday’s are busy days, and today was especially. Getting up in the braces for as long as I was today, honestly, was freaking great. I can do it! I can spend time up in the braces, take a break, and get back to it! Which is exactly what I did today! Walked the first hour and then did some great upright exercises during PT! Which was phenomenal! Honestly, I wouldn’t mind trying this combo again!
Legs in bed right now are cooperating extremely well right now! The electrolyte mix at dinner, and the gatorlyte at lunch really helped!! It was incredible to feel my legs relaxed and straightened out!
I honestly feel my quads filling in. While straight, I can feel them making their presence known more and more as the evening goes on. Almost like the simple idea of always focusing on them, making sure they are there, and shifting my awareness to these legs and feet especially, has made some momentous gains in this body!
9/10/26 – Thoughts from Being Busy
Man oh man! These legs are pushing out underneath me! They are feeling so much squeeze, and squish, and activity!! I’m always shocked at how much consolidation is happening at night! I wonder what’s in store for today?
Honestly, every day is a struggle. Working on something at work and not being able to reach something I need, move somewhere I want, hold something I need to, get to where I need to be. It’s all these small little things, that add up in a day. Guess that’s kinda what childhood is like. They are learning so much, kinda why they must need to sleep so much? It’s hard. And frustrating. I don’t really know what else to do, except to keep doing whatever it is I’m doing, sometimes.
It makes me sad, mad, frustrated, ornery, and sometimes kinda hopeless. So I take a break, deal with this body, get something to eat. That usually helps for a bit, until my body takes over again.
It’s this hard vicious cycle. I never had to do any of this, think about any of this. I just “did”. I was able to move pretty quickly through the day, get a lot done, and then keep doing things until I passed out.
Where do I want to be, in life? How do I want to be useful again? This is such a hard question for me to answer, especially because I don’t even know what that question means. I guess it’s time for lunch.
Okay, here’s the deal. My legs keep responding, and I haven’t given up, and I just need to continue working them?! More and new ideas?!
Bike ride!
Standing frame!! Ankle weight helped me keep my leg planted! Good call, Therese!
9/11/26
Well now, I think I got some decent sleep tonite! Didn’t wake up really much at all!
I’m really feeling my knees and feet working to get into extension! Any and all signals traveling to my legs from my brain and spinal cord are all healing, and all helpful! I can feel my glutes working to calm down and settle these pesky hip flexors!!
Deep breaths coming in and out! Quads are active! Really feeling them staying on this morning! Just gotta keep up the work for them!
It’s so weird, I can feel as I contract my abs, my glutes and quads working in tandem as we’ll? I’ll have to keep this up!
Trying to do so much is honestly a hard time. My body is my focus and I gotta keep up on him. Like yesterday, I was feeling wild, and needed to go and move around, so I got home early and hopped on the bike! My body really needs movement. He really does. I gotta help and keep moving, in any and all ways! Maybe let’s work back to get some calisthenics going, moving your body in all the different ways! These legs wanna go, let’s just help facilitate that!
Food truck day! Got up in the standing frame at lunch!
Had the longest walk yet, to date! Maddie had really helped me today during the session! We had chatted about all sorts of different types of movement, and how you get that feeling when you’ve been in a chair for too long? And gotta get up? Yeah that feeling! I wonder what that feeling is called? Besides being antsy?
Farthest distance! And I was stringing together sentences and sets of steps like I haven’t before!
Made it to Vanguard to celebrate my birthday with Callie! This was great!
9/12/26 – First Walk Outside At The New House!
Didn’t sleep very well last night, lots of GERD and reflux. Had to be propped up on the wedge for a while. Didn’t sleep much then. Ugh.
My glutes and quads are dancing with my hip flexors and hamstrings for control over the hip and knee joints. Who’s going to win? Who feels the most safe? What’s the best way to help these quads and glutes? Woke up from a much needed nap, feeling everything in my low abdomen fired up and ready, and same thing all the way down to the beds of my feet! I gotta get moving!
DID IT!! MADE IT OUTSIDE!!
This was the first outdoor walk at the new house!! And actually it was the first one here in the new setup and walker setup!! This was amazing!! My legs here at the end of the day are feeling great! My quads are fired up, glutes fired up, and everyone is here joined in on the party!
Is walking one of the most “complete” forms of exercise? As in you use the most amounts of muscles doing it? what else uses as many muscles/ muscle groups?
What is pulling, popping, or loosening when I’m in the standing frame, left arm extended overhead, and palm away from me, while I breathe in for a 4 count, and exhale for a 4 count?
Berating in and out in the standing frame, while raising and lowering my hands and arms, outstretched, as far above and in front of my body as I can. Palms down. Up and in, down and out. I can hear my lungs and breath wheezing slightly, and my movement expanding with each rep and breath? Interesting? Slowly squeezing in my low abs going down, and expanding my ribs and diaphragm going up! My back is loosening, food digesting, arms and shoulders relaxing while I’m up!
It’s been a long day. Lots of ups and all rounds, and I wouldn’t have gotten through so much of my day without my Callie. Huge shoutout to the one who’s by my side, working hard every day, getting tired from all the work she’s doing, and ready to have some time to relax once this house is all done! She’s been a trooper, and is putting up with my struggles and difficulties every day! It’s not always easy or pretty, but she’s got my back, and I love her to death! It’s hard, it really is, we work together every day! Love ya Cal!
right now is the time to get done for the night and wind down, and get my body some rest. He needs it. He’s been cognitively and physically overloaded today, so now it’s time for some rest!
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