Category: 2024
-
“One Construction Zone At a Time” // Who Knows What’s Next? for SCI Recovery | Nov 16 – 22 2025
Working On Left Hip – One Construction Zone At a Time
-
Celebrating Christmas Again: Reflections During Spinal Cord Injury Recovery | Dec 29 – Dec 31 2024
12/29 We had everyone over today at my parents for gifts! This was awesome, because Callie and I got to give all the kids their gifts! I was really excited to get them gifts this year, because I had to take the previous year off. I felt like Santa’s sleigh driving over to Detroit from…
-
The Freedom For Which The Schedule Creates – Structure in Spinal Cord Injury Recovery | Dec 22 – Dec 28 2024
12/22 So, I realize one thing that I’m doing that’s been so helpful, so impactful to my recovery, and I just started doing this a couple weeks ago. That’s trying to turn my muscles “on” and having them all be able to stay “on” at the same time, just as you would while you were…
-
Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Progress Amidst Winter’s Arrival | Dec 15- Dec 21 2024:
12/15 So, I woke up to the most extraordinary feeling through my right leg and inner thigh! He’s feeling so full! And even my ankles and feet, have such a significant cooler and “smooth” feeling as well? I mean goodness, even into my glutes, everything feels like it’s filling back out! I wonder how I…
-
Focusing On Quad Awareness in SCI Rehabilitation | Dec 8 – Dec 14 2024
12/8 Okay, I’m like halfway through the day, and I’m wondering what the heck is going on. Why am I working on work stuff on Sunday??? Ugh. So, I need to get this body moving! I’m finally up in the standing frame, and I’ve been a bit distracted I would say! As soon as I…
-
Exploring STS-90 Neurolab Insights During an Alberta Clipper | Dec 1 – Dec 7 2024
12/1 Holy crap! MY RIGHT FOOT JUST STOMPED ON THE FLOOR! that was crazy! He is really trying to go! I just want to get up and stand up and move! Wow I really felt that and the shockwave through my body, that was intense! You know it really does feel like I’m kickstarting old…
-
Thanksgiving Week Challenges In Spinal Cord Rehab: The Turkey Toilet Trot | Nov 24 – Nov 30 2024
11/24 I’m feeling so much engagement in my body. Right now though, i would really like them all to relax. I’m finally laying on my tum, and my hip flexors and hamstrings gotta chill out. They can relax now. Finally got in the standing frame, and my legs really needed that. They really needed to…
-
Feet On The Floor – Progress in Spinal Cord Injury Rehab | Nov 17 – Nov 23 2024
11/17 Waking up, and taking moments to collect my thoughts really helps me throughout my day. Laying and getting straighter? Yep. Sensations in upper thighs, inner thighs, lower legs increasing? Yep. It’s been really nice being able to take fuller and fuller breaths from my diaphragm. The diaphragmatic breathing is getting better with each day…
-
Pushing Through My Feet – Overcoming Challenges in My SCI Recovery | Nov 10 – Nov 16 2024
11/10 So my right knee is right up against the hand towel in the bathroom, and I can feel it gently brushing up against my knee! I have really been trying to keep my shoulders retracted and depressed, and I feel the overflow down into my low back and glutes when I do that as…
-
Are My Feet Cold?! – Addressing Temp Sensitivity in SCI Recovery Nov 3- Nov 9 2024
11/3 So I am feeling a significant change happening in my legs, it’s wild. I think this past week was a great chance to try to give my body a bit of a break? But also, it wasn’t because I was so dang busy in it…. Oof. My legs right now are sensating so much.…
-
Continued On My Journey – Progress & New Goals in My SCI Rehab Oct 27- Nov 3 2024
10/27 Wow! were my hips and quads tight last night and feeling the burn from yesterday!! I’m working on letting go of the hamstrings and hip flexors so that they will relax right now, and I wanted to use this time to help my mental imagery with this! Time for some research! So the research…
-
It Takes A Village – SCI Recovery With Community | Oct 20 – Oct 26 2024
10/20 You know how when you want to wake up, and try to lay in the bed for a bit, and just talk to your significant other? Yeah, nope. I shouldn’t have done that. I ended up with too full of a bladder, and piss all over my pants and bed. My nether-regions have been…
-
Legs More Like Legs – Progress in Lower Body Function for SCI | Oct 13 – Oct 19 2024
10/13 My legs are feeling fuller and fuller everyday. My right hip and groin area is really filling out, as are my thighs, my left hip, knees, outer legs, shins, calves, ankles! My heels really have been joining in this morning cascade of feelings, and the tingling is really only in what seems like part…
-
Challenge Accepted – Overcoming Obstacles in Spinal Cord Injury Rehab | Oct 6 – Oct 12 2024
10/6 I woke up this morning and my legs are going through some changes! I don’t know what! But I’ll tell ya what, I’m feeling something changing! I do think though too, that the alcohol I had last night didn’t help anything. I was really feeling the contractions in my lower legs!! Had a wonderful…
-
Drink Your Electrolytes & Family Visits – Supporting SCI Recovery | Sept 29 – Oct 5 2024
9/29 Okay. This has been an interesting and wonderful week! My body is experiencing some drastic changes, and I’m feeling it. My low back right now is working through some extreme amounts of tightness, and it’s been amazing being able to actually feel that! My hips are unlocking, and my legs are really activating! My…
-
Sept 22nd – Sept 28th 2024: Cycling Around Campus!
9/22 So after getting up to go to the bathroom earlier, I made it back to sleep. And boy did I sleep hard again! I got caught back up on sleep I definitely needed! And boy am I feeling some different feelings!? Cool toes? A change from tingling to temperatures? I really am feeling the…
-
Sept 15th – Sept 21st 2024: “Chair Scans and Body Changes”
9/15 I was just thinking about something. It’s always really hard to have to be fighting internally with my body when I’m out and about. When a muscle group isn’t listening quite right to me, and contracting at the wrong time (or a spasm, and it contracts when I’m not telling it) is pretty hard.…
-
Sept 8th – Sept 14th 2024: “Birthday, Tightness, and An Inflamed Knee”
9/8 I woke up and really had quite the feeling to have to go, plus lots of tingling. Yuck. What’s interesting though is the stable-ness I am noticing in my legs. I really am noticing the tightness in my abdomen traveling downwards in my abdomen, moving what feels like lower by the day. Every day…
-
Sept 1st – Sept 7th 2024: “Bike Day!”
9/1 Okay, here goes another morning. It’s always a tricky time, making time for writing. I know how much it helps me, put all the ideas in place. It helps me so much. Especially when it comes to my legs! there’s so much changing down there, on the daily, it helps me make sense of…
-
Aug 25th – Aug 31st 2024: “Long Days Make Long Nights”
8/25 Wow. Talk about the feeling changes in my lower legs and feet! All morning I’ve been feeling the change in how much my tibialis anterior, gastroc’s, and soleus are kicking in!! My lower legs are trying! This is incredible! Wow, well. It’s hard when I’m this sad. It’s really hard. I am just getting…
-
Aug 18th – Aug 24th 2024: “Backwards Crawl”
8/18 Okay, so I’m waking up, and feeling my left shoulder doesn’t quite like being laid on so much. I think it’s partially because I haven’t been to the gym very much last week! Need to step it back up! My left leg is making some rather huge movements these days, while I’m laying on…
-
Aug 11th – Aug 17th 2024: “Quantity Over Quality, Practice Makes Perfect”
8/11 Okay, so I’m not really sure why I was so tired today, but boy was I. Goodness I’m glad to have a nice recovery day!! I’m brushing my teeth standing up in the standing frame, and it’s interesting because I haven’t brushed my teeth and spit in a cup in what feels like forever.…
-
Aug 4th – Aug 10th 2024: “Memories Like This”
8/5 So, I’m crying right now. I’m at work, and I’m tearing up. It’s hard. A song came on that reminded me of a video I made like a month before the accident. “Teal” – by Wunderhorse, was the name of the song, I’m pretty sure I made and sent a Snapchat to the brothers of…
-
July 28th – Aug 3rd 2024: “Your Body Adapts to The Demands You Place Upon It”
7/28 Goodness! This was an amazing weekend at GermanFest with the family! I had an absolutely amazing time! I am feeling so much in my legs right now! My quads and inner thighs are feeling very full right now! Also, when I was getting ready for bed, I realized that my feet and lower legs…
-
July 21st – July 27th 2024: “GermanFest!”
7/21 I’m really noticing how my floor routine is constantly progressing! It feels like, every single Set I’m feeling more, contracting more, and moving more with each step! I’m really noticing the feelings in my legs changing! Starting at my glutes and hips, and progressing through the entire leg, hip, and abdomen! My body is…
-
July 14th – July 20th 2024: “Do Not Ever Give Up”
7/14 Well, it’s been a crazy day. I can’t believe it, really, sometimes. It’s happening. I’m doing it. I’m going back to work. It’s 9:09PM right now and getting ready for bed and it’s just been the most wild experience that could have ever happened to me. I don’t know of many other life altering…
-
July 7th – July 13th 2024: “The More You Learn, The More You CAN Learn”
7/7 Okay, today has been a good day. I have felt like I haven’t been writing a lot, and it’s got me all stressed out. I think it’s been interesting, I’ve been saying a lot, “the more you learn, the more you can learn” and I feel as though I can apply this to so…
-
June 30th – July 6th 2024: “4-A-Day’s”
6/30 Okay maybe I get to the gym and do some “pull ups” with a spotter on the smith machine? Like, get the legs on the ground, and just work on pulling up and letting my legs be on the ground? Doing some research into what infants do between the crawling and the walking stage.…
-
June 23rd – June 29th 2024: “Apple Pie, salads, Knouldering, and Chess. What do they all have in common?”
6/23 I feel like the amount of nutrients, B vitamins, antioxidants and minerals is pretty okay for my diet. I think I need to try to incorporate some more essential fatty acids, as they are essential for maintaining and improving glial, myelin sheath, and neuronal health. At least that what’s my research is showing! It’s…
-
June 16th – June 22nd 2024: “Linus The Lump is Gone!”
6/16 Okay so my legs are ready. They are ready to do some things today! I need to get moving so they don’t feel so restless today! It’s interesting how I can take a second and reflect and see all the changes happening in my body. See and feel the changes. It’s really been a…
-
June 9th – June 15th 2024: “KNOULDERING!”
6/9 Wow, what a great day! Got to see my little pupper, that big ole floof! Did some crawling and laying in the sun! It was a really well spent day with the family, and just relaxing and enjoying everyone’s company. 6/10 Alright, so this morning I had one of the toughest goes I have…
-
June 2nd – June 8th 2024: “Kneel Bouldering = Knouldering?”
6/2 Alright, so it happened!!! I made it over to Jake and Carley’s! It was so cool, I did so many firsts! It was also really emotional, driving over there from the freeway. I actually teared up on the way over there. While I got off the freeway, I noticed how much had changed off…
-
May 26th – June 1st 2024: “One Day, One Day At a Time”
5/26 We made it to lake Geneva! This is a super cool little hotel! I’m glad we made it! It was really nice to be able to just relax down by the marina and just slow down and not have to do anything for once. It doesn’t happen very often. We had a couple minor…
-
May 19th – May 25th 2024: “Afternoon Park Crawl”
5/20 I had probably one of the best therapy sessions in such a long while! I really got my legs worked today, it was incredible! I’m sitting here in a long sit, at 9:40PM and I crawled over here in my shoes! Which, has honestly been such a difficult thing for me to do up…
-
May 12th – May 18th 2024: “Try and Fail, but Always Try!”
5/13 So, everytime I go to the gym after a longer break, I start to feel such different feelings from day to day. My lower back lately has been feeling so much! I can really feel him contracting! 5/14 It’s hard. Having to get up and try to do something, and then go at it…
-
May 18th 2024 (Part One): “One Year. One Family.”
5/18 Wow. Just wow. This is just a bittersweet day. Not only have I had one of the craziest past years in my entire existence, it has simultaneously been one of the best and one of the worst years ever. I tried to explain my thoughts to Callie when I was laying awake in the…
-
May 5th – May 11th 2024: “First Crawl at The Park!”
5/5 I woke up today feeling rather under the weather! I may have been a bit over served last night at the bar, and might potentially had a case of the brown bottle flu. I’m glad this is a very rare occurrence! 5/6 So I woke up with a lot of ideas throughout the night!…
-
April 28th – May 4th 2024: Appointments on Appointments!
4/28 Welp, got therapy today! Need to work on getting these legs out of bed so I can get up! I know that I got therapy in a bit and need to get moving! It was a crazy last night!! My body sometimes is really awful to me, and doesn’t let me get much sleep.…
-
April 21st – April 27th 2024: Early Stages of Crawling
4/21 If I want to get outside and go for a walk with my dog Max, then I have to be doing what I’m doing. Try to enjoy this process is really tricky when it takes so much effort just to crawl across the bedroom floor. But it’s good though! I’m actually moving! I’m trying…
-
April 14th – April 20th: Co-Contractions
4/13 So, I learned two new things this morning. 1. That almost all our muscles besides our hands and face contract during the gait cycle, and 2. That co-contraction of muscles is actually a pretty normal and good thing! This is really fascinating to me, because of all the reasons that our muscles do this,…
-
April 7th – April 13th 2024: Look Ma, No Hands!
4/7 Welp, that was a morning for the books! I really haven’t felt that good in a very long time. I’m really fortunate. Also, the feeling of having to go to the bathroom is getting to be just the feeling of the movement, and isn’t a bunch of pain! We made it to Culver’s and…
-
Mar 31st – Apr 6th 2024: I Got Some Walkin’ to Do!
3/31 Easter! Wow! Had to get up and get ready to go to church with mom and dad! We had a pretty alright time, really. It was an interesting time because I had to take a break and do my business in a public facility.. but public bathrooms are usually pretty good, and this was…
-
Mar 24th – Mar 30th 2024: Gettin’ Ready to Rumble!
3/24 Wow, I had a wild day today!! Some exciting things happened today!! 3/25 Waking up is a tricky one sometimes. I usually wake up with this definite feeling of having “to go”. It isn’t like I have to try to get that feeling to go away, but it can be such a drag to…
-
Mar 17th – Mar 23rd 2024: Hittin’ The Gym 5x a Week! Energy and Work
3/17 It’s so weird having to be “on my best behavior” when everything inside my body is ramping up and not feeling well. When I’m not feeling well, where my nose is clogged up and I’m super stiff, everything seems to bug me so much more than it usually would. I don’t think that’s abnormal,…
-
Mar 10th – Mar 16th 2024: I’m On The Road Again!
Mar 10 I’m seriously feeling the most in my lower abdomen! Like, ever! This is insane! I can feel so much of the digestion process! My tummy is grumbling! Haha 😂 Mar 11 Wow! First Monday with the standing frame and I decided to stand in it for 2hrs right now!! And the sensations and…
-
Mar 3rd – Mar 9th 2024: The Boys Are Back In Town!
Mar 3rd This was a bit of a rougher start to the day. I realized very quickly why I don’t drink…. turns out that I have some really hard things I have to do in the morning that require my body to not be in pain or hurtin’ in other ways. Just getting out of…
-
February 25th – March 2nd 2024: Just an Astronaut on Earth
Feb 25 Well, I had a really good start to the day! IM ACTUALLY WEARING REAL PANTS!!!! This is kinda wild, because I haven’t worn blue jeans this entire time since the accident! I used to wear these things all the time, or something similar, that kinda helped define me! I had these silly pairs…
-
February 18th – 24th 2024: Trust Your Legs
Feb 18th So this morning was interesting. I had quite a few thoughts on what all happened this past week, and what’s to come. I had a great session at the gym yesterday, and was very pleased to have gotten up yesterday when my motivation was pretty low, and I knew I needed to get…
-
February 11th -17th: Pain, Sex, Conversations, and Verizon
Feb 12th Had a day of working on the blog, and tight legs… Feb 13th So, it’s cool to know how much I woke up feeling this morning! The sensations were out of this world! Except, I must say, I had an extremely high amount of tightness…. Took a huge nap 😴 Did a chit…
-
“Innerdependence”
Feb 12th Innerdependence – I love that this has the squiggles underneath! This is insane! THATS the word I was looking for! The idea of being able to THINK and do things on your own!!! It’s the idea that we are working on things “internally” – that idea being the “inner” part of the word,…
-
February 11th 2024 – Tum Time
Feb 11th Wow, having a night on my tummy was WILD! I actually woke up feeling refreshed and energized! Like I’m ready to handle the day!! I took some time to manage the site, and I’m working on doing a lil more everyday! My legs feel so good in this prone position. As they are…
-
February 10th 2024 – Round 2
Feb 10th I JUST POOPED IN THE TOILET 🚽 I can’t believe it!!! On poop number 3 I finally worked one out at 8:04PM tonite! I’m still trying, and to no avail, but I can’t give up!! Today was really cool, got up at a reasonable time, had a nice breakfast (until I got super…
-
February 9th 2024 – Heavy Bag
Feb 9th Woke up early this morning cuz I had to pee! So that’s good that the sensations are coming back! I really gotta tune in and listen! It’s about 9:30am, and usually this is when I’m first getting up(well, kinda…..) I lay on my tum for most of the morning to help stretch me…
-
February 8th 2024 – Push-Up Competition!
Feb 8th Walked for 25min on the treadmill today at therapy with the therapist! That was super cool cuz I really wanted to keep going! Getting more cardio is what I wanna do! How can I do more for boxing? Or on the punching bag?? I did the push-up challenge with my brothers! Which was…
-
February 7th 2024 – Watch Validation
Feb 7th IM ACTIVATING MY MUSCLES IN MY LEGS And the watch was able to see it too!! This was insane!!! Also, i definitely forced it so hard that I peed my pants! So like, that’s not super fun that I had to figure out how to change my pee pants, but like, also pretty…
-
February 6th 2024 – Two-a-days
Feb 6th Well, I’m sitting here, in my KAFO’s and had just got done doing some standing exercises for the first time in the afternoon after therapy! Two a days, here we come! It’s really interesting. I need to keep my focus. Regardless of what I interpret others emotions or intentions to be, I have…
-
February 5th 2024 -Vanguard
Feb 5th So, it was a fun day today. I actually got out and did some visiting with friends! And I *pretty much pushed myself down to Vanguard! Except Evan was definitely there with me and helped me with the curb cutouts. So there’s that. I didn’t do it completely on my own, but a…
-
February 4th 2024 – Morning Noise
Feb 4th MY LEGS ARE FEELING SO MUCH!! They are sooooooo tight, and I’m legitimately feeling them, throughout my entire leg! My abs are tight, my glutes are sore, my quads and hamstrings are super tight, my calves and tib’s are tight, my knees are engorged, my ankles are too! My feet are feeling wild,…
-
February 2nd 2024 – Wheelie Bars
I ditched the wheelie bars, and the armrests today! I wasn’t sure what to be expecting when I took the armrests out! at first it made me feel pretty wobbly, I don’t have a ton of core support, and I was a bit scared at first! I was like, “how on earth are you going…
-
Jan 7th – Jan 13th 2024: Unpleasant Feelings; Expectations vs Reality
Jan 10th Goodness it’s been a few days! I just sent a letter to a Doctor about getting his mental training routine! Also got a theragun and have been loving to use it not only on my arms and back, but also my legs for sensation! The amount of mental rehearsal i do has been…
-
Dec 31st – Jan 6th 2024: Thoughts and Therapists
Dec 31st Leukocyte esterase. This is fun to have to learn all this new terms of signs that your body has an infection…. So many new problems I have to deal with in my everyday life, it gets really overwhelming trying to manage it all plus all the things I dealt with before this. What’s…
The Astronaut on Earth 