Tag: spinal cord trauma
-
Legs Working and Trying! Positive Self-Talk! | Nov 30 – Dec 6 2025
Positive Self Talk – Learning from the Water – Up in the Exoskeleton – Full days
-
Thanksgiving! // Items for Daily Leg & Core Work for SCI Recovery | Nov 23 – 29 2025
Thanksgiving – Busy Days – And Time for Reflection!
-
“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
-
Getting Back To Work for SCI Rehab | Nov 9 – 15 2025
GI Pain & The Astronaut – Letting Out Body Do What It’s Best At – Hydration Rules SCI-Style – To Plant A Seed – Looking Up!
-
“Don’t Die Today” – Ocean & Desert Exploration for SCI Recovery | Nov 2 – 8 2025
“Don’t Die Today” – getting back in the groove of daily work/ life routine after SCI and vacation
-
Stabilizer Cascade Theory Refinement / Boats, Pukes, & Planes for SCI Recovery | Oct 26 – Nov 1 2025
Trip to San Diego! Stabilizer Cascade theory refining, and figuring out my GI tract.
-
Black Hooded Figure //Learning From Others, Social Engagement for SCI Rehab | Oct 19 – 25 2025
Externalization of our minds. Working through the black hooded figures inside ourselves. Learning about the natural frequencies in our bodies. Always something new to be learning.
-
New Meaning of The Word ‘Understanding’ – We Only Have What We Remember / Pairing Excitation With Inhibition for SCI Recovery | Oct 12 – 18 2025
And fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beach. Come on and see us together, we’re just some tattered rags stained forever, we only have what we remember. – Listener
-
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, Stabilizer Cascade Theory, & ‘Keeping Perspective’ for SCI Recovery | Oct 5 – 11 2025
What do the Uncertainty Principle & The Stabilizer Cascade Theory have in common? Let’s explore these thoughts in this week’s entry!
-
Neural Rewiring and GI Triggers for SCI Recovery | Sep 28 – Oct 4 2025
All the work being put in, day in and day out. Feeling some new “rumblings”..
-
Wedding Week & Time on My Feet! For SCI Recovery | Sept 14 – 20 2025
Wedding week, and all the amazing events leading up to the big day.
-
Wedding Day! | Sept 19 2025
“On Sept 19 2025 I walked down the aisle after spinal cord injury recovery — here’s how the day went.”
-
Operant Conditioning, All the Preparation, & The Man In Black for SCI rehab | Sept 7 – 13 2025
How does Operant Conditioning, the Man in Black, and existential thoughts all have to do with SCI recovery? Read on to find out more.
-
Making Something From Nothing // Visceral Manipulation for SCI Rehab | Aug 24 – 30 2025
8/24 Okay, I can feel more and more surging into my lower legs! It’s definitely that “creaky” and slow signal, that has reminiscent points of tingle, but it’s slower, like the TV static on basic TV from the 90’s tuning back into focus, with the antenna you have sitting on top! It’s crazy, everything has…
-
The Astronaut On Earth
The reasons why I call myself an Astronaut On Earth, it turns out, have been growing as I have been learning more about astronauts, space, neuroscience, kinesiology, and continuing my rehabilitation from my Spinal Cord Injury. I want to take some time to help others understand why I’ve called myself this, and hopefully this will…
-
“Can You Kick It?” // Making Connections for SCI Recovery | July 20 – 26 2025
Making new connections while healing from the spinal cord injury makes for a rather interesting experience!
-
Lake Michigan // Party Time and Up For 23hrs – SCI Rehab Marathon | July 13 – 19 2025
7/13 My legs are really extending out while I’m laying in supine more and more while I’m waking up in bed! So much to think about when I get down on the floor. Which exercises to do, what to try, what did the PTs tell me to try? What did Therese tell me to try?…
-
T-Shirts, Fundraising, and Reciprocal Motion for SCI Rehab | July 6 – 12 2025
7/6 So I always liked mornings, but these days they’re really hard because I gotta wake up and I have such a giant urge to use the restroom. But I did something different this morning, and that was to grab the IdealKnee and start doing my 100’s! What’s interesting is how the sensation has all…
-
We Need Both – Upright Weight-Bearing & Reciprocal Motion for SCI Recovery | June 29 – July 5 2025
6/29 So I’m still thinking about the pull up bar/ gymnast rings combo. I think I can try to do some exercises here where I can try to keep my legs extended. Like an L-sit, where my legs are contracted isometrically, and held out? I’m curious, because that’s the big motion/ movement area I need…
-
Sadness vs Unhappiness – Contracting the Ab’s full time for SCI Rehab | June 22 – 28 2025
6/22 Wow was that one of the saddest and most heartfelt moments I’ve had in such a long time. The image of Max, sitting and watching, patiently for me, as I was pulling out of the driveway. I miss that old boy. He knows, he knows all too well, how much I miss him. It’s…
-
Legs in Extension & Family Visits for SCI Recovery | June 15 – 21 2025
6/15 I guess, days like this are bittersweet and very hard. There is so much my body needs, and it’s so hard. It’s so hard, mentally and physically. And I really need to keep moving. Today was a slower day for movement. I really don’t know what to say about that, except I know my…
-
Small Repetitive Movements for SCI Rehab | June 8 – 14 2025
6/8 I’m doing this to be kinder for my future self. I’m working these abs to help control what extends out from underneath them. It’s a slow process, but each morning, I’m feeling my legs leveling up in terms of their power and activation. It may not be much, and it may not always be…
-
“I’m Safe” – Mental Cues for SCI Recovery | June 1 – 7 2025
6/1 Had a good morning with Callie! Got in the pool today too!! I’m really excited to see where the pool work is headed!!! This was really cool, because Callie was helping me work on advancing my legs, one at a time! I was doing some sort of “walking” but was not fully getting my…
-
“Maintaining Perspective” to support SCI Rehab | May 4 – 10 2025
5/4 What is it, about reading books? What is it about writing? I feel as though everything that I am learning, I am also able to consolidate in my brain so much better these days with the tool that writing is. Without it, I feel like I would be floundering with all the information floating…
-
Neural Oscillation Pairing + “Spiritual Experiences” for SCI Rehab | Apr 6 – 12 2025
4/6 Will hinging at my hips/ lower spine/ sacral region, will that be bad for that area if I’m fused from T3- L5? How can I functionally get my spine/ pelvis/ hips in extension or flexion with this limitation? What do I need to work? What needs to be bolstered for support and movement? I…
-
Neurological Thresholds & Brother’s Birthday Party for SCI Rehab & Recovery | Mar 30 – Apr 5 2025
3/30 You know, I’m thinking about dancing and how your entire body moves during it? To me, this was something I was feeling very different with last night?! I feel like there’s something there, I just don’t know what yet. Like holy crap, I wore the compression top yesterday, after being completely exhausted, and today,…
-
Sit-To-Stands On The Go! Perception From Action to help SCI Recovery | Mar 23 – 29 2025
3/23 Wow! My legs are so engaged today!!! Callie and I were able to have a great start to the morning! I’m pretty glad to have her to work through all the things I have to improve in my body. It’s been a lot to try to tackle on my own, so I’m glad I…
-
Dreaming of the Sledge – Diaphragmatic Breathing & Pelvic Floor Strengthening for SCI Recovery | Mar 9 – 15 2025
3/9 If I can do kegels while holding in a number 2, will this help me eventually be able to learn to voluntarily relax the external a. Sphincter muscles? Seems weird and a funny area, but if I can feel myself doing that, and I slowly build up the ability to contract them, that should…
-
Small Movements Matter – How We Help Train Our Spinal Cord | Jan 26 – Feb 1 2025
1/26 Wow, my legs are moving so well to get out of bed partially on my own! I am able to kick them out so good these days, my left leg likes to initiate the movement, and it seems being in certain positions too, really helps! All these small, subtle movements and attempts are important,…
-
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.…
-
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 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 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 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…
-
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 24th – Dec 30th 2023: Another Christmas, Another UTI…
Dec 24th What’s crazy is going to church and seeing my mother. Seeing her hands, and thinking about what they signify. Like, I teared up just now just thinking about them. People go on a huge rant about god and what that means to them, but don’t see the amazing things that the ones around…
-
Dec 17th – Dec 23rd 2023: I’ll Be Home For Christmas!
Dec 17th Yep, there is a lot going on. Butt, legs, left ankle! Holy smokes the feeling of a deep burning is there How can I improve the signal from my brain and my legs? This is the real question I’m asking and working on! Dec 18th How do you think of help differently? If…
-
Dec 10th – Dec 16th: Asking For Help
Dec 11th What’s interesting, is the ability to ask for, and receive, help. This experience and this injury has given me the opportunity to truly understand what asking for help is like. By having to make yourself this vulnerable, it really forces us to acknowledge the fact that there are many things we can’t sometimes…
-
Dec 3rd – Dec 9th: Pep Talk
Dec 5 What’s interesting is realizing that the doctors originally said you had 21 health conditions that you suffered. What’s also interesting is knowing that the internet doesn’t have hardly any information on the exact nature of your injuries. So what I’ve been given is one of the most difficult assignments ever to try and…
-
Nov 26th – Dec 2nd 2023: First Week on My Own!
Nov 26th Definitely had some Mexican food!! Making chicken and dumplings tomorrow!! Nov 27th Wow, today I had both the new physical therapy and PM&R doctors appointments Nov 28th Woke up this morning feeling great! I got on my tum this morning and started to do some prone exercises! The are gonna be important for…
-
Nov 12th – Nov 18th: Spicy Sensations
Nov 12th Well I woke up feeling really good this morning! Not a bunch of nonsense in my tum, so I need to make sure I get up at a reasonable time. I need to order my backpack and those handrails… Okay so those are ordered, I’ll look at backpacks later! No worries there. I’m…
-
Getting Weight Bearing for SCI Rehabilitation | Aug 27 – Sep 2 2023
Tall kneeling – new books – new ideas – my pup I miss so much. Simple joys in life help make it all worth living.
-
Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) Therapy for SCI Rehab | Aug 20 – 26 2023
BFR & Back To School!
-
Standing Frame Tolerance for SCI Health & Wellness | Aug 13 – 19 2023
Getting up in the standing frame, trying my hand at the guitar with bruised ribs. Trying to actually sleep again.
-
More Tossing & Turning – Therapy for SCI Recovery | Aug 6 – 12 2023
Getting in the swing of PT & trying to figure it all out
-
“We did it” Moving Forward from SCI Injury for Recovery | July 30 – Aug 5 2023
Better connections for Stim Pads? Getting outside? Try to do that more!
-
Back In Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation | July 23 – 29 2023
First week back in Michigan and started at The Recovery Project! What a great name for what I’m working on!
-
Back In The Hospital | July 16 – 22 2023
Back in the hospital after only being home for 5 days.
-
-
Accident + ICU: Jessie’s Perspective
So I wanted to ask my siblings their perspective from this whole ordeal and accident. It’s been a lot to take in by myself, and what Jess has told me was definitely something to stir up quite the emotions. I love my family so much! I am glad to have gotten their accounts thru this…
The Astronaut on Earth 