Back To "Charm City"

Pardon my much belated blog update. I suppose I should start off by explaining where the heck "Charm City" is. The short story is that back in 1974, some ad man thought up the nickname "Charm City" as a marketing ploy to reinvent Baltimore's image to attract tourism. As Trevor cand I prepare to embark on our fourth visit to the Kennedy Krieger rehab in Baltimore, I have been thinking about how I feel the need to reinvent myself as well.

It's been two years since my TM onset, which is actually quite hard for me to wrap my head around. The first year was such a blur as we scrambled about, trying to figure out how to deal with this new way of living our lives. I'm still surprised and quite incredulous when I find myself unable to do things.

Whose body is this anyway?

I have continued my therapy regime by seeing my home PT, Michael, twice a week, going to outpatient PT with Sonya once a week and I have also added a new element to my recovery at SCI-FIT- an intensive workout, once a week. SCI-FIT is similar to other programs throughout the country, such as Project Walk. Although I have to travel an hour each way for a 2 hour workout, it is totally worth it. The atmosphere is charged with positive energy and they really kick my butt (see video at end).

I continue to get stronger and I don’t think I could ever give up on that. I have been thinking about what my next steps are, so to speak. I would like to go back to work, so I am taking this opportunity to decide what I want to be when I grow up. Perhaps I’ll go back to school. I’m not sure yet what the future holds, but I am looking forward to whatever it is.

I still remain positive about my recovery, but as time passes on and I learn about how the spinal cord and nerves heal, I realize that my body will probably need some help from the medical community to get back to a fully functional state. There are new discoveries being made at a more rapid pace. All I can say at this point is "gooooooo science!!".

Back to Baltimore. Kennedy Krieger recently opened a new state of the art facility and I am excited to check it out! I am starting a two week stint there on Oct. 19th. It may be a bit longer before we are able to go back to Baltimore, so I am really thankful we have this opportunity to go now. I am also incredibly grateful, knowing this could not be a reality without all of the generous support we continue to receive; in fact, the majority of my therapy would not be a reality without it.

Speaking of therapy- here is a video of me at SCI-FIT (Trevor picked the background music) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xLhq99Kl7w