nothere

Howdy folks! End "holiday" hiatus.

The biggest deal to report is that I'm back in cville for what will probably equal winter hibernation. It won't be therapy hibernation (rehabernation?), though - there are all sorts of activities/exercises we can improv here, including short and long sit, prone and supine "mat" (= bed) work, weight training with stretchy theraband resistance material, a zillion occutherapy/ADL tasks... Et cetera, et cetera.

In fact, it might be easier to look at what I can't do here, due to a lack of people or equipment. Obviously I won't be cooking with Giger; sadface, I'm one of the few who actually like that machine. No Wave either. There will be e-stim biking - until insurance shells out for a bike of my own, some awesome family friends in town offered to let me visit and use theirs. Note to insurance: this does not mean I should not get one. The only significant logistic limitation is that there are just two other people here, so exercises that require more assistance, e.g. some short sit stuff and the "bicycle" supine abdominal work, aren't going to happen. (Also, just to torment the docs, therapists, and others who so vehemently oppose that I should do any weight bearing, I'd like to point out that our friends have a standing frame as well. Mwa ha ha ha.)

Ergo, it's no internationally-reknowned SCI recovery facility here Bei Link, but there's plenty to be done.

All that said, my most important workout has been something else completely. Knowing that I'm waiting so anxiously to get my own manual chair and ditch the electrowheels, another client at the CSCIR very very VERY generously gave me a fully-customized spare chair that he had at home taking up space, serving as a coat rack. WOW. Despite that it's built for someone quite less gigantic than I, it is absolutely fantastic. Thus, my main therapeutic activity has been spending as much time as possible in this thing. I shall not dance around the fact: this is hard! Size has nothing to do with difficulty, either. I'm used to lounging around in the rolling La-Z-Boy, so spending even just an hour or two en manuel, sitting up perfectly and trying to push around my severely-sloped room with standard unmodified rims, is work work work. That's the idea, though. My back/shoulder/neck muscles scream and the pain meds flow, but each day seems to be ever-so-slightly easier. I can actually sit at my desk, rather than sideways next to it, for the first time in years. Hrrrrg!

Hmmm. Otherwise, various entertainment. Visits to family and from schoolpals; smiles. Slowly re-ripping the music collection to FLAC. "Playing" a little bass/guitar. Sleeping plenty. I dunno, my personal life is profoundly boring to most everyone.

I suppose that's all for now. Feel free to propose discussion topics and questions in the comments so I have something worthwhile to write about! Otherwise, I might just do mathematical proofs. You've been warned. Rock out.