Saturday – 4/16/2011

“Without you I was broken, but I’d rather be broke down with you by my side.”

The above lyric is from a Jack Johnson song I used in my applicant video for the service monkey.  I officially submitted the final piece, the video, of my application yesterday. A big thanks to Will for all of his help in putting the video together. I should find out in a few weeks whether or not I have been selected to receive a monkey. I posted a picture below of a friend and I in the Dominican Republic. Perhaps it’s foreshadowing of what’s to come?!

This last week was a little rougher than usual for me. Maybe it’s the weather, but I just haven’t been feeling like I’m on top of my game. My head and neck were hurting very badly these past few days. I am usually anti-pain medication and refuse to take anything when I’m in pain, but broke down this past week and made myself a cocktail of pills to alleviate some of the discomfort.

On Friday,, I had some appointments at Metro I did not want to miss, but nearly did. From the moment I woke up my body was hurting. I got into the chair and was battling blood pressure issues from the get-go. My BP was hovering around 70/40 for a while. I did not want to miss my appointments so I decided to wear my abdominal binder, which wraps around the midsection to help keep my blood pressure up. I usually don’t use any type of wraps or anything, as my blood pressure is usually pretty stable when I’m sitting and even standing. However, I probably would not have made it through the day without the binder on Friday. Fortunately, I was able to keep my appointments.

I first met with a woman from my old stomping ground, Perrysburg, Ohio, who has been paralyzed for six years as a result of an automobile accident. She is considering getting implanted with the cough assist system and I was there to demonstrate it and answer any questions/concerns of hers. After the demonstration, I headed to the FES Center to participate in a study which measures muscle activity. I was pretty excited to partake in this research, as it would define the level of muscle activity I could actively influence on my own. Several electrodes were attached to my foot, ankle and shin. I was then given specific movements to try to make with my foot while a computer recorded any discernible muscle activity. The encouraging news is that slight traces of muscle movement could be seen when I tried to move them. The discouraging news is that the traces were slight and not as consistent as I would have liked. However, I guess I should view the fact that any trace movement being recorded is a positive and something to build on.

More encouraging news is that by Friday evening I felt much better. Most of the discomfort I had earlier in the day disappeared and I was able to rest comfortably into Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the weather has decided to have a bad day and grace us with gray skies and storm clouds. I keep telling myself that the warmer weather is on its way, it’s just taking its sweet time.

I have some exciting “business endeavors” I am currently working on. I’ll share more details as things begin to take shape and come to fruition. I am certainly keeping myself busy.

I want to thank those who have offered support so far to the benefit run Katie is participating in to raise therapy funds for me. If you have not done so already, please click on the link below to read more about this event and ways you can offer support.

As always, thank you for your continued outpouring of prayers and support!

Scott