Daniel's Second Post
/Sunday. Four days ago. Feels like an eternity. The only rational thing to do after an experience like Sunday's is to go out the next day and attack the exact same problem. Maybe not the only rational thing to do, but at least a pretty logical thing to do from my wheelchair-positioned point of you view. Got to get better, and the only way to do that is to try again. On Monday I asked one of the staff members here who spends a lot of time on helping people master daily activities to go out on a walk with me. I told him about where I was struggling with the wheelchair, our death-defying experience, and what I found difficult. He was all over it. We spent an hour at the end of the day wheeling around outside of the hospital. Through parking lots, across sidewalks, up ramps (with a bit of a helpful push), down the ramps (still scary!), across crosswalks, and naturally the crosswalk where I got stuck. It was awesome. Huge new confidence boost, exactly what I needed the day after that other crap. I learned a few new skills and felt much better about myself.
On Tuesday we did A bit more of the same. We went across the street to a hotel to check out its wheelchair accessible rooms. Had to figure out how to get in and out of doors and across the street and I went with the same gentleman and my father. For dad it was a night and day difference. It looked like I have made significant progress in wheelchair maneuvering in 48 hours, but the reality was that I just gained some confidence and learned a few new tricks.
Today, Wednesday, was an out trip. I got into a wheelchair-accessible taxi with the gentleman from the clinic and met my parents at a local nature reserve. My mom got to see the benefit of the last several days of work and growth in confidence. I probably didn't go more than a third of a mile, but it was nice going over some paths and enjoying the fresh air of nature. It was chilly ... not quite glove weather (see the gloves - their bike gloves with gel to protect the hands - increasingly essential outside with the wheelchair handgrip burning up my hands!).
The summary here is this: As previously described, Sunday sucked for an hour and a half. I took the lessons from that and attacked them for the next three days. I'm improving. I could throw some cheesy quote in here about getting back up after you fall down, but the reality is that I'm just being rational. I have no choice but to work harder and figure it out.
I got a bunch of comments for my first post, the first time I had really written anything related to this accident or the hospitalization. I'm not the best blogger, mostly because I don't dedicate time to do it. But thank you all of you who wrote a comment or sent me a text or an email. Thanks all of you for supporting me through this "stage in life." I've heard from people far and wide, fox I haven't talked to in years, folks I don't know, people I didn't think I'd hear from again. It's incredible. It's OK not to know what to say or write or how to "do something to help." It's OK not to know how to ask how I'm doing. What matters is that you took the time to say something, anything. Thank you.
