A Month of Friday Updates

WoW, it's been a whole month now! Well, there's been some real improvement this week. And some realizations. And some not so great things.

Original drawing. Hey I'm a scientist not a graphic designer! At least it's in the correct rainbow order!

I can now bend my knee ever so slightly when walking, enough to where if I take the time to relax my hip, I can make my right foot heelstrike instead of sliding it. I can *almost* even consistently get it to do it when I'm walking up stairs. I think it's due to a combination of my hamstrings getting stronger and my quads not over-firing quite as much. The downside to this is that my quads are still super weak, which has been masked by the muscle firing all the time, so it wears out quicker!  But dang I don't care I'm just glad it's getting better.

My hands are the worse right now. Of course they need to be functional. But I hate strengthening them.  I can strengthen the flexors. The extensors are not improving.. Not sure if that nerve will heal. Flexing the wrist helps function. This habit is called "tendonesis." My fingers are struggling hard.  All this makes my hands look bad. It is my look's defining factor. No matter how much I do for the rest of my body it severely jars the way I look.

I have this brace now that I wear at night to keep my fingers extended, and Simonne my OT also taped my fingers in the extended position to facilitate them to stay extended. The hope is the muscles stay stretched enough that they don't become permanently curled. I've got to pretend right now this is the case.

ANHIDROSIS is becoming the bane of my existence. My feet getting a little sweaty isn't enough to keep me cool in this south Louisiana heat, and I overheat really quickly. I still haven't found any trustworthy information on how to handle it soooo we'll see, guess I'll figure it out! Sucks, because the cold makes my muscles not work and the heat makes them get  too hot. Nic suggested we move to Hawaii where it's always temperate, ha!
I also was going to do this mile walk for Autism tomorrow, but the cut-off is 45 min/or so, and I couldn't even do half that in 50 min, so I guess it'll have to wait. But yeah yeah I walkered about 0.5 miles so that's a new accomplishment! And I timed Snakebyte running a mile while I was doing it - 11:32! And not even winded ;)

Random view over my house

In other news, I'm going to start swimming again! There's a free program here in Laffy that the Paratriathlon people found that helps people get in the pool. I guess mainly older people with arthritis are the ones that take the most advantage of it but I'll take what I can get! I'm having 2nd thoughts about Paratriathlon; for one there's no trainers it seems here after all and that's really what I was hoping for, and for two I don't seem to fit clearly in any of their categories. So we'll see.

Oh, I practiced driving & it went pretty great, woohoo! My right ankle's not quite strong enough yet, but driving with my left foot is just fine.

Lastly, I have been given the opportunity to give a talk at the Tri-Cajuns meeting on Monday, so I'm totally stoked about that! Luckily I'm dating a public speaking professor ;)

Check out paragraph 3's haikuish 5/7/5. Have an awesome Friday!

Paratriathlon...the Beginning

I'm not happy about this. I want to be, I'm trying, but I'm still pretty newly "disabled" and there's something to being called a "paratriathlete" that I'm not ready to label myself with yet. I really feel that I won't be in that category forever, or even for a long time. I'm INCREDIBLY lucky, I've met so many great people who have way worse injuries than me that might not have the support and opportunities I do. But I can't focus on them and they can't focus on me. We're All at different points at our lives, what good does comparing ourselves do?

I contacted Paralympics NOT to train, but only to get information. Spinal cord injuries can manifest a multitude of problems, and one of them is "anhidrosis," which is an inability to sweat. My skin can't sweat or produce oil below the level of my lesion (neck.) Also, I might not be able to get my heart rate up enough to do cardio. This may all heal, but it may not. I couldn't find good information on how to work with this, so I contacted them for resources.

When USA Paratriathlon contacted me back, I deleted the message, only to days later recover it and file it away.  Then after this mess with the half marathon craziness I decided to contact them back. I mean, this could be a good stepping stone to get back to triathlon training, right? Plus, it would be cool to have a coach; I never had one.

I talked to them today. They were excited to share that paratriathlon will debut in the Paralympics in Rio 2016. They're going to try to set me up with some local parathlete coaches, who will work closely with my therapists and doctor. I need to find a place to start swimming again, and I'm going start being more active with cycling on the trainer - I've been on it but my body's still so messed up! I don't know where all this is going to take me and I'm hella scared to see what my limitations are. But I have no choice; basically either go for my goals or not! I wouldn't know how to define myself if I didn't try. No matter how hard the struggle is I still have things I have to accomplish, and worrying about how painful the journey will be is a complete waste of time.

IN OTHER NEWS! Filming for the local channel KATC was incredibly fun! Here's Nic & Me: VIDEO