I'm gonna be published!

The Editor of NEW MOBILITY, “The Magazine for Active Wheelchair Users,” called me yesterday. He said my submittal, “Our Most Frustrating Day,” is very well written and they’d like to publish it.

“Yes!” I fairly shouted, pumping my fist.

Some of you have already read the piece (though at times I’ve entitled the same piece, “Outroll, Outmaneuver,” or “Midnight Awakening”). When I submitted it to NM, the “hook” I used was: “Two months of recovery from a car accident, two months of rehab for his T4-complete spinal cord injury. My husband and I were prepared for life outside the hospital - until that day he rolled and I stepped outside the hospital, and everything that could go wrong seemed to.” Those of you who read my blog during spring and summer '06 may recognize that the piece is based on the day Gary was discharged from rehab at Shepherd Center.

The Editor told me they’ve never before published anything like my piece! He also told me they’ve never before published anything as LONG and detailed as my piece. The Managing Editor told me that the women in the office read the piece first, and they were all going around saying, “Oh, man, it’s long, but we want to run it anyway!” She said she believed the piece would save a few marriages. (!)

I had suspected that the piece was going to be too long (5500 words– about 20 paperback pages). I said in my submission letter that I was willing to make any changes they suggested. The Editor took it upon himself to cut down the piece (no doubt eliminating the remarks that would’ve gotten them sued by Gary’s doctor for defamation of character :-D). The Editor said it’ll probably run between 3000 and 3500 words; he said he’d send it to me for my final approval. I’m sure it’ll be fine. He also apologized for paying only 15 cents per word. I was sitting there thinking, heck, I’d do it for free! Heck, I would’ve paid YOU! Heck, I’m just thrilled to be being published!

The piece will be published in the upcoming February issue, NM’s annual “Sex, Wheels, and Relationships” issue. In addition to their usual features, there will be two articles, one focusing on sex, the other (mine) on relationships. Or as the Editor put it, "Your article will speak to the heart, the other article will speak to other organs." (Bet I know which article y’all are going to be running out to read.) Both editors said very nice things about the quality of the writing (yea!). They said the story captures an important heartfelt moment, not only in the lives of Gary and me, but in the lives of many of their readers. They appreciated the honesty and vulnerability of the piece, and thought the story was healing.

(The Managing Editor spoke to Gary for a few minutes, regarding the photo they want. She told Gary that as a result of my story, she feels like she knows him. Gary says to me afterwards, "Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. I’m a shy guy, and you’re revealing all these things about me." I told him that was the price of celebrity ;-)).

Well, I hope you don’t feel this is one of those letters like you get from Aunt Agatha at Christmas – full of bragging you don’t want to read about ;-). But I’m so thrilled to be being published, I couldn’t contain myself. Hopefully this will be the start of a trend (my being published, I mean, not your receiving missives of every last detail of such occurrences ;-)).

Happy Holidays!

With reference to Gary's adventures at the 2009 Adventure Skills Worshop, related below, Gary's on TV! Okay, Shepherd TV. The video counts down, and he's at about 4:01 getting a helmet on for the ATV, and at about 1:04 being helped onto the ATV. Probably on video for a whole 2 seconds ;-)

http://shepherdtv.org/WhatsNewatShepherdCenter/SkillsWorkshop/

Time for a little update. On May 15-17, we again went to Adventure Skills Workshop, at Camp ASCCA in Jackson’s Gap, Al. The weather did not cooperate – thunder, lightning, rain. With the rule, “No activities until 30 minutes after the last thunder roll,” activities were limited.

The weather didn’t interfere with lunch, though :-D We really lucked out (I’m definitely not talking cuisine). Introverts, Gary and I are usually dependent on the others at the table to carry the conversation, and somehow we usually end up at a table with others who are similarly verbally-challenged. But at our table this time were a couple of Occupational Therapists from Kentucky, who were all enthusiastic about what goes on at Shepherd and want to create a “mini-Shepherd” in their small hospital. Enthusiastic is an understatement – these two were borderline ditzes :-D. Sorta reminded me of stereotypical pom-pom girls from high school (hope none of you reading this were/are stereotypical pom-pom girls), though one must’ve been at least mid-twenty and the other forties or fifties. They drew everyone at the table into conversation and kept things lively.

After lunch, Gary did “The Confidence Course.” This year, we had more confidence in the attendants – they hooked him into the harness correctly, and he managed to ascend the climbing wall (via pulley system) right side up, instead of last year’s upside down.


Gary was a regular James Bond going up the wall – I couldn’t believe how fast he got himself up that rope! He’s so much stronger than he was three years ago. But, sitting on top of that thirty-foot tower with his legs spasming, he didn’t want to attempt hopping himself to the other edge of the tower in preparation for the zip line, so got some help. They got him attached to the rope, and he flew! Unfortunately, someone stepped in front of my cell phone camera just as I snapped his picture (which I didn’t realize until after I looked at it), so no pic this year of the zipline – you’ll have to check last year’s ;-)

Next came Gary’s favorite: waterskiing! We went back to the van and Gary got himself changed into his swimsuit, then we were down to the docks. Gary as usual displayed superb form, keeping his arms low for balance, using his head (literally) to control his balance and direction. After staying right behind the boat for a while, he felt confident to go over the wake. He said he had planned to be more adventurous and move about behind the boat, but the driver only took him around the lake circuit once, whereas last year I’m sure he went around at least three times. Maybe they were trying to get in as many people as they could before the rain hit.

Though I snapped a couple shots of him waterskiing, the volunteers in the boat got better ones. You can see 11 snaps of him at http://picasaweb.google.com/adaptiveaquaticspictures/ASW2009#
He is in rows 20-22. Click on a photo to get an enlarged view. Notice the buff arms, the determination in those steely eyes.

(If you click on the waterskiing pictures here, they also will enlarge.)

I will download a couple of those snaps to the blog here. The jetski following behind him is in case he wipes out.



After the waterskiing came the highlight of the weekend: For the first time ever, Gary got his long pants on entirely by himself while sitting in his wheelchair. Only took him fifteen minutes – plus, he joked, three years. But since the only time he’s practiced this skill since Shepherd is when he’s been at Adventure Skills (meaning he’s only practiced 3 times in the last 3 years!), we thought this a historic accomplishment. Not that I’ve seen him practicing any more since – still quicker to dress in bed.

Speaking of routine, he noted that “shower mornings” now only take him about 2 ½ hours, whereas when we came home from Shepherd, they were taking 4 hours. Shower morning is only Saturday, though – the rest of the time, it’s bed baths.

After dinner, Gary played golf! Well, sorta. They had a tee set up on a dock, where you could hit balls into the water. They had a special club designed for hitting from a sitting position. I was impressed that he could hit it so far, but Gary didn’t seem all that impressed. I guess he was getting it about 50 yards with that club – said he couldn’t lift the club back any farther. Seeing that the one time I played golf (in high school), I’d either miss the ball entirely or it’d go about three inches, *I* thought it pretty cool the ball was going that far!



After that, we left for home and got caught in a torrential rain during the drive!

On Saturday, the only activity Gary got in was the ATV. Gary said there was a little excitement on the trail – the person on the vehicle that had left just before him fell off! So Gary and the Shepherd person accompanying him stopped, so the volunteer could help the other volunteer get the guy back on the ATV. The bad thing about that, Gary said, was his volunteer made him drive slower after that. :-(

Then the rain started in again. We had hoped the rain would clear up so Gary could go jetskiing, but, no go. While we waited, a young guy (maybe around twenty) talked our ears off. I found his story interesting, but he did go on (then, so do I, don’t I?). His injury is C-level, and when he woke up in the hospital (motorcycle accident), all he could move one was one finger. Then in time, another, and another . . . He’s now got about 80% of functioning back in one leg, maybe 50% of the other, and fairly good use of arms and fingers. Anyway, he filled us in on every single detail of his recovery, including how he demanded to learn how to again pee while standing upright, “because he’s an outdoorsy kind of guy.”

In mid-afternoon, we gave up on the weather, so that was the end of Adventure Skills this year.

The following week, Gary took his first plane ride entirely by himself, and went international – to Toronto! He said the trip was smooth – did a Park and Ride at the Atlanta Airport, and at Toronto was picked up by a taxi service specializing in accessible services. Gary said the only problem was, the taxi guy evidently took his tip bars off to get the chair into the taxi van, and when the guy put them back on, he put them in too far. You may recall this is what led Gary to land on the back of his head one day at Shepherd! Fortunately, for the entire day that Gary didn’t notice his tip bars weren’t correctly placed, he didn’t practice any wheelies.

However, he fell over into the gutter of a street, attached to his chair. (He informed me of this just as we were ending one of our phone conversations, as if I’m going to say, “Oh, really? Well, bye, honey.”) Evidently some of the curb cuts he encountered in Toronto aren’t well designed. He found them too steep, and as the cut enters the street, there’s a crack that runs the entire width of the cut – and his wheel tended to get caught in the cut. So, the first time that happened, his chair got stuck, while momentum carried him forward. His response was to lean to the side, which caused the chair to go over on its side. Fortunately, a husky woman was crossing the street toward him, and she simply picked up the entire chair with him in it (he had his seat belt on) and set it upright. He wasn’t hurt. His chair got stuck yet another time, but he kept his weight forward instead of to the side, and the chair didn’t tip (as he told me this, I of course am picturing him landing on his face!).

For the entire week Gary worked with another mathematician (Paul Szeptycki) at the Fields Institute, and as well shared meals with other of our Toronto math friends (Juris Steprans, Steve and Karen Watson, Frank Tall, Bill Weiss). On Wednesday, Gary gave an hour and a half seminar, and he said it went well.

On Thursday, he tried out the subway – about half the stops are accessible to those in wheelchairs. His particular stop wasn’t, but the next one down was. Other than that instance of the subway and using services to get him to and from the airport, he pushed himself in his wheelchair to his various destinations. He said he could see why many paraplegics develop shoulder problems. In our small town, he doesn’t have much need for frequent extended pushes. In Toronto, it’d take him twenty minutes to get from his hotel to Fields, and in addition he’d be pushing himself around to the various restaurants for meals. (One night, he wanted to get pizza from the place next to his hotel. He called, and they said they didn’t deliver. He said he was staying right next door and couldn’t get into their restaurant because they had a step up into it. They told him if he waited outside their door, they’d hand the pizza to him :-D ). On Thursday night, Bill Weiss hosted a party at his place. Gary underestimated how long it’d take him to push there – and it ended up taking 50 minutes! Gary couldn’t get into the house because of the steps, but people came outside into the backyard and chatted with him, and he had a meal out there. Because the weather looked stormy, Gary decided he’d better leave. People offered to drive him back to his hotel, but he hadn’t brought his slide board to transfer into a regular car, and he wasn’t comfortable having untrained people help him into a car. So he began his push back to his hotel. And got caught in the rain. He said the wind was so strong his rain poncho was nearly being whipped right off him. He pulled in under the eaves of an Indian restaurant to (hopefully) wait out the storm, and the proprietor invited him in and chatted with him for about twenty minutes until the rain died down. Then Gary made a beeline for the hotel.

So, Gary was wheeling around “a hell of a lot,” as he put it, and he said he was reminded of the very first time he pushed himself in a chair at Shepherd. We were going from his hospital room to the auditorium in the connecting building. Gary had to take numerous rest stops.

On Friday and Saturday, the Appalachian Set Theory Conference was held at the Institute, and Gary said the schedule was quite grueling: went from 9:30 to 6:30 with a two-hour break for lunch and a couple additional 10-minute breaks. Gary enjoyed the conference, however.

Gary’s trip home also went very smoothly. Something kind of funny happened at airport security in Toronto, however. This guy was patting Gary down, and he asks, “What’s that?” Gary felt where the guy had his hand and said, “My ribs. I’d like to take them with me.” Guess the security guy wasn’t used to feeling up many thin people.

Once back at home, he unfortunately came down with an other UTI, complete with fever and chills. When he sees his Shepherd doctor in July, he’s going to ask if there’s anything he can do about these UTIs, which almost always flare up right after his trips. (He is on a daily antibiotic to keep the UTIs under control, but it isn’t good enough for the trips. I suspect the doctor will tell him to take a stronger antibiotic while he’s on the trip.)

Okay, I think I’ve caught you up on Gary news. I’ve still been working on my novel. My previous drafts were likely too long for publication, and I’ve managed to cut it down from 367,000 words to about 135,000. Then I had to go through and make sure I didn’t cut out anything vital (and I did end up adding small bits back in). Gary is reading it now, and after he finishes, I’ll give it to my writing group, and hopefully they too won’t think I’ve cut anything vital and will like it even better than they liked the first draft. In late September, I’m going to a writers conference taking place about an hour a way in Columbus, Ga. There, I’m having the first 15 pages of the manuscript critiqued by an agent who also is the president of FinePrint Literary Agency. Keep your fingers crossed that that leads to something.

I sat in on a Fiction Writing course at AU in the spring, and wrote my first literary short story (I suppose Remington Steele fanfic doesn’t count ;-)). It’s a good story, I believe, and I have sent it to a highly competitive lit magazine. I think I should hear back from them by August. If they don’t accept it, I’ll send it around to other places. I also wrote my first “short short” story, aka, “micro fiction.” It’s a complete short story in under 200 words. It also was well received by local writers (and by the couple “email” readers who I’ve been sending stuff to for years for their comments), and I’ve sent that out to be considered for publication as well.

This past Friday, I did an “open mike” at our local used book store. Former topologist and current writer Jo Heath conned me into this. (I later got an email from Jo correcting me. She says she did not con me. She pressured me. Two different things entirely.) She and I both read 5-minute excerpts from our novels, and in addition I read my short short. Gary said I done good, but I have never experienced such stage fright! I have been attending a monthly writers workshop for the last half year (and Jo joined it more recently), and it was at the workshop leader’s instigation that Jo and I were giving readings. I expected the audience to be maybe four of us from the workshop, our spouses, a few friends. Well, damn, there must’ve been about forty people there! I suppose it was some combination of not speaking in front of groups of people for the last 15 years, plus it not being math talk (after all, presumably in math talks people are listening for the facts and aren’t there primarily for entertainment) that caused my nervous system to go haywire. I had to keep taking small steps around, because I was literally afraid that if I didn’t, I was going to pass out, and my heart was about to burst my chest. Jeez!

After the entire session was over, the store owner asked if I’d read at future such events, and I hesitated, and the workshop leader, who was standing right there, said “Yes.” Hmm. It is true that that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

Jo and then I were the first presenters of the evening – getting it over with – and then the rest of the evening was quite enjoyable, listening to two other readers and two musical acts.

One last writing note. While letting my novel sit awhile, I tried to write another short story, this one based on Gary and my “most frustrating day” in the course of his recovery, the day he got checked out of Shepherd. I though it’d be easy to write, since it was so closely based on experience, but it’s turned out to be very difficult to write, and I haven’t gotten anything I like yet, though I’ve been working on it since April. It got me thinking about “the blog book” – the project I’ve had in mind of turning this blog into a book. I’m not quite ready to tackle that, but am getting closer to the day, and now I’m wondering, how exactly will I organize it? Why type of book will it be? I imagine it’ll mostly focus on the first year of accident, recovery, rehab, with other milestones noted. But what of this blog of those months should be included, what deleted (besides all my complaints of my noisy hotel neighbors)? Anyway, if any of you reading this have thoughts on this subject, I’d appreciate hearing from you. If you’re getting this missive by blog and not email, just go to “View my complete profile” on the right-hand side of the page (yes, I know it’s not very complete) and then click the email tab on the left. Thanks!

All for now!

Aug 31, 2008

I am shocked by a news article I came across on Yahoo! News the other day. A 65-year-old triathlete, Barbara Warren, fell off her bike and broke her neck during a competition last Saturday (the 23rd). Last Tuesday, the 26th, her family – twin sister, husband, two grown daughters – took her off the ventilator because Barbara repeatedly blinked her eyes and nodded when asked if she wanted to die.

3 days after her accident they pull the plug! Sorry to sound crass, but I find that upsetting! That is hardly enough time for her to know how much functionality she will regain, what she can still accomplish in her life. Was she a victim of the fictional Million Dollar Baby?

Those of you who followed this blog, particularly in its first four months, April-July 2006, know how closely I was involved in Gary’s rehab after the car accident that severed his spine (at the T4 level, which left him completely paralyzed from nipple-level down). And hopefully in relating our experiences at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, it came across that both paraplegics and quadriplegics can make great strides during their rehabilitation and go on to live full, meaningful, fulfilling lives. But goodness, it took Gary 2 months to recover from the accident to the point where he could even begin rehab. And I’d like to here mention again that some of the quads at Shepherd recovered functioning they were never expected to have. You just can’t know what your ultimate situation with your injuries is going to be after 3 days. And if you have the worst possible injury, C1 complete, then you can look to Christopher Reeve as your role model.

It is no surprise one's first reaction to finding oneself in this situation would be shock, hopelessness, and depression. I cannot help but suspect that Barbara’s decision to die, and her family’s quick follow-through only three days in, was in part out of lack awareness of the possibilities.

I am so grateful Gary had knowledgeable people guiding him like those at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.

To see the article on Barbara, here are some links. I’m giving you the links that I found that allow you to leave a comment (you may have to sign up for a free account to post your own comment). Most of the people seemed to think it was just fine for her to make this rapid decision, some even compare it to the Schiavo case. Ignorance, to my mind! There are also comments made, some by her family members, that Barbara wouldn't have wanted to be "just a bystander in life." Well, my hat is off to those quadriplegics and paraplegics who don't regard themselves -- and don't want to be regarded as -- bystanders in life.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/n/a/2008/08/28/sports/s101058D00.DTL

and
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/obit_track_warren

In other news, Gary recently went for his check-up in Atlanta. He’s doing well, except his doctor (who you may recall is also a paraplegic with a higher level of injury than Gary, being T1 complete) made fun of Gary for still having his “training wheels” on – meaning the tip bars. I told Gary he should have told the doctor that I wouldn’t let him take them off (though Gary has no desire too). And speaking of falling . . . they said it WOULD happen, and it did. Gary managed to go for 2 ½ years without ever falling out of his chair, but recently he did. Fortunately, at home, so he slid his way over to the futon couch and got himself back up on that. Couldn’t do the floor-to-wheelchair transfer, so he’ll have to put that higher on his list of things to practice ;-). And I won’t mention him falling out of my bed . . . . :-D

Gary has developed a bit of scoliosis and saw a spine specialist in Atlanta. It’s not severe, though. He then went to the “seating clinic” at Shepherd, and they’re going to get him a different kind of seat cushion that will hopefully enable him to sit straighter in his chair.

Some time overnight Tigger, our beloved cat, was hit by a car and killed.

Time to catch you up on recent news. If you're only interested in pictures, scroll down, for about a dozen new ones! Gary was at Adventure Skills Workshop last weekend, and I remembered the camera this time, so there are lots of pics of him ziplining and jet skiing and water skiing and ATV'ing and scuba diving!


May 5, 2008

Gary made it up and down our steep driveway for the very first time, accomplishing goal number one on his list of summer goals. Though he had to take a little rest when he reached the top, he said it wasn’t hard at all. He noted he wouldn’t have been able to do it last year. He has much more upper body strength now.

So now he can go get the mail! ;-)

May 11, 2008

Gary did a wheelchair-to-floor transfer (“wheelbarrow” style). I did hang onto his belt buckle, so he vows to try it again soon without me touching him. But I didn’t give him any help at all getting onto the futon from the floor. So this the first time he’s done that entirely by himself!

May 16-17, 2008

Time for another Adventure Skills workshop, at Camp ASCCA in Jackson’s Gap, Al! The first thing Gary noticed was that getting up that big long hill to get to registration wasn’t as bad as last year – though not a piece of cake. We got him signed up for confidence course (wall climbing and zipline), water skiing, jet skiing, and scuba. No sign-up sheet to ride an ATV, you just show up at the site. We hadn’t rushed to arrive, so after sign-up, Gary did an IC and then it was time for lunch! It was interesting being back in an environment where the typical conversation starters were “What’s your level of injury?” and “How did it happen?” One of the guys we had lunch with was one of the drivers of a boat for the waterskiers. I remembered him from last year. He is a C-6, C-7 quadriplegic and (as you would hope in a driver) has some gross use of his hands, but cannot do fine manipulations. We learned he is the World Champion in 2 water ski events! The jump event and the slalom event (there is a third event, “trick”). In the jump, with the boat going 32 mph, he sailed over 50 feet! For the slalom, the skiers must wend their way around buoys. The maximum speed the boat is allowed to go is 36 mph. The man, Bill, said that there are many people of a similar skill level, so to determine the winner, they keep shortening the rope the skiers are being pulled on. He won by making it around 3 buoys on a 38 ft. rope, half the length of the usual rope. He said the rope was shorter than the distance from the buoy to the boat, so that to get around the buoy he had to use his body to make up the difference in length.

The waterski he used was similar to the one Gary was on, but narrower, so more maneuverable (and less stable). You can scroll down to the next blog entry to see pictures of Gary in his waterski.

But, waterskiing wasn’t Gary’s first event; the confidence course was. First we lost confidence in the map they gave us to find the site: Gary said the map was like a Rorschach test. We turned left when we were supposed to go right, and started down a long steep hill. Gary had to go pretty slow, keeping his hands on his wheels to brake him, so I went ahead to see if I could find out where we were supposed to be. I ran into a volunteer who was supposed to be one of the people running the course, and she told us to go back the other way. Well, that meant Gary had to go UP that long steep hill. I went ahead, and I discovered that there was another even steeper, though shorter, hill coming up. But I found another path that would be easier, though longer in distance (as opposed to the time it would probably take him to travel it). I told Gary this, but he told me he had just passed another volunteer who said the hill coming up wasn’t as steep as it looked, and that it was less steep than what he’d just come up. Right, I said, she’s on two feet, what does she know. Well, Gary decided to try the hill. And guess what? . . . As Gary inched his way up the hill, he grunted out, “She’s nuts.”

So now that Gary’s all warmed up for exercise ;-) it’s time for the confidence course. And here I lost confidence in the staff running this particular event! After he got all decked out in harnesses and kneepads and helmet, they gave him a rope with a movable horizontal bar on it (sorry, I’m sure there’s a name for it, but I don’t know it). You curl your wrists down and push the bar up the rope, then you flex your wrists back and that locks the bar and you pull yourself up using it. Nice theory. After about 5 minutes of him vigorously working away at this, he’d gone about 6 inches. Only about another 30 feet to go. Obviously they didn’t have something right, and they told him to forget the bar and pull himself up hand over hand. Well, he did make his way up the rope that way, but . . . somehow they had something else screwed up, and he wasn’t balanced right in the harnesses. His body started angling so that soon he was horizontal instead of vertical, and then he was declined to the horizontal! I was just about freaking. I suppose he was safe enough with all those harnesses on, but I kept having visions of him falling out of the harnesses and landing on his head! I’m sure the volunteers didn’t appreciate my anxiety-ridden voice squeaking, “Why is he going up upside down? That didn’t happen last year!”

But at last he was on the tower. I ran to the other tower where he’d finish and took pictures of him ziplining (see pics below). And then what does he do after these death-defying feats? He gets back in his wheelchair, goes down a short steep ramp that is the first part of this exit tower, and slides out of his wheelchair! He said he had so many straps on him, he forgot he hadn’t put his seat belt on. Oops! Fortunately, there wasn’t enough room for him to slide all the way out of the chair, and four volunteers got him back into it. They then suggested he let them back him down the rest of the ramp. He took them up on it :-D

Next up was jet skiing, but to do that he first had to pass a water test (that he passed it last year didn’t count). So they took him in his wheelchair close to the lake and then several volunteers lifted him out of the chair into the water (see pic). He passed, turning himself from a face-down position to face-up after they touched him on the shoulder after 20 secs. Most everybody who tried, passed – only saw a few bodies floating on the lake.

So then they got him on the jet ski (see pic), and he and a volunteer went around the lake to get him “checked off” so he could take me out. But, I didn’t like the jet ski we were on. No strap to hang onto. There was a depression way below the seat I was supposed to hang onto. Well, my arms weren’t really long enough, so I had to ride with my back all hunched over and my head banging into Gary’s back (I was afraid I was either going to bruise him or knock some of my neck vertebrae out of alignment; he said he didn’t feel a thing – dark humor). I was unable to see a thing.
:-(

Next came water skiing, Gary’s favorite event! I got a bunch of shots of it, see below. The driver, a different quad than the one we’d had lunch with, was very impressed with Gary’s skills, said he had great starts and kept a good skiing position. Right after he said he was letting Gary ski longer than he had anyone else, Gary wiped out! Gary was probably getting a little tired about that point, because shortly after that, he wiped out again – though he was being more dare-devilish this year, going over the wake instead of staying right behind the boat. When he went down, he nearly lost his suit! He said it came down to his knees and the volunteer from the jet ski (who was following behind him) had to help him pull the trunks up. I didn’t see any little white butt floating by from my vantage point in the boat, however.

Naturally he got some war wounds – after they got him back into his wheelchair they discovered a gash on his leg and one of his little toenails had been ripped right out! Guess that’s a good time not to be able to feel such things. And just tonight (May 22) we discovered his big toe is all black and blue. Despite that, he had a blast and is thinking of going to one of the water ski clinics this summer at a lake near the Atlanta airport.

Well, that was enough for the day. So we went back to the van to change, then Gary did his IC, we had dinner there, and then we left for home.

Late the next morning (Saturday), Gary went to the ATV site. They had a new one this year, and he got to ride that. He said he could tell it was much more stable and he felt a lot more confident. A little too confident, evidently. He said the volunteer riding with him told him several times to slow down. He asked her if she was scared. She said, a little. :-D

Pics of him on the ATV are also below.

Next we had lunch, then it was time for scuba! He went to the van to change into his suit, and he got his swimsuit on all by himself! (Getting pants on while sitting in the wheelchair is something he still hasn’t mastered, and this was the first time he’d gotten on any type of pants all the way on entirely by himself. Long pants will be harder, of course, and when he went to put on his long pants after the days activities, I helped with the last little bit.)

At the pool, the volunteers seemed to be trying to talk him into letting them just pick him up and carry him into the water, but he wanted to do a wheelchair to deck transfer, and he did (see pic below). Then they got him in mask and tanks, gave him some basic instruction and made sure he was comfortable in the water, then let him go swim underwater; he could raise and lower the level he was swimming at by using an air pump connected to the tanks. After a while, someone brought him an “underwater scooter” (a Seadoo) to try. All he had to do was hang on and it pulled him around under the water. Only, at one point he somehow got partway flipped over and was practically zooming around underwater on his back. First the confidence course now this – had some thing during this workshop about being upside down, I guess. (James Bond, he’s not.)

Next, we went back to the jet skis, and this time they had one with a strap available, and I had a blast too, being able to hang onto the strap and look (blindly, without glasses) over his shoulder and galloping over the waves (the fast trotting was the hard part). He got up over 50 mph! We later wondered how stable those things were and how fast we dared take it. When we got back to the launching pad, a volunteer told Gary he had hair that said, “I just had a really really good time!" Because of the wind and water spray, it was sticking straight up like a troll’s. He wouldn’t let me take a picture of it, though ;-)

Well, that was enough gallivanting for the day. We went back to the van for a break. Gary did some research, read in the Readers Digest, I worked on my novel (2/3 of the way through this revision). Then came IC time and dinnertime and time to go home.

Tigger was unhappy that we’d both been gone for most of the past couple days, and he climbed into Gary’s hospital bed with Gary and stayed there throughout Gary’s bedtime routine – he hasn’t gotten into bed with Gary in ages. Blackjack was just happy to see his meal tickets were home. (Speaking of Tigger, we are still struggling to get his weight up. At the vet’s suggestion, we supplement his cat food diet with people food – or is it vice versa? So daily he gets grilled salmon or tuna steak or scallops or steak, and the occasional filet mignon or chilean sea bass. He is not nearly as appreciative of this as he should be.)

Thus ended Adventure Skills! You da man, Gary!

On Monday, we traveled to Birmingham where I got a second opinion on my knee (torn meniscus (cartilage)). I am resigned to having surgery on it. I tried for 13 months to get it to improve by rehab. I make slight improvement, then the slightest thing can set it back. I can’t go up and down more than a few stairs, can’t walk faster than a mosey, etc. So, I give up. Am trying to decide whether to go back and forth to Birmingham three more times (for the surgery and 2 follow up appointments), a 2+ hour trip each way, to this guy who regularly does a significant number of these surgeries, or to stay local to a competent surgeon. The surgery is, on the scale of these things, one of the simplest ones (arthroscopic, where they cut out the part of the cartilage that is torn and being pinched in the joint). I feel like getting it over soon.

Anyway, had to wait for 2 hours before seeing this guy. I swear they make you wait that long so you’re tired and your resistance is worn down so you’ll agree to anything they want. But actually, I did like the guy once I got in to see him.

Today, I had an appointment with my family doctor. The previous two visits, he had found me very low in vitamin D ( 7 and 14) and hypothyroid (4+ and 5.6). This time my D was at 28. Normal is 32 to 100, so at least I’m making progress on that front. Besides the vit D supplement I’ve been taking, I’ve recently been able to tolerate soy milk, and at least the Silk brand is enhanced with vit D, so I think that is helping. The thyroid was a 4.0. Still low, but improved. I’m going to wait and see what it is next time to see if this is a positive trend before going on a thyroid med.

One of these past few days, Gary discovered that going backwards down the steep part of the driveway is easier than facing front (I was with him when he tried this, of course), so that will be the way he does it.

Okay, now you can scroll down and look at the pics! ;-) If you click on them, they will enlarge.

Climbing the wall; at least he started out upright!

Ziplining! Whee!

Coming in for a landing

Let's see, will this guy float?

Mounting the jetski, with a little help from his friends

Yep, he can handle the jetski; now he's on the way to shore to pick me up for a ride

The waterski

Ahms like Ahnold! (And hair like Alfalfa.)

Ready, set,

Go!

He braves the wake! Next year, tricks!

Ready to roll!

Slow down! Slow down!

Wheelchair-to-floor transfer, in preparation for getting into the pool; he says he isn't sure how he'd get OUT of the pool!

Scuba man

Deep sea exploring