My body has been through a lot in the last five days, and it’s been an incredible experience. Kandice and I worked through a lot of different exercises and practiced getting on and off the floor as well as some crawling on my hands and knees. She also put me back in the big walker, and we practiced more steps without using my hands for support. I let go and took three controlled steps on my own. We were hoping I could make it up to six to top Tuesday, but my record today was four – for good reason. Kandice emphasized that my steps today were controlled and much, much better than when I sortof toppled along Tuesday.
As we ended this final session, Kandice set me up with an action plan for the rest of my stay in America. I’ll check in with her again before I leave to adjust it where necessary and get some new routines to take home to Germany. She’s really optimistic about my potential and stressed that I was incredibly advanced for my level injury considering how recent it was. She also reemphasized the “every spinal cord injury is different” mantra I’ve heard all along by pointing out that meeting Jo and Mattias at REHAB really messed with my perception of the “standard” lumbar recovery. I met two SCI patients who were walking without aids within three months, but Kandice made clear they are far into the category of exception – just as I am.
Praise God for the amazing care I’ve received all along, and let’s keep asking for more miraculous healing to keep me ahead of the curve in recovery.
