Hello All,

In my first blah, blah, blahg I refer to new physical developments in my recovery as a NR, which is short for New Release.

NR:  Yesterday, I was very uncomfortable.  My back felt strained.  My left leg and foot was slightly swollen and it was very uncomfortable to be in a sitting position.  I didn’t blahg yesterday because I was simply too uncomfortable to concentrate and be the writing genius that you will begin to know and love (Ha!).  When I finally made my way to bed, I found that it was very difficult to stand on my right leg.  It felt as if the knee joint could not support my weight.   I attributed it to fatigue and the fact that earlier in the morning, I made 4 laps around the house.  The good news is that when I finally got stretched out in the bed, I found that I was able to move my left leg at the hip joint with a lot more ease.  Additionally, it seems that my left ankle has slightly more range of motion.  As I lay there, I began to feel nerve activity (I describe this as a warm, tingling wave along my spine).  Sometimes this is very painful and at other times it is just annoying.  I then began to feel this same sensation in the left gluteus muscle.  I didn’t know what to think about this so I just tried to relax and go to sleep.

Aside from being uncomfortable, it was a great day.  Jasmine was visiting and she made the best dinner for Kevin, Georgia and I.  I wish I could take credit for teaching her how to create such a tasty meal but I would be telling a bold face lie – Ha!

Today, when doing sit-to-stand exercises, I felt considerably stronger on my left side starting from the stability of my lower back.  Also, I notice that I am now able to bend over in my wheel chair and utilize my legs and feet to stabilize me so that I don’t topple over onto the floor.   This is a definite indication that I am getting stronger!  I remember the first time that I toppled over and out of the wheelchair when I lived in Culver City.  Mike and Vernon came running to the rescue.  My ego was bruised more than anything.  I felt like a defective weeble-wobble.

Matthew 15:28

Hello World,

Its 12:57 a.m. and I am taking advantage of the fact that I can not sleep to continue writing my story under the “My Story” tab of this site.  As I am writing, a light bulb came on in my head about my left leg.

My left leg has been slower to recover than my right leg.  These days I am working very hard to strengthen the muscles in my left foot and ankle.  I have limited movement of the toes and I am not able to resist force in either the flexed or stretched position.  More specifically, my big toe is the digit that seems to show the least amount of recovery activity.

Now, as I am sharing with you about the TM onset, I realize that my left foot and toe was the first area to be affected.  This is my ground zero area and is therefor the area that has been affected for the longest period of time.  I wonder if there is a correlation to the point of origin as it relates to the rate of recovery time.  Hmmmmm, I wonder if this is why I have a left leg lagging!

The good news is that there is new and noticeable movement….  I’ll keep you posted as this develops.

Psalms 51:10

It is 12:07 am and I can’t sleep.  I am quite anxious to figure out this blog formatting.  If if seems a little scatterbrained, please forgive me.  I promise I will figure it out shortly.  I spent a great deal of the day yesterday sorting out photographs for the Photo Journal.

NR:  As I sit here in bed I realize that my ankle on my right leg is experiencing more of a new release than earlier in the day yesterday.  This is good news!  I’m excited!  As I attempted to prop myself up into a more comfortable position, I noticed that I was able to bring my right leg up with the knee pointing toward the ceiling with much less effort.  Whoop-Whoop!  HaHa!  You will see that the very little things in my recovery make me just estatic.  So I am glad that I can not sleep tonite or otherwise I would not have been able to share this with you so quickly.

I have to make note of the fact that over the past three months I have experienced the most recovery activity since the TM onset in September 2010.  When the doctors told me that it would probably take two (2) years for any possible recovery, I just could not believe that to be true.  I don’t know why but I immediately thought to myself “this lady has no idea what she is talking about and why is she giving me a two year sentence of imprisonment”  Well I see that I am nearly at the two year mark now…. I guess she was right…. dang it.  HaHa!

I finally made myself go to sleep at appx 3:00 a.m. and surprisingly enough I was up at about 9:00 a.m.

NR:  When getting out of the bed in the morning, I transfer from the bed to the wheelchair. Typically I wheel over to the walker before attempting to get into a standing position because I am never sure of my balance.  However today, I transferred from the bed to the chair and them proceeded to stand up (successfully!) without the walker.  I kept my balance and raised my hands to God in praise.

I adopted a dog today.  The cutest little Yorkie who is about three years old.  I had been contemplating adoption for the past several months.  I was open to adopting any breed and searched the websites of shelters and rescue agencies of the surrounding area.  I just didn’t seem to find the right fit.  But lo and behold, Chico found his way into my home via a family member.  He seems to be the perfect fit and I am looking forward to his companionship since I am home alone so often.  Chico is a little shy and refuses to look at the camera right now – HaHa!

2 Timothy 1:7

Good Afternoon World….

Today marks the first day that I begin to blog to the world.  I spent most of the night trying to set up/format this website.  As you can see it will take me a bit more time to spruce up the pages so that itis pleasing to the eye.

However, I do want to begin to communicate with you right away because that is what I feel is the most  important.  My main purpose here is to share my experience in hope that it can help someone who is going through a similar situation.

I will add this disclaimer as I begin.  I have never read a blogbefore (I know that may be hard to believe but its true) and I stopped myself from researching other blogs before I began.  I don’t want to duplicate anything that I’ve seen elsewhere.  I am going to just write from my heart and hopefully this will come out right.

I have set up my little writing station in my living room, behind the couch and near the window that looks out over the back yard.  I can smell the jasmine that is growing on the trellis by the window’s edge.  There is a slight breeze that brings the fragrance of the flowers wafting into the house.  I can also watch television from where I am sitting and I am also very close to kitchen snacks.  I’m prone to hot flashes so it is extremely important that I can get to the freezer and get a popsicle when my own little personal summer arrives – HaHa!

I woke up late this morning because I was up so late last night.  I am feeling great today.  My spirit feels uplifted.  I turned on the television to listen to the Music Channel and the song by Smokie Norful began to play.  It is called “I Understand”  (Note: I love gospel music).  I had to stop writing, throw up my hands in Praise to God and sing this song.   If you like gospel music like I do, I recommend you listen to this uplifting song.

When I woke up this morning, I noticed a “new release.”  When I notice that I can do something that I’ve not been able to do previously I will call it a new release (NR) because it is as if my body has released a nerve, or a muscle or a tendon from a locked position.

NR:  I was able to move my little toe on my right foot independently of moving all the other toes of the foot.  The day before yesterday the NR was the ability to move the ankle of my right leg in a circular motion.  Now, I’ve been able to do this before, however, the range of motion has begun to increase.  I am attributing this in part to the fact that I began to use a balance board over the past two weeks.  Whenever I am sitting in this wheelchair and am not mobile, I have my feet on the balance board and I rotate through a series of exercises that I believe strengthen the muscles in and and around the foot.  I am not ready to stand on the balance board without assistance.  I have to continuously tell myself “safety first” because I get excited when I realize that I can do something new and I always want to push the envelope.  So I will wait until I go to physical therapy to stand on the board to improve my standing balance.  For now, when I am at home I will just practice simple standing up at the walker.

Pictured below is the balance board that I purchased from Amazon.com.  Please note that I do not endorse Reebok, I chose it for the price ($17.00) and simplicity of the board

Another update I must share is that when I stood up at the walker today, I feel a loosening of the muscles in my groin area.  I have to be honest and say that I’m not quite sure if this is so or just because I’ve sat here too long writing and formatting this blog site.  But regardless of what may be happening, I am feeling activity.

2 Kings 20, 3-5