Since the time I regained consciousness in the Dunedin Hospital system, I have waged an uphill battle towards my recovery and rehabilitation. I have made remarkable strides, but I feel there are gains I can yet make.
Sunday, July 4th, 2004, marked the two-year anniversary of my traumatic snowboarding accident in New Zealand. Two years on, and I am still moving onward and upward! To provide a status report, here is my current situation:
The two biggest foci of my life now are rehab and school. In rehab, I decreased the frequency of my sessions to two days per week starting at the beginning of June. Now I am expected to create my own goals because I achieve many goals as my therapists can create them. In Physical Therapy, I have focused recently on jogging. Although my running may never appear the same way it did before my accident, I have worked to increase both my speed and fluidity of movement. This process began with hopping to strengthen my leg muscles in the movements used in jogging. As hopping improved, I started jogging short distances indoors and outside.
This outdoor exercise led to a goal of jogging continuously for three to five minutes. The first time I attempted to jog around the rehab center, I reached less than half-way before I fatigued. Since then, I have succeeded in jogging the perimeter of the building, only to learn that this consumes fewer than two minutes. To surpass this goal, I remained indoors with my therapist and jogged repeatedly in a big circle for a total of three minutes. Maybe by next year I can try to run the Boston Marathon!
As for school, I have been attending The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) since fall 2003. I hope to enter the Occupational Therapy (OT) program and eventually work as a therapist. I completed a General Psychology class earlier this summer with a grade of a B, and am currently taking a Developmental Psychology class. In another 3 weeks, I shall have completed 6 of the 9 prerequisites needed to enter the OT program.
Anatomy, Physiology, and an English class are the only courses that stand between me and application to the program.
I am pleased with the progress I have made in the last two years. I appreciate the support I have received from family and so many friends. You will never know how much your encouragement has meant to me.
This website was originally created to chronicle my status beginning at the time of my snowboarding accident in New Zealand on July 5, 2002. Now, this is where I occasionally post things that are of interest to me.