I am back in Sacramento!

So I have been home for a few weeks now and am adjusting to life out of the hospital and life as a person with quadriplegia. My good friend Josh and his wife Irit have welcomed me into their home with open arms and have been very accommodating. I have my own room with a hospital bed, wheel chairs, and Hoyer lift along with all my stuff including my flat screen TV for movies and Sports Center.

I am humbled by all of the support I have received from friends, loved ones, and complete strangers. To be honest it has been overwhelming but in a good way. Most people only get to experience this when they die, the silver lining in all of this is I get to experience it while I am still around. I am very grateful and appreciative to everyone who has contributed resources, research, donations, and most importantly time. It is a debt that I will never be able to repay. I am committed to myself and all of you to working on my recovery on a daily basis with 100% effort.

Since I no longer have 24 hour hospital care I have built a support/caregiver team which consists of Josh and Irit as well as Karen who is a certified caregiver that spends the first four hours of each day with me helping me with everything from getting out of bed, to showering, to eating, etc…. My days are spent with family and friends who come by and spend time with me and work with me on range of motion exercises and keep me company. Our neighbor and friend Lindsy has stepped into a personal assistant/caregiver roll and is with me in the evenings doing all the things I need to get to bed as well as helping me with scheduling, emails, etc… My mom has been great with driving down off the mountain to spend time with me, train the caregivers, and step in whenever needed.

It is “hot as balls” here in Sac but definitely not as humid as Thailand. I love that I am able to spend time with Trapper (my dog) every day and go on walks/rolls with him to the park across the street. Nothing like seeing an old dog with gray whiskers and a handsome young man in a power chair cruising the neighborhood and park.

I am working hard every day on my recovery and here is the latest. Aunt Sally and Princess come by almost daily and do physical therapy with me which is helping tremendously. I have gained extension in my left hand and am feeling sensation in my left leg. My grip is getting stronger in both hands and I am building overall body strength. I am doing outpatient physical therapy and occupational therapy at a clinic. In addition, I am have a massage therapist and acupuncturist that work with me.

I go to see my spinal surgeon in Sacramento next week who will update me on the functioning of my neck and will let me know when my collar comes off. Hopefully things are healing well so I can begin to participate at SCI-FIT which is a private gym in Sacramento for SCI patients.

The reality of being “disabled” or whatever the PC term is these days occurred earlier this week when my DMV placard came so that I can park in the blue spots. In addition I was approved for para-transit so I am more mobile. I have been doing car transfers in and out of my chair to my car but am looking forward to staying in my chair and utilizing the ride services. Josh has found a connection that we are working on to get a wheelchair van donated so hopefully that comes through in the near future as being able to get out of the house helps with my sense of independence and normalcy.

I am back with cell phone service and check my phone every few hours when someone is around. Josh and Irit have been very accommodating with visitors so if you would like to see me please contact me to coordinate. I am on a restricted diet so please do not bring food, however, there are a few dogs around here so feel free to bring treats.

I am excited to have my brother and his beautiful wife come visit next week. I am also looking forward to going to the fund raising event at Vanguard next Friday the 11th (Thanks to Ryan P for setting it up), ordering a Double Blue Dolphin on the rocks (aka: Water), and seeing everyone.

I am working closely with a web developer (Ben) so in the upcoming weeks there will be new revisions and updates to the www.lovinglane.org website. I am committing myself to doing a personal update at least once a week.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend and please enjoy a beer or ten for me.

Thank you again for all your support,

Lane

p.s. The 4th is the 8 year anniversary of my father’s passing, he is with me daily.