12/27/10

Well it's been a while, but here is the latest. About a month ago my therapist ( Ziad) did a progress test. I've had to do this test a couple of times since my injury in march and I've been fortunate enough to have considerable gains. The test grades you on several different exercises, all of which pertain to daily mobility and tasks. A normal person would score a maximum of 58 points. The first time I scored 17 and the second time I scored 30. Well this time I scored 41, which I'm pleased about! I understand that, the closer I get to 58, the smaller the gains will be; however, as long as I get there, that's all that really matters. Other than that, Ziad has really been pushing me and is constantly challenging me with different exercises. I've been experiencing a lot of functional gains since I've been working with him. Nicole recorded some video from therapy today, so I thought that I'd share it with you. There are two videos, one VIDEO of me walking around therapy picking things up off the floor and maneuvering cones and the other VIDEO of some balance training. I hope you enjoy the update, until next time, cheers!

11/22/10

I just wanted to give you all an update. Everything has been good for the family and myself. Nicole has been doing really good with her school work and just passed her big test to start the nursing program in January. My therapy has been good as well. I've been working with my new therapist for a couple months now, and I really enjoy working with him. He really keeps things fresh and is constantly changing things up. It helps me, because I tend to get bored doing the same workout everyday. We have been working on my walking without any assisting devices and we've also been doing exercises to help with daily tasks, such as, picking things up off of the floor while standing and trying to step over small obstacles. Here's a video of my session last Thursday, hope you enjoy, cheers!

October 17

Well I'm very pleased to tell you that the marathon was a huge success! Unfortunately the mile markers seemed to be a little inaccurate. The first mile marker seemed to be further than a mile. Everyone thought that it was weird that we walked so long to reach the first mile when we could see the second mile marker not very far away. It didn't matter if the first marker was farther than a mile or not because I still walked to it with my forearm crutches! Of course the first mile was the hardest one with a lot of elevation changes, and the last 2.2 miles were a little more flat. I sat in my chair from the first mile marker and somewhere around the last mile I stood back up and finished with my crutches. Our group was filled with many patients from Precision Rehabilitation, so we were a little slow. Unfortunately the city wanted the roads opened by 10:00am, so the finish line was taken down by the time we arrived. It didn't matter though because we had our own celebration. To my surprise I basically walked 2 miles, which now feel like two of the greatest miles I have ever walked. I look forward to next year so that I can show up without my wheelchair. Here is a video of the day and click here for the photos or view my gallery above. Just to let you all know, I have made it easier for everyone to leave comments. Now you don't have to be registered to the blog to leave a comment; however, it will show up as anonymous, so make sure you leave your name in the comment field. Also, for those of you who do leave comments, I removed the word verification to save everyone a step. Hope it helps. Thank you for all of your continued support. Talk to you soon, cheers!

October 14

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I will be participating in my first walk this Sunday. It's the Long Beach marathon and we will be walking to help raise money for the Paralysis Project. I'm joining members of Precision Rehabilitation and we'll be doing the 5k, which is 3.2 miles. I'll be using my forearm crutches for as much as possible and then I will switch to my wheelchair. My personal goal is to walk 1 mile with the crutches. It'll be tough but I think that I can make it. I'll shoot some video and post for you afterwards. Wish me luck, cheers!

September 27

       Well today was a very exciting day for me. I woke up to a phone call from my wheelchair vendor and he informed me that my chair arrived. He said that they had to run it through their quality assurance department and we scheduled an appointment for him to deliver it to my house on Thursday. So, I had therapy today, which went well, and as I was leaving the vendor showed up to do a wheelchair evaluation for another patient; however, to my surprise, they brought my chair in the hope that I would be there. You wouldn't believe how excited and surprised I was. The chair looks exactly as I had hoped it would. I'm very happy with how it turned out and it's very comfortable for me to sit in. It's 3" narrower than the other chair, so it makes life a lot easier while maneuvering around the house. I love this chair, but I'm still looking forward to not having to use it in the future. I'm pushing myself to use my forearm crutches as much as possible. In fact, when I go to therapy on Wednesdays, I don't even take my chair with me. I would say that I'm almost at an even 50/50 of using the chair and using the crutches. Last Tuesday I met with the doctor and my therapist. They did some progress testing and the test showed that 5 different muscle groups have improved. I haven't had any movement in my feet yet, but recently I have been getting some new feelings in them. Lately they have been feeling as if they are sunburnt, which I guess is a stage in the nerve healing process. It might not sound fun, but anything new to me is great. Well I hope all is well and here are some photos ot the new chair, cheers!

                    
 

August 30

Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I've been doing really good myself lately and I thought that I would update you all. The past couple of weeks I've been working extra hard. I was feeling like I wasn't seeing the progress that I like, so I decided to step it up. I started to push myself around the house more with my forearm crutches and have been trying not to rely on my wheelchair as much. I'm happy to tell you that yesterday, for the first time, I spent the entire day out of my wheelchair! Naturally it isn't something I can do everyday, but it was very motivating to get me out of my chair. Some of you may remember me posting a video of myself trying to take unassisted steps at therapy in the parallel bars. Well I've been practacing here at the house and I'm getting better. I wanted to show you how it's looking, so here is a short video of me trying to walk on my own. I had to keep the crutches in my hands for safety, but I practice some without them. I'm excited to see that my hard work has been paying off and more excited to share it with you. Thanks for all of the support, Josh.

August 24

Here's a little video from therapy the other day. These workouts are designed to help strengthen my back and challenge my balance. A month ago I wouldn't have been able to do the workout with the ball because my hips were not strong enough to keep my balance, so that shows some of the little progress that I've been making. Enjoy!

August 11

Sorry I haven't had much to write about recently, but I'm still working hard in therapy. The whole family was sick the last couple of weeks, but we're feeling better now. My insurance stoped covering my therapy visits back in June, so we've been paying out of pocket, thanks to all of the donations. I haven't been able to record much in therapy, but I do have a little video of what keeps me motivated. I know you all like to see the videos, so here is one with Riley and myself playing in our front yard. Video

Car raffle

Hey I wanted to let you all know that one of the mechanics at my work is having a raffle for his car. It is only $10 for a ticket and you can buy as many as you want. It is an 85 Volvo in very good condition and perfect working order. He's planning on donating the money to us to help with therapy and medical expenses. We are very greatful to him and would like to try and raise as much money as possible. Here is the flyer for advertising. If you would like to buy tickets, I have some with me, contact me at carnes_99@sbcglobal.net

July 14

Hello all, it's been a little while since my last post, but I haven't forgot about you. I have been working hard in therapy and it is slowly starting to show. I never thought that it was going to be so hard, and the sad thing is I'm one of the lucky ones. I have two new videos for you to see. Today my therapist asked me if I was willing to try the elliptical machine and you know I'm always up for a challenge! So we thought we would see if it was possible and I actually surprised myself. I surprised my therapist and a few others in there. They normally have to strap others feet down, but I have pretty good control of my feet now. It's no Academy Award winning performance, but my therapist and I were pleased. This should really help strengthen my legs, as well as keeping my ankle joints stimulated. Hopefully I will see some movement down there soon. Here is Video 1 and Video 2. I hope you enjoy. I still haven't heard anything about my wheelchair, but I talked to the rep today and he said we should hear something by the end of next week. I'll keep you posted, Josh

July 1

Hello everyone, everything is going good. My pressure sores have fully healed, which has allowed me to get back to all of my normal routines. I have been using the FES bike again and enjoying it. I feel that it really helps to improve the strength in my legs. I usually get to therapy early everyday and practice my walking. It isn't anything to celebrate but I have been improving. I thought that I would provide you all with some videos so you could see where I'm at. I also have an old video which shows me walking in the parallel bars with one hand. I practice walking without using my hands and here are the two videos. Video 1 and Video 2. Well I hope you enjoy them and have a great 4th! Talk to you soon, Josh.

June 21

Today at therapy I was fitted for my own personal wheelchair. It was pretty exciting to be able to design the chair to my taste. Hopefully I'll get it in the next month or so and I'll post some pictures for everyone to see. Over the weekend I had a couple of contractions in my calf muscles. I wasn't sure if it meant anything, so I asked the therapist. She seemed pretty excited and decided to test my achilles reflex. To our surprise, I now have a reflex in my foot when she struck my achilles tendon. Hopefully this will lead to future movement of my feet, but only time will tell. Hope everyone is doing well and I'll keep you updated on any progress.

June 14

Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. I've been out of commission recently, because of some pressure sores that appeared on my butt. I found them two weeks ago and have had to stay off of my rear end as much as possible. I continued to go to therapy, but besides that it has been long days in bed. The good news is the sores are healing. The right one is almost completely healed and the left probably has another week to go. The doctor, my therapist and myself were very surprised to find out that I had pressure sores. For how active I have been it is very uncommon to get these sores. We have all come to the conclusion that my wheelchair is the cause of the sores. There are two reasons, the first is the cushion that I had wasn't properly adjusted for me. The second is the chair itself is too short for my legs causing me to have excessive pressure on my butt and not allowing my thighs to bare any weight. I since have a better cushion and will be getting my own wheelchair that is custom fitted for me in a few weeks.

Since I last wrote, my surgeon has given me permission to remove my brace. Now that I have my brace off I have been slowly strengthening my lower back muscles. I hadn't realized how weak they grew by wearing the brace. I've been making very good progress towards walking. Overall I'm really pleased with my progress and I'm looking forward to getting active as the sores heal.

May 21

Today was a great day of therapy, I worked really hard. The good news is that my dad was there today as well as my brother so I was able to get some video for everyone. There are three videos, first is me working on stairs so click here, the second is me with forearm crutches so click here and the third is me walking with minimal hand assistance from Chad and Jerry, the therapist, so click here. I really like walking with their assistance, because it is the closest thing to real walking and I'm using almost all legs. I mainly use their hands to help balance myself. I hope you all enjoy the videos and I'll check back in next week.

Have a good weekend, Josh

May 20

I don't have anything too exciting to write about this week; however, I met a couple at therapy this week and he is in a wheelchair as well. We just hung out with them tonight here at our house and they are really nice people. We just talked for a few hours and seemed to like each other. It's nice being able to talk with other people who are experiencing the same challenges as you are. Hopefully we'll be hanging out more in the future. I'll try to get some more videos soon, because I know that you all like to see them.

May 13

Yesterday in therapy I did some more walking with the forearm crutches. I'm really enjoying that because it makes me feel like I will be getting out of my chair, sooner than later. We shot some video of it and another one with me walking in the parallel bars. It was shot on a phone, so it isn't the best quality. To see the video with the forearm crutches click here and the parallel bars click here. I hope you enjoy and I can't thank everyone enough for all the supportive comments you all have been leaving.

May 11

Well I hope all the mom's had a great Mother's Day. I don't have any big news, but I have been working hard in therapy. I have been noticing improvement in the strength of my legs. Yesterday I walked with some forearm crutches and I did pretty well for my first time. My therapist really wants to get me walking with a cane in the next few weeks, but we'll have to wait to see if it is a realistic goal, I think it is! I haven't been able to shoot any videos or pictures lately, but I'll try to soon.

Catching up!

It has been a few days since my last post, but things are going really good. The poker tournament had a great turn out. Everyone seemed to have a really good time, I know I did! Sunday I had an outing by myself for the first time. I have been able to take my walker out to my truck, stand up with it and then put my wheelchair in the back of my truck. Then I walk to the side of the truck and hop in. It feels really nice to get more self efficient. This week, and the next two weeks, my therapist is on vacation. I'm working with a therapist named Jerry right now and I really enjoy him. He has been doing some different types of workouts and he pushes me pretty hard. I posted a short new video and hopefully there will be more by the end of the week. I'll try to post some pictures tonight.

Thursday April 29

Hello everyone, I haven't had much to write about this week, but everything is going great. Wednesday my therapist worked me really hard on the treadmill and on the leg press machine. I'm still feeling it today, so it must have been a good workout. Some friends came and visited today and brought me an exercise bike. I'm really excited to be able to work my legs a little more often. I'm looking forward to therapy tomorrow and to the poker tournament on Saturday, hope to see you there at 4:00pm.

Poker Tournament May 1

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend, I sure did. Saturday night we hung out with some friends of ours, Kieth and Trieste. We went to dinner and then came back to our place and had a good time. Today we just enjoyed some much needed family time. My friend Jason is having a poker tournament to help raise money for my therapy. The tournament is May 1 and it will be at his house. It will be a $50.00 buy in with half of the money going to us and the other half will go to the pot. If you're not into poker, you can still donate half the amount and enjoy the food and drink. He will be having the " Taco Guy" provide the food and plenty of beverages will be available. Should be a great time, so if you are interested please contact him at jwaustin80@yahoo.com or me at carnes_99@sbcglobal.net

End Of The Week

Yesterday was a nice day, my cousin Jason took me out to lunch to get sushi. It was nice to get out and stay current on work related stuff, Thanks Man! Today was a really good day of therapy. My therapist taught me how to manage curbs in my wheelchair to help keep myself safe. We also worked on a special exercise bike that uses electrodes to stimulate my muscles, the machine is pretty high tech. It knows exactly when my various muscles need to work. It can tell if I'm using my muscles and how strong they are. If they aren't strong enough, the electrodes will make my muscles work. It has a motor for people who can't peddle it, but I can do it on my own. There are very few of these in the country and people come from all over southern California to use it. I've been told that this machine has created some real miracles and I'm very excited to be using it. I added a few more videos to the site. One is from Wednesday, it shows me walking in therapy with a walker. The other two are from today, which show me practicing the curbs and working on the bike.I also added some more photos, so check them out. I hope you all enjoy and I wish everyone a great weekend!

4/20/10

Well I saw the doctor today and it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I thought that he might take some x-rays to let me know how my spine is healing, unfortunately he didn't. He did say that I will most likely get to take my brace off in 6 weeks, which is on the shorter end of the initial 3-6 month estimate. He was pleased to see how much movement I have in my legs, because originally he didn't expect me to regain much, if any. He really didn't have much else to say, except that we will have some x-rays at my next appointment in 6 weeks.


Off subject, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank some friends. Nicole and I have been receiving some more than generous donations. I'm not sure how many of you are following this blog, but you know who you are. Please don't be afraid to comment or ask questions and THANK YOU!

April 19, 2010

They kicked my butt today at therapy! The good news is, I welcome the pain and fatigue. I added another treadmill video from today, not much different from the first, but I was able to walk faster for a longer period of time. Tomorrow ( Tuesday) I have an appointment with my surgeon ( Dr. Azgarzadie) from Loma Linda. I'm excited to talk with him and find out when I might be able to take my brace off. I also have a lot of questions for him, because I was pretty much out of it while I was in the hospital. I will let you all know how it goes.

Welcome to my new Blog!

I would like to welcome everyone to my new blog. It will be here for everyone to stay current on my progress throughout my recovery. I will try to keep it updated a couple of times each week. You will notice two links below the story section. The first is for photos, which directs you to my Picasa web album. This is where I will keep all of my photos from therapy and maybe some from everyday life. The second link is for videos, which shows you my Youtube videos. Sometimes Youtube will momentaraly advertise videos that aren't mine, so make sure that it's my video that you are clicking on. I'm not sure how much I will be filming at therapy, but I'll do as much as possible. I encourage you to check frequently. Currently there is one video now. This video shows me on a tredmill, while being hoisted with a special lift. Research has shown that this is a very important type of therapy to stimulate the nerves and to get the brain to comunicate with my legs again. It doesn't look like much, but the therapist were amazed at how well I did for my first time.

I'm really excited to bring this blog to all of you, because without you, my recovery wouldn't be possible. I'm shocked at the amount of love and support that everyone has giving Nicole and I. We love you very much and hope you enjoy.