The Story

This is a blog designed to keep my family and friends up to date with my recovery in therapy and life. For those that don't know, I was is a terrible snowboarding accident on March 4, 2010. I was traveling down a trail with my brother-in-law Casey. We were going fast, but weren't out of control. Due to the time of the day, there was what they call " a white out effect", that's when a person has a hard time noticing some elevation changes in the snow. Unfortunately for me, when I reached the point in the trail where it merged with another trail, there was a bad drop off. By the time I realized this it was too late. I sailed off of the drop and was about 15-20ft. in the air before I landed on my tailbone in the hard packed snow. My legs instantly went numb and I was having a very hard time breathing. Casey rushed to me and all I could say was " I just paralyzed myself, go get help!". I was air lifted to Loma Linda Hospital and after hours of test they found that I had shattered my T12 vertebrate. I was put into surgery for 4 hours and received a titanium cage, rods, screws and other materials to rebuild my spine. During the injury my spinal cord was compressed and the broken pieces from the vertebrate actually punctured my spinal cord. After a few days in the ICU, I started to get feeling on the top of my thighs, knees and front of my shins. This was amazing because initially the doctors didn't expect me to regain much, if any , feeling or movement in my legs. I spent 8 days recovering in the ICU before I was transferred to Long Beach Memorial Rehab Center. I spent 2 weeks recovering there, as well as receiving great therapy. I progressed so well that I was actually discharged a week early. Next, I researched outpatient therapy centers and found Precision Rehabilitation in Long Beach. Lucky for me their gym is close and has some of the most qualified therapist in the country. That's the story and the rest will be posted here for you all to enjoy.

As you all can imagine, this has been a terrorizing experience. If it wasn't for the strong support of my family and friends, I know without a doubt, I wouldn't be able to get through this. I strongly look forward to getting back on my feet, so that I can enjoy everyday with my beautiful wife and wonderful boys.


Monday, June 21, 2010

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.
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Monday, June 14, 2010

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.
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