... Can you BLAME ME?!

... OF COURSE I'M GONNA BE IN PAIN!   A guy INCISED a GASH in my "stomach area-epidermis".  (I THINK there are more "procedures" involved, but I'm getting sick just THINKING about it.  Excuse me, while I BARF/VOMIT/REGURGITATE/RALPH!)

(Regarding my last blog)

... UPDATE: MY NURSE (who comes to my house three times per day to "feed" me via "G-tube") JUST mixed some pain-medication in with my normal "meds".  "Low and behold" ("Knock on wood."), I am NOW in A LOT LESS pain!   MORAL: Have PATIENCE--which I've been struggling to "overcome"/"beat".  (I'm blaming my recent LACK OF patience on my brain-injury.) (SSSHHH!  Don't tell!)

OW, it HURTS!

... So, I went to the doctor today (Tuesday, July 31) and had my G-tube site relocated along my stomach.   (Yes, I was knocked unconscious via "drugs".  But, UPON "WAKING UP", I was in SCORCHING PAIN!)  I didn't cry--'cuz I'm a MAN.  (THAT was chauvinistic!  MY BAD!) The doctor offered me a "painkiller", but, since the nurse said that I would have to stay longer (I'd already been at the hospital for ~FIVE HOURS!), I declined.   NOW, I'regretting my decision.

Changing outlook

Recently, I started pondering, "WHAT IF I NEVER WALK AGAIN?!"   (I don't know WHY I thought THAT!) ... I mean, my walking--STILL with SOME help--albeit MINIMAL--in my "Physical Therapy" seems to be improving each week.  MAYBE I'm just REALLY EAGER to maneuver myself via MY LEGS again.  (I'M SHRUGGING.)  WHEN DID I BECOME A PESSIMIST?!   (I apologize.  I was "talking to myself"/"speaking aloud".)    But THEN, ALL doubts were dashed last night when I watched a GREAT film!  I heard THIS QUOTE:   "Hope is a GOOD thing--maybe the best of things."(--Andy Dufresne, 'The Shawshank Redemption')   THAT QUOTE invigorated/revitalized me into "HOPING" that I could ONCE AGAIN (When I FIRST got injured, NUMEROUS doctors said that--AT BEST--I would remain a "vegetable".) prove ANY/ALL doubters/haters incorrect.   MORAL: I WILL WALK AGAIN!

... Follow-up to my last blog:

... (This is ALSO from 'Revenge of the Nerds II'.)

... "What if, uh, C-A-T really spelled dog?"   

DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND?!

Isn't THIS

... from the poem/short-story, 'Jabberwocky'?  (I don't know, 'cuz I'm reciting THESE WORDS from my MEMORY.)  "... One-two, one-TWO and through and THROUGH.  The vorpal blade went snicker-SNACK.  ... went galumphing BACK." ((I couldn't remember ALL THE WORDS.  PLUS, I'm not POSITIVE that's the correct title.  (Nonetheless, I support my intuition!) So, judges?))  A.J.'s memory -- 0.75 BRAIN-INJURY -- 0.00 (In tennis I'd be up 40-love ... 'cuz I'M serving!)

For SHAME!

... So, I JUST got home from observing my Karate class.  There's this one TINY girl (~4 or 5 years old) who kept shutting her eyes as she kicked while sparring.  The teacher/Professor told her, "Jasmine, don't shut your eyes." Naturally (I WOULD THINK!), I IMMEDIATELY thought of the lyrics to "A Whole New World"--a romantic song from the Disney animated film, 'Aladdin': "DON'T you DARE close your eyes!" I GREATLY enjoyed THIS CLASS, and soon I'll be teaching class AGAIN--as I did PRE-accident.  (Thursday night Karate class could VERY WELL be a regular, continuing thing.)   Bottom line: DON'T JUDGE ME for KNOWING the 'Aladdin' songS!

Food for Thought:

... (I KNOW THIS doesn't NECESSARILY have to do with my "therapy", but THIS is just SOMETHING about which my TRAUMATICALLY-INJURED brain ponders:)   How can perpetual BIG-ness exist SIMULTANEOUSLY with perpetual SMALL-ness?   "Easy.  Take an ASYMPTOTIC line, and extend it."    (Yes, THAT ABSTRACT ISSUE is from 'Revenge of the II', but I still pondered it.)

HOLIDAY

http://mathematicianspictures.com/PI/CASUAL_PI.htm   (What's so "casual" about PI?!)   (... OH, I GET IT!  I had a "brain-fart"!   It's "casual", because 22/7 is JUST an APPROXIMATION--UNLIKE 3.1415026535987.) (... Yeah, so I've memorized the first FOURTEEN digits of pi.   SO?!)    (... PLUS, the date REVERSES the numbers.)

Thanks, Angelina (Jolie)!

... Apparently, my Botox injections--into my arms, NOT my lips--worked!  Yesterday, before stretching, my "caregiver" said to me, "WOW, your (MY) fingers are definitely moving better!" (Yes, my doctor gave me some finger/shoulder/arm-"stretching" exercises to help me get more/BETTER maneuverability.  I do THESE every hour for ~five minutes.) In conclusion, YAY!

Why, YES! I HAVE had some "work" done!

... Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment.  While there, I received FIVE Botox injections (four in my LEFT--"bad", injured--arm and--strangely--ONE in my RIGHT--stronger, better--arm).  I received the injections in the hopes that the "drug" may RELAX my muscles into more, BETTER, pain-free movement.   So, as for results: "Only time will tell."   TANGENT: Strangely (?!), the doctor DENIED my request for some Botox in my lips.  Apparently, UNFORTUNATELY, I can't be "Angelina Jolie"-esque. BUT, I WANNA BE BEAUTIFUL!

It's difficult to explain without SEEING it.

... In my Physical Therapy, FIRST I tried this exercise/routine against a wall.  I would position my wheelchair VERY CLOSE TO AND FACING a wall. THEN, I would press my toes--through my shoes--against the wall.  NEXT, I would position my hands on my wheelchair accordingly. (My "caregiver" helps move my "STUBBORN" left pinkie.) FINALLY, I lean forward and push my body up and OUT of my wheelchair.  So, I'm STANDING--with NO ASSISTANCE--YAY--against the wall! (So, it looked like I MIGHT BE "making out" with the wall.) (... I WASN'T.) (I'm not gonna lie: I felt like I was in TIME-OUT.) (I thought: WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!"  "WHY ARE YOU--MY PHYSICAL THERAPIST-- PUNISHING ME?!")    NEXT, I "performed" THIS exercise along the outside of one side of my parallel bars.  I STILL had SUCCESS.  YAY! PLUS, I would reach back and down--with my LEFT, WEAKER, INJURED hand--and grab my left wheelchair-armrest to SLOWLY, STEADILY sit myself down in my wheelchair.  (I've been underestimating the STRENGTH and CONTROL of my LEFT hand.)   MORAL: NEVER doubt ME! Pessimism/Doubt = BLASPHEMY!