Thursday, May 13

I'm almost afraid to say it out loud - or rather, type it out there in the universe... but I think we just might be starting to turn the corner! During those awful days when Jimmy was suffering with the post-lumbar headache, I began to notice that he seemed a bit more stable when I helped him around. I wondered if his brain was distracted by the introduction of pain into these previously docile (albeit wobbly) circumstances. I also wondered if the hours of forced rest were beneficial.

He was pooped after his day in Old Town yesterday (sadly, there were no margaritas for the elementary school students, Tami). We ran a few errands and then came home to rest. We ventured back out for dinner at Islands, and again I noticed that he was requiring a lot less support when getting in and out of the chair. He slept hard last night, and at bedtime I gave him the usual pep talk about visualizing himself standing, walking, running. Last week I had used the visual image of a stairway we hiked in Hawaii for a concrete place where he could imaging himself walking, but he had been unable to see himself doing anything but fall. Last night he said he was still falling, but he could catch himself with the railing.

This morning he got himself up out of bed and down the hall in his wheelchair without assistance. He started telling me about his dream, which took place at karate class, and during the long involved telling, I interrupted to ask: "Were you walking?" He thinks he was.

He wanted to test his legs, so he stood up. And he stayed up! He stepped forward, and fell down.

We just got home from the half day at school, he's chilling before we head to physical therapy at Bill's school. When we got here, we linked arms to walk from the door to the couch, and he was wobbly, but he almost made it the whole way without needing my other arm to catch him. This is exactly where he was when we left the hospital on April 24th. That point also followed a period of complete bedrest. We expected fast and steady progress then, and ended up in a wheelchair on the 28th. So we're staying calm and realistic, but we are also terribly encouraged and ready to ditch that damned chair. We've set a goal of June 1st.

He has a strong, positive outlook and he is determined to get back on his feet, back on his bike, back to his life.

Go, Wobble Boy!