Phillip Sherwood

I can’t remember as I look back in time any moment where I’ve been as busy as I am now. I want to pick back up from my trip to Maryland from the 3:30am start Saturday morning the 19th on my way from San Antonio. The flights went well and I made all my gates. That evening we celebrated my youngest brother’s 40th birthday at my mother’s house and it was crazy and full. I finally had to call it a day by 11pm when everything inside and out began shutting down telling me it’s time to rest… or else. My trip to Maryland was very short and I head back home to Huntsville and first thing on the agenda was to check progress of the house. They were well into installing the HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems and as I rechecked yesterday, everything was completed and all the bricks and stone were laid out to begin the exterior masonry this week. My updated photos are under the Construction Tab of the Photos page.

I had a really nice birthday yesterday and started the day with a batch of homemade pancakes. Huntsville had its annual Big Spring Jam this weekend but its historical curse returned and the show was hampered by intermittent rainstorms as has happened for several years now on this big concert in the park by multiple top recording artists in several different genres. This week I need to get back into my normal Physical Therapy, gym workout, stim bike routines. I went over to my friend Julia’s yesterday to blow candles out on my birthday cake but to get inside, I had to negotiate a series of short steps to get onto her back deck because going up the front way was a no starter. After a tip over while thinking how to get up these stairs, the neighbor came over to help me get back in and like after every “miscalculation”, a thorough skin check followed.

On Saturday, my friends Kevin & Carolyn came to the house to discuss a school empathy project Carolyn is doing for her degree in teaching. I had mentioned it earlier but as a reminder, it’s an empathy project to make the “youngins” aware of and empathetic towards people with disabilities. I made a checklist of indoor tasks to do from both in and out of the chair to give her some familiarization with the challenges of dragging around 70% of your body as dead weight. Not only did she quickly become aware of the fatigue factor but the extended length of time it takes to complete even the simplest task. After several hours of lecture and practical exercise, it was time to add adapting to life in public with both personal and structural accessibility issues however it was raining too hard for the two of us to go outside to continue lecture, demo and PE. We put outdoor tasks and interacting with the public off for another day.

I was notified with the results of my last blood cholesterol check and it was 161 however the doctor wants me to stay on the statin for now. While doing a skin check last week, I noticed an area on my left outer calf that caught my attention. I couldn’t remember how I may have scraped my leg but what I fear is possibility that this may be the onset of poor circulation ulcers I was previously warned about that may happen. Right now the protocol will be to just monitor and report as needed and keep wearing my compression stockings. I still haven’t heard anything back from the pain management center to reschedule my appointment for the Baclofen pump implant. My new manual standing wheelchair has a set of “Grade Ade” breaks that were customized at the VA that really don’t function as advertised so the Prototype Integration Facility here where I work is going to develop an adaptive device that will enhance this modification so it will be functional. These guys are the Army’s High-Tech, High-Speed, Low-Drag, Wind Tunnel Testing inventors that create more cool things for rapid deployment on the battlefield so I’m sure it will be a piece of art. I’d like to thank everyone who sent me their best wishes yesterday to celebrate my birthday. Thanks…phillip

This has been a week of catch up and recovery. I went to check the house to see the progress made during the past week and it looks as is most of the plumbing and HVAC is done but there’s still a bunch more to do on the wiring. They have a pathway for me set-up to facilitate my being able to get from the street to the garage. I’ve posted updated pics on the Photos>Construction tabe on the progress made on the inside. More in a few…

US Paralympics Archery-Sherwood

The US Paralympic Military Training Camp was a great experience and not only for the athletic exposure to various activities but interacting with all the veterans with disabilities. The US Army Ft. Sam Houston Garrison donated the airline tickets and lodging. The US Paralympic Center from Colorado Springs provided all the adaptive equipment, coaches and actual team members to provide instruction. The Army provided soldier helpers to assist with everything. There were also several sponsors that donated money and services to put on the camp at no cost to the participants.

The days were very long and strenuous but sleep at night came quick and deep. There was only about 30 minutes to an hour of personal time in the evening before having to go to sleep. There was one quadriplegic and his sport was tennis. Since he couldn’t grip the racquet, they taped it to his hand. The next most debilitating injury and newest was mine.

The events I participated in were wheelchair tennis, basketball, kayaking, archery and handcycling. I elected out of the floor volleyball and horseback equestrian events. I like horsepower but not horses. I didn’t do the floor volleyball to not risk any skin breakdown issues. I couldn’t do the sculling (team rowing) because my level of injury required more control of the lower abdominal muscles and better trunk stability. Fridays activities took place in Austin, TX and I don’t there’s a single one of us who isn’t whooped. I met a lot of great people. Wednesday night we all went to the horse track and really enjoyed it. We all pushed our own limits and were constantly doing problem solving. All the disabled helped one another with each’s shortcomings and taught a lot of the volunteer staff how to assist someone in a wheelchair. As for me, I learned a lot from this trip about myself and new “awakenings” from within. This camp required serious independence and adaptability. I learned new activities I can do either solo or with “walkers”. We packed six months of workouts into three days. My upper body is super fatigued and sore. Many of the walkers put themselves into wheelchairs for some of the events. Of the five spinal cord injured participants, only the quad from Kentucky and myself had no use of our lower extremities.

All but one in wheelchairs were struggling with weight issues. When asking amputees if they’d rather have their limbs back even if they didn’t work and be confined to a wheelchair they weren’t too hip with the idea however they do miss seeing their missing limbs. None in the group seemed dependent on someone or massive medication. All were in great spirits but two whiners who probably like that before their injuries. Tonight are the closing ceremonies and dinner then Saturday morning will be my flight to Washington DC at 6am. Although this was an absolutely awesome experience, I plan to keep my day job; at least for a little bit longer while I continue training my replacement.

I am here in San Antonio, Texas this week attending the US Paralympic Games and it started with a 6am flight out of Huntsville this morning. It was a super early morning for me so I was real happy to see the curb-side assist guy already there when I rolled up. For a tip, he takes the bags to the check-in with ID and money to process them while I parked. When I came back around, he had my boarding pass in hand and I proceeded right to the gates. There was a changeover in Dallas but the aircraft I was on was the same going to San Antonio so I didn’t have to get off the plane. Shortly after takeoff I started feeling like I had to pee which was strange since I just went about 2½ hours earlier. By the time we landed and I got to a bathroom, I had a severely bloated bladder of 900cc! This is really bad. This is another thing that’s been happening lately too. I can go and it not be much but a couple hours later it’s like I haven’t gone all day. I still haven’t heard anything back from the VA doc.

I was met by a rep at the baggage pick-up and was led to a waiting van outside that already had a couple of other passengers inside. We arrived at the Powless Guest House on the Fort Sam Houston military base where we registered for the program and were assigned our rooms. The Powless Guest House is primarily used for injured soldiers who are transitioning out of the service due to injuries sustained while on active duty. The majority are folks returning from Iraq or Afghanistan grossly disfigured some with burns and most were caused by IEDs. In our group there are 46 people with injuries sustained while serving on active duty or after having left the service like myself. The extents of the injuries are as varied as the imagination can conjure with 19 of us in wheelchairs. Of those 19, very few are spinal cord injured. Compared with some of the others here, I’m in pretty good shape. The vast majority don’t work by choice since they have disability from the service and/or social security for disability.

We will be very busy with group activities during both days and nights. Tonight was the newcomer’s reception and dinner where they explained the program and all who are supporting the US Paralympics military programs. It’s late and I’ve had a super long day and the days start at 7am sharp. More coming tomorrow as time permits…phillip

This was a very busy and tiresome but productive week. The drive there was grueling for some reason and I was so tired before I even reached the halfway point. I got to the hotel in Augusta around 10pm and went to bed finally after getting all my stuff inside, unpacked, accommodated and pre-bed rituals done. Around 6am, I was woken up by a construction crew working right outside my door making noise like they were building a skyscraper. I wanted to just crawl into a dark soundproof shell and go back to sleep but that wasn’t the plan for me. I got checked into the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) clinic by 9am for my preliminary BP, Temp, pulse, etc. I then met with the PA to give him an account of everything that’s been going on with me since my last visit. I wasn’t very impressed with him because I had to keep repeating what I was telling him and constantly correcting him as he repeated what he annotated back to me.

Finally I went on to my orthopedic appointment and discussed my shoulder options. If they go in and surgically smooth things out, I would have to be bedridden for six weeks after that since I wouldn’t be able to transfer then I’d have a lot of PT after that to gain back what I will have lost. I decided right then to reserve this for if/when the time comes where I don’t have the option. I elected to have him re-inject my AC joint with more cortisone. He said it would hurt but I had many other four letter words to describe the pain more descriptive than hurt. He went deep into the joint from several different directions. Last time it only worked until the numbing agent wore off but so far it is still working well.

Next was my appointment with Physical Therapy (PT) to get my chair and to have the other one fixed. After several tweaks, it was ready for prime time. I met up with Amanda after my days’ appointments were done. Amanda was my Occupational Therapist (OT) while I was an inpatient. She came by so I could go watch her at her karate class but I wanted to show her my new chair. I was so excited that I forgot to put my knee lock on and as I got about halfway up (it goes fast), I almost submarined off the seat and onto the floor. When she saw that, her OT instincts and cat like reflexes jumped in and blocked my knees while we got the chair back down & locked. It was a close call but I was able to successfully demo the chair the second time. On Friday, I linked back up with her and she helped me to get it setup better in the car for transport. It was nice seeing her again.

The next morning I had to wake up at 6am and having fasted for a cholesterol test at 9am. My first appointment was at the GU Clinic at 7am. For the first hour, I got an “ED for Dummies” class that was very interesting and even learned some new things. She was a really interesting elder lady and after she was done, I told her that was great and everything but wasn’t what I came in for. I told her I was there actually on a referral to do a check to see if I was still able to have children. Apparently I hit a raw nerve with her because she said she didn’t understand why doctors don’t do an extraction at the moment of injury shortly after arriving to the hospital since it only gets more difficult and complicated later but I was in luck. Although this procedure is not an automatic entitlement to vets, I was approved to go to the next phase. The VA is coordinating directly with the Shepherd Center for me to go and do an extraction procedure to check for viability. They will contact me when the appointment is set.

I went back to the SCI clinic to get blood drawn and they ended up sticking my four times to get a vein. I should have said something after the second try after I noticed the elder lady drawing the blood was cross-eyed. The SCI clinic was overflowing with patients and they were really backed up so I never got a chance to see the doctor so I’ll call for my results on Monday. After doing a couple more tweaks to the chair and getting a new front fanny pack for my new chair from Prosthetics, I head to the hotel to checkout and head home. The trip was going well until I hit Atlanta when sleep and fatigue started to set in. I got through the rush hour traffic and to the Alabama state line when I had to stop at a truck stop and get me a huge cup of hot coffee to get me the rest of the way home. When I finally pulled into Huntsville, I met Julia and her friend Teen for dinner. After dinner, I got home and went immediately to bed not to wake up until twelve hours later except for the IC’s I had to occasionally wake up and do.

Today, Saturday, I went to see my hair engineer Denise in the afternoon and had to show her my new chair. The best part of this chair is being able to give someone a big hug while standing. When I stand, everyone seems surprised by how tall I am. Whenever I have to wait for something, I take advantage of the opportunity and stand. It only takes about 3 seconds to go from sitting to standing. The quality of my life is already increasing 10-fold. My new chair is great but it’s a little wider and longer than my titanium foldable chair and doing pressure releases is not as affective. Of all the four chairs I own and have access to, all of them are different and each has its pros and cons. The important thing to note is that I am able to cover many different needs giving me more freedom and normalcy than before. Being able to stand and talk to someone eye-to-eye seems even for a moment to extinguish a perceived handicap. To hug someone you care about while standing is an overwhelming feeling I can’t even begin to describe unless you’ve been denied this ability. I think there may be far more psychological benefits than medical.

Sunday I will go by the house to check on the progress then head over to see Curtis and show him my chair. He is very interested in getting one himself but wants to see one in action first. I was invited to go to San Antonio this Tuesday to participate in the weeklong activities at the Paralympics Training Camp. It’s designed to introduce you and give you exposure to all the different types of wheelchair sports there are in the competition and there’ll be coaches & trainers there to assist. I’m really looking forward to this. Afterwards, they will be flying me to Washington DC where I’ll meet up with my family where we’ll be celebrating all of our September birthdays simultaneously in one big party. It’s late and this has been long. There were more things that happened like in all of my posts but I’ll uncover more details when I write my book one day…phillip

I had the day off of work on Friday which worked out well because I had a day full of personal appointments. I started the day by having to clean up a nasty hairball Bob left me sometime during the night. I’m kind of perplexed about this because the entire week I was gone, he didn’t throw up a single time but when I’m here he averages one per day. I’m not sure what that’s all about. After HAZMAT clean-up was done, I fixed myself a hot green tea and a bowl of Cheerios then jumped in the shower. I made it to my appointment with my hair engineer Denise on time and she cleaned up the rock star mop I was wearing on top of my head. I came home to do a session on my stim-bike as a warm up to my PT appointment scheduled for 3pm. When I arrived for my appointment, I already had a good sweat going that carried into the Frankenstein boot scootin’ boogie I was about to endure. I am getting better at doing laps up and back on the parallel bars but my left foot doesn’t lift up and step out as well as the right. The therapist says that’s common but it would be much more efficient if they both worked as advertised. Either way, I get a good cardio & strength workout by the end of the session.

After my therapy session, I had enough time to cool down and make it to my massage appointment that I always look forward to beginning right as the previous session ends. Although my back hasn’t been hurting much these past two weeks, it was still all knotted up and needed lot of kneading like lumpy bread dough. I didn’t take my anti-spaz meds before my session because my legs felt really loose but when she commenced to do her reflexology on the bottom of my feet, she would hit a nerve bundle that would cause my leg to do a Bruce Lee super technical karate kick. I asked her how someone without a spinal cord injury would react when she hits that spot and interestingly she said they usually wince in pain. That makes sense then why my leg would jump out like that as an autonomic response similar to when the doctor inserted the needle into my toe to inject the Lidocaine before my toenail procedure.

The massage sessions have to be the quickest hour on the planet but I got up and head out to meet Julia and Teen over at Starbucks for a snack and coffee. Teen is the chef over at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens and made me a batch of Bolivian salteñas during the week. She calls them Bolivian Dim Sum but I always compared then to Bolivian Hot Pockets. Well, they are beef with raisins, olive, peas, potato and hardboiled egg encased in a doughy exterior. They are very difficult to make; so much that my Bolivian ex-wife wouldn’t even make them. She’d rather prepare a seven course meal instead. When I bit into the first salteña, I immediately transcended back to the streets of Bolivia and remembered the little pastry shop I use to buy them from they turned out that good! We all then left Starbucks and caravanned to see the progress on the house and low & behold the roof was done like Jesus (pronounced Hay Sus) the foreman said. Ironic a carpenter named Jesus. This week they should work on the HVAC, electrical and plumbing.

Last night I went to visit Curtis and Melisa and Curtis seems to be doing much better these days. He had a motorized ball pitcher he was launching at the boys to practice their fielding and hitting. I thought this was great. He and I went to his garage and did a little maintenance on my wheelchair and filled the tires with air. Later in the afternoon while sitting on his porch, one of my tires blew and I was like “oh crap”. Curtis had a spare wheel that fit my chair and I said to him “this couldn’t have happened at a better place”. Immediately his son quipped, “you could have popped your tire in a tire store”. True as it may, I was thinking of all the places this would have been a disaster. I need to add a tube repair kit to my backpack soon. Melisa prepared a great dinner and afterwards plopped down on the couch to watch the Alabama football game. Melisa positioned the coffee table perfect for us then lifted both Curtis’s and my feet up onto the table and placed pillows beneath them. I was thinking to myself, does it get any better than this? Life for the moment was gooooooood.

I haven’t had an episode of incontinence in several days or nights lately. This morning’s IC was about 750-800cc and not a single drop went into the leg bag. I think it’s time to go without the “external catcher now” however I will carry a change of clothes with me in the car for just in case. I’m heading out to the theater in a bit to catch a movie. Tomorrow I’ve been invited to go to my friend Kevin Mobley’s house for an outdoor grill out and I’m really looking forward to that. Well, time to finish folding all the clothes I’ve washed and get into some of them and head out the door… phillip

Today I received my test results from the lab and all was negative so now it’s time to do some more intrusive tests. My MRI showed normal wear and tear of the shoulder for someone who’s had an active life such as my own. An orthopedic surgeon could probably go in and smooth things out but I need to consult with one to get their opinion. Today I went to the house at lunch and there were about 15 non-English speaking Mexicans all over it like ants on a cupcake during a picnic. They were a really good bunch of hard working guys and I joked around with them a bit. They made a plywood path for me from the street to the garage so I could get into the house. They assigned an “escobador” (man with a broom) to me to sweep a clean path for me so the loose nails wouldn’t pop my tires. Everything was being built according to the plans and I could visualize where everything would be. The roof will be done and felted tomorrow so next step will be to call in the plumbers and electricians.

I later had my doctor’s appointment to go over my results. I then went to my next appointment to get fitted for the truck mods I had done. We had to do some final seat tuning and hand control adjustments. After I was comfortable with the set-up, I drove my truck home while they followed behind driving my minivan “Christine” and another chase vehicle. The moment was really surreal because the last time I sat in my truck was the morning I drove it to the racetrack with my bike and Kari in the back. My goal now is to make some new happy memories with my truck. I didn’t work out tonight and I was really fatigued so I took a four hour nap until now. Friday is my day off so I will start off by seeing my hair engineer to get shaped then do my PT appointment to be followed by my bi-weekly massage. Saturday is the first BAMA game of the season. On Saturday afternoons from here on out until Christmas in Alabama the streets will be desolate… phillip

I had a UA done Monday as I reported but it was negative so my Physiatrist sent me to have blood drawn and another UA to include a culture sensitivity test. When I go to the VA next week, I am going to do another cholesterol test. After my last check in June, I’ve joined Weight Watchers and have really changed my diet and eating habits to include massive amounts of veggies and nearly no red meat. I am now down to 230 lbs vs. whatever it was when I was last weighed at the VA in June (240’s). My goal is to reduce or possibly eliminate my need to continue on the statins. Additionally all the X-Rays on my right shoulder have been negative to include the standard shoulder series and the weighted arm series to check for AC separation. I have an appointment this morning to do a MRI. The cortisone injection given directly into the AC joint worked for only 24-hours before the pain caused by aft rotation of the arm returned. As always, I bring copies of the radiology reports and lab results with me to the VA when I go for my appointment so that my primary SCI doctors has a complete picture of what I get done here in Huntsville. I had a big day yesterday with 1-hour in the stander, aggressive PT session in the Frankenstein Feet, 1-hour stretch session in the gym and wrapped things up with an hour on the stim-bike when I got home last night. When I woke up at 3am to do my IC, I pushed down on my bladder and felt nothing so I reset my alarm clock for 4:30am. When the final wake-up alarm went off at 6:30am, I felt like Father Time was playing a cruel trick on me. One good thing to note of all this is that my pain level has been low for the past ten days… phillip

Good news and bad news from my visit to the Urologist yesterday. The test for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) was negative but now I can’t explain the neurogenic bladder causing the incontinence and intense fatigue normally brought on by a UTI. Here’s some pix of the construction. I’ll be posting more as construction progresses… phillip