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