Phillip Sherwood

Yesterday was my 47th birthday and honestly there were times during the span of my life when I doubted I’d ever make it this far. I would like to give a sincere thank you to all my friends and family who remembered me on my birthday yesterday and sent me such nice messages. I am truly humbled by the outpouring of kindness and thanks to those who came to the party. I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. May God bless you all. My mother came from Maryland to visit and organize the birthday BBQ we had at the house. My friend Teen DeRoode from Clementine’s at the Botanical Garden baked the most incredibly delicious mammoth of a seven layer fudge chocolate cake done gourmet style. Before I turned the chicken on the grill into bits of charcoal, she came out to rescue me and save the dinner. My co-worker Teddy Jernigan made a beautiful floral table centerpiece and brought several other beautiful plant and flower arrangements to accent and bring more life to the house. Mom had also made a DVD of me that consisted of over 300 photos throughout different stages and events during my life and set them to music. We played this in the 55″ LED TV and I think it turned out great. During Mom’s visit, we did a lot of things. I took her to lunch at Victoria’s Café, a full body massage, dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant then home to relax and have a glass of wine. Saturday was a very busy day too. We started with party prep then off to the salon to get Mom’s hair done. Sunday morning we went for Chinese Dim Sum and ate way too much.

I left my last post off with some serious pain and new medicine issues I was having trouble dealing with and although I’m not back 100%, I’m doing much better now. My pain doctor increased the dosage rate in my pain pump to get me through the next 24-hour because my new refill would not be ready until the next day. I went home later and felt some relief and was able to get some decent sleep. The next day (Tuesday) I went back and had the pump drained of all remaining medication then refilled with a new dose. It usually takes about 18-24 hours before the fresh medication hits the spinal fluid and it just so happened I was on the toilet when it hit me like a speeding freight train. All of a sudden, I broke out in a cold sweat and felt a nausea in the bottom of my throat that caused me to put my face into the trash can as quick as I could get it there. I felt as if I was having an overdose and prepared myself to call 911. I thought that if I could get back into my wheelchair and transfer onto my bed that I’d reassess my situation. I got to the bed and laid down and thought to myself I’d get a little rest then see how I felt when I got up. I woke six hours later hungry for something to eat. I transferred back into my wheelchair and went to the kitchen and noticed I was feeling better and without a single whiff of pain. It was remarkable. I hadn’t felt pain free since I jumped on my bike to head to the starting line right before my accident. It was such a surreal but strangely familiar feeling I knew once way back in time in another life. Two days later I had to get a cortisone injection in my elbow and wow was this a jolt to the funny bone. By this past weekend, my pan has returned (although not as strong) and I have an appointment to go to another medication designed for neuro pain vs. muscular so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will work.