I have been in Arkansas for a little over a week and a half. It is good to be home and see all of my family and friends… We had a wonderful Christmas. I am ready to get back to Baltimore because it seems that all I do is eat here in Arkansas. I need to back to therapy that doesn’t involve a fork and spoon. I am flying back to Baltimore on January 3rd for therapy and school. Here in Arkansas I haven’t been able to do the therapy that I had been doing in Baltimore. I have been doing a little bit of exercises and lots of electrical stimulation to make sure my muscles don’t atrophy during my short visit. This is important because the muscle mass in my legs will decrease drastically if I don’t exercise them over a week or two. I don’t want that to happen and don’t see any problems with this. I have been standing up without my braces quite a bit in my parallel bars while home. I am getting better and better at this. It is really exciting to bear my own weight with any assistance. I look forward to continuing to build upon this as I return to Baltimore. Anyway I wanted to give a quick update about my visit home. I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. Thank you for all of your continued outpouring of support… All of the gracious comments about the video gave a spark to my motivation. Thanks again for everything and God Bless!!!

Matt C

I recently had a new video put together of the therapy I have been doing at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. This video is a culmination of lots of therapy and friends. The footage of this video was shot over the first few months of the fall. It is really encouraging after watching the video because I feel that I can do all of the things that I am doing in the video much better. The thing about this injury is that you can never be satisfied. You always have to be hungry for something more and can never be content with the outcome at hand. I am very thankful to have the support that I have in my corner. From the support of friends and family to the support of doctors and therapists, you guys keep me pushing forward to goal after goal. I am very thankful for all of you guys… You are all in this video with me!!! The link below is the link to the video. If you click on the ‘high quality’ option in under the video, the video will appear much clearer. Thanks a lot for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support… God Bless!

Matt C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49-6IpJY_iQ&feature=channel_page

I have been extremely busy with school and therapy… I have been meaning to post for quite some time, but haven’t gotten around to do it. I have had a lot of neat things go on in my life over the last few weeks… I will try to let you know all about it, step by step.

My Evaluation -
I recently had an annual evaluation with my therapist Claire. She did all of the sensation tests and all of the different movement tests. I, for the first time, had feeling below my injury level. Claire used a little push pin to see what kind of feeling I had. It was a very dull touch, but I could feel it. This is really huge for me because I haven’t ever experienced the regain of any feeling. I could feel down my left side close to my waist. The right side wasn’t quite as low, but it was lower than my injury level. I also had a DEXA scan (bone density) and it came back normal which is good news.

Working With Karen -
I have also worked with a physical therapist named Karen a couple of times recently. Karen used to work with Christopher Reeve when he was alive. She is full of a lot of awesome ideas. She worked with me on moving all kinds of muscles in my body. I learned that I had a lot movement going on. It is called traces and that means that she could feel muscles firing. This is awesome and really encouraging. I was able to fire a lot of muscles that I haven’t been able to fire since my accident. This has been very uplifting!!!

Thanksgiving -
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving as I got to go home to Arkansas and visit my family. I ate too much and exercised too little… That is not a very good combination. In the airport waiting on my plane ride back to Baltimore, I had the opportunity to chat with former Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers. It was neat chatting with him and discussing things. I told him all about my accident and my desire to get into politics one day. He was very encouraging and a great guy to talk to.

Walking With Arm Crutches -
I have recently been working on walking in my braces with arm crutches. This was very difficult the first time that I started trying. I have worked with Karen, Claire, Scott, and Erin, while walking in the crutches. This past week I have been able to walk smoother and a lot farther. This is also very encouraging and something I plan to master in the coming days.

I also want to ask all of you to keep a guy named Rodney Rogers in your prayers. Rodney used to play in the NBA and recently had a spinal cord injury. He was also hurt on an ATV like me. I know this is a tough time in his life, as it was in mine. Here is a recent article about his accident (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3744237). Please be sure to keep him in your thoughts and prayers…

Overall I have been extremely busy with both school and therapy. There are a lot of exciting things going on in my life and I am very thankful for all of you that have been by my side. I know that none of this would be possible without your continued outpouring of thoughts, prayers, and support.

Thanks again and God Bless!!!

Matt C