Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Here it is and another week has flown by. Mark continues to make amazing progress, but, in my opinion, he's a pretty amazing fella!

He has started walking after his Lokomat sessions with a walker and no assistance. This is just fabulous. He will be doing more and more of this as the weeks continue. He is getting around in his chair like a pro (not sure if that's good or bad) since he got his high performance wheels. They have made quite a difference. He still hates the back brace with a passion, but does try to wear it the required 8 hours a day.

For the next three days, he will be participating in the Tampa Bay Military Sports Camp which is being put on by the VA and several other organizations here in Tampa. Mark is only one of three inpatients participating. The other veterans are coming in from other locations around the U. S. He was delighted to be asked to do this. Tonight he attended the kick-off dinner and went off in jeans for the first time since last year! He looked great of course!

The activities at this camp are geared to teach the participants in adaptive sports. Cycling, swimming, strength training, etc. They wanted people who had never participated in anything like this before. Mark's PT, Jim, thought he was the perfect candidate since he is aware of all the activities Mark did before his crash.

To think that we are coming up to the year anniversary of the crash, it is wonderful to see such progress when there was such a gloomy outlook at the onset. Mark and I were talking about how fortunate we have been that his recovery is going so well, when we know and love so many others who have not progressed the same way. Please keep the men of Poly Trauma Tampa in your prayers as well.