Finding Inspiration: Film

Movies are another source of inspiration for me, and the movie doesn't have to be an overcome all odds type to be inspirational, but it helps.

There were two that came into my mind a lot while I recovered.

Both of these movies are mentioned in my book, Toe Up to 10K

One was a little known James Cagney film titled, City For Conquest.  It is based on a novel, but the movie focuses on the character played by James Cagney.  In it, he plays a truck driver, but goes into professional boxing to "win" his girlfriend back from a career of ballroom dancing.  In the title fight, he is blinded by his opponent who uses a dirty tactic. The character does not turn bitter.  He accepts his situation for what it is,makes the best of it, and is always optimistic about his future.  Cagney is known for playing "tough guys," whether being a "gangster" or a "smart aleck," but in a way, this was probably the toughest character he played.

Another wasn't exactly  a movie, but a Japanese mini-series that lasted 12 episodes.  This series was called Rookies, and it was based on a Japanese manga by Masanori Morita, about a group of delinquent kids, who are good in the inside, but really enjoy playing baseball. Their dream is  to play in the All-Japan high school baseball championship.  And just like these kids had a dream to play in the championship, I had a dream to walk again.  Their teacher and coach, constantly encouraged them and motivated them, and I imagined that he was talking to me as well.

Although I didn't utilize the film Rudy, with Sean Astin, it is another one of my favorite inspirational films.  There are lots of movies out there that are inspirational.  Find a couple that reach you in the right spot and use that as a vehicle as part of your recovery.

Get to Know Me a Little Bit more - Author Interview

In this blog, I mainly write about things that deal with spinal cord injury, directly or indirectly, and you'd have to go over to my profile to get a summary of me.

I did an interview, on a bookblog, which was posted yesterday, about me and my book on spinal cord recovery.

I thought I'd share it on this blog. I think it's a nice combination of getting to know a little bit more about me outside of the spinal cord injury, while getting a little more insight about the book, Toe Up...

Here is the link to the interview site, called  Beth's Book Reviews.

Finding Inspiration: Music

When I transferred from the ICU to the Cardiac Care Unit, it was when I started thinking about "how am I going to walk again?"  One of the first things that popped into my mind was Josh Groban's rendition of "You Lift Me Up."  I'm not religious, but this song keep replaying in my mind, and I sort of adopted this as my anthem in the early stages of my recovery.

Later on, when I was pretty mobile, a song called "Carry On," by the band, Fun, became my anthem, mostly because of one line in the song regarding legs, which I will not repeat due to copyright laws.  Technically, the song is not about someone recovering from spinal cord injury, but I adapted it to fit my situation.

Songs are subjective and different people will get different things out of each.  The above two examples are one's I used to help me recover from my spinal cord injury.

Finding Inspiration: People on the internet

Something that inspired and motivated me was reading about other people who overcame obstacles.

The two main sources for me are the news stories and uploaded video sites, such as Youtube.

Offhand, I remember watching a clip from a Korean talent show about a young man (who I believe is now an opera singer) who was homeless from age 5 - 15.  I remember a Mongolian boy who lost his mother when he was 8, and then his father a couple of years later.  Then there was Susan Boyle. Nobody expected her to sing the way she did when she first appeared in front of Simon Cowell and the other judges.

And then there the stories that make the news media: like the college student who got a cut on a zipline and a flesh eating bacteria entered her body, and local news stories from around the country about people who were paralyzed as a result of West Nile, or a rare neurological condition and walked again, or damaged spinal cord due to an accident , was told they would not walk again, and walked again.  Some of these stories are similar to mine, and I get inspired and motivated by reading about others who overcame obstacles similar to mine.

Then there are social media sites.  When a tragedy occurs, people will start creating pages or blogs to keep people informed of progress.  This blog is one.  I wish I started this while in the early stages of recovery.  When reading about other people working hard to overcome their obstacles, it inspires me to work hard with them to overcome mine, even if they are strangers, and even if I will never meet them in person during my lifetime.

I think one of the greatest uses of the internet and social media is for people who don't know each other personally, to create a virtual community, and support each other.

I think surfing the internet has helped my recovery for it put me in contact with stories of other people who overcame or are overcoming obstacles of their own, whether it is similar to mine or not.

Who I want to target with my Message of Hard Work and Deterrmination

I read another account, actually it was a comment made in another "Doctors said she wouldn't walk again, but did" story. The commentator commented that the story implied that that those who did not regain the ability to walk were lazy.

And that's not true.  Sometimes I am conflicted about sharing my story because I know it is not possible for some people to regain their ability to walk no matter how much they try. On the other hand, I want to reach out to those who have been diagnosed with Spinal Cord Injury and encourage them to work hard to try and walk again because many times, doctors cannot with absolute certainty, predict who will walk again and who will not walk again.

The following are my comments I made to this story:

When I was first told I had an incomplete injury, I thought that automatically meant I would walk again.  Ignorance was bliss in my case because at 7 weeks, I still couldn't wiggle my toes, and I also learned just because the injury is incomplete doesn't mean the person will walk again.  Fast forward and I can now walk again.  But it took a lot of hard work and determination, and I emphasize those points.  I know, sometimes, the wrong message is received by those who have not personally dealt with SCI  - that with enough hard work and determination, anybody with SCI can recover.  And that's not true. Some people will not regain the ability to walk no matter how much they exercise. Who I want to target with my message are those who have recently been diagnosed with SCI and perhaps have been told they might not, or will not walk again.  It is this group I want to encourage to try and be determined, and not give up because they might have an injury that might enable them to walk again - and exercise and determination may be the deciding factors on whether they will walk again or not.

The Benefit of Exercise

When I was in a wheelchair, I exercised multiple times a day.  For me, I am convinced it enabled me to walk again sooner, but there were other benefits as well.

1. Arm strength.  Many people don't realize just how much strength it takes to wheel your wheelchair. As long as you don't have an injury that require you to use a motorized wheelchair, you will probably be using a manual wheelchair, and when you build up that arm strength, you will be able to tell the difference.

2.  Exercise still burns calories.  Because I was in a wheelchair and wasn't mobile, I think my exercises kept me from gaining any of my weight back.

3.  Exercise helps internal body functions.  Although no longer confined to a wheelchair, I think my daily exercise continue to help my bowel movements.  Although it took five months for me to regain some voluntary control over my bowel movements, once I started getting this function back, exercise, along with a change in diet to include more fiber, has helped me keep regular.

4. Exercise is just good for you. Period.

Recovering From Spinal Cord Injury - Rubbing it in?

I spend a lot of time publicizing that I recovered from a spinal cord injury that left my legs paralyzed for seven weeks, and was told it would be about a year before I could stop using a wheelchair, if ever.

When I have the time to explain more thoroughly, I include the fact that I did have a remarkable recovery, and I am extremely grateful for the amount that I was able to recover - and I feel I am still recovering after two years.

Most of the times, however, I focus on the fact that I regained the ability to walk within six months, and how hard I worked at it. Additionally, I wrote a book about my recovery, Toe Up to 10K, and when I publicize that, and obviously, I focus on the recovery.

The following story got my attention:

A god or a quad: time to tell the whole truth about spinal cord injuries

  The thesis of the story is that many times, the news media make it that those who recover from spinal cord injury did so with a lot of effort, but the implication is that those who did not recover was due to a lack of effort.

This perspective crosses my mind a lot when I talk about myself.  I talk of how hard I worked to regain my ability to walk.  And I think sometimes it comes across as "If you work as hard as I did, then you will be able to walk again."

But I know that some injuries, even if incomplete, are not prone to recovery, and no matter how hard one tries, he/she may not ever be able to regain the ability to walk again.

By the same token, there are some people who will recover without a great deal of exercise.

But for most people, it takes a great deal of effort and hard work to be able to walk again.

Like most things, I tend to think about the prospect of spinal cord injury as a bell curve.

1. At the far left end, there are those who have injuries that will not recover no matter what. Go a little bit to the right, and you have people who might recover, but the technology to help hasn't been discovered, yet.   Go little to the right more, and you have people who might recover with existing technology, but knowledge of that technology is not wide-spread.  As the left side of the bell starts to form, it's the people who will walk again with exercise and physical therapy.

2. At the far right, there are those who have injuries, no matter how bad it seems, will recover with no effort of their own.  The body just seems to heal itself.  But as you go a little to the left, then some exercise is needed, and more and more exercise is needed the more to the left you go.

3. But most people fall within the bell: Exercise and technology (e.g., electrical stimulation, specialized exercise equipment, etc), might make the difference between being able to walk again, or not.

The message I try to convey with my own recovery is targeted to those who fall into the third category.

Finding Inspiration: Social Media

I guess my subconscious already knew this, but Social Media is a fantastic source of pulling inspiration.

Social media is not only a place to post updates on yourself, but it is a place where strangers connect to support and inspire each other.

There are three recent items that come to mind.  All of which I have blogged about.

The first two are combined and deals with a tweet I read a couple of weeks ago. A tweeter I follow, @BruceVH, tweeted about a man in the UK, Steven Webb, @themovingroad.  This triggered a series of events on my part, and made me come to the forefront, the realization that social media sites are not only for update posts on onself, but can be used to send messages of support, inspiration and motivation to strangers.

Here is the original post

More recently, due to a Facebook post by an organization I follow, @LifeAfterSCI, I found a FB page about a young man in the UK who just recently, in July 2014, had suffered spinal cord injury.  His family set up a Facebook page, Tristan's Road to Recovery, which I also blogged about. Here is that post.  And what happens with these types of pages is you get people from all over the world sending support and positive vibes to you.  I wish I had done this while I was in the early stages of recovery, for if it reaches people who find themselves in a similar situation after you do, you can inspire them by showing that obstacles can be overcome.

So, if you need to be inspired, social media is full of inspirational users.

Finding Inspiration: Family and people around you

Family, friends, and people around you physically are a great source of inspiration.  They are your support, and I found that when people are supporting you, you don't want to let them down.  They are your fans.

As I wrote the last sentence, I realize we see a lot of that in sports.  I 'll use baseball as an example.  If the home team is down in the 9th inning, and the first batter gets on base, and the crowd starts making noise, the batter does not want to let the fans down, and also gets a base hit.  And the momentum continues.

When I was in the hospital, my parents came to visit every day; and at least one friend or co-worker would visit me everyday.  Seeing them everyday really helped cheer me up.  You kind of feel bad that they have to come and visit you - but they would feel bad if they couldn't visit you.  So, you want to try hard for them.

The hospital workers, especially if, like me, you were in the hospital an extended period of time, you get to know, and they will cheer you on, encourage you and support you.  This  is inspiring because, although ultimately you are trying to get better for yourself, you also don't want to let other people down.

Finding Inspiration

Recovering from a spinal cord injury is not a cakewalk, especially if you are not 100% sure you will be able to walk again.  Not to mention all the other adjustments you have to make to all the other body functions that have been affected by the damage.

There are many days when frustration set in.  The key, I believe, is to not let these frustrations get in your way.

  I pulled inspiration from many different sources: family and friends, hospital staff, entertainment, in the form of songs, movies, books, and stories of strangers who have overcome obstacles.

Over the next several days or weeks, maybe, the bulk of my posts for the rest of this month and into the next, I plan to write posts of how I used some of these sources to inspire me.  One thing to consider is that some of the examples of inspiration fall into multiple categories of sources. For instance, I will write about Social Media, and about finding inspirational stories on the internet, but some examples can fit into both categories.

On of the greatest benefit of being inspired is motivation.  It spurs you into action to better yourself



  

Does Suffering a Spinal Cord Injury Automatically make You Brave?

"Spinal Cord Injury" can be replaced with any sort of traumatic event or obstacle, but since this is a blog about spinal cord recovery....

When we hear about people who have suffered an injury to the spinal cord and have either recovered well, or adapted well to their situation, many times, we refer to them as inspirational or brave.

Recently, there was one TEDTalk, which argued that it was wrong to automatically classify people who live with disabilities as inspirational - because we are just living our own lives as anyone else would given the same circumstances.  There is really nothing extraordinary in that.

I see the point, but I disagree.  When people come up to me and tell me I am inspirational for going through what I went through (and still deal with some of the things I deal with), I am happy.  Although I am not inspirational for the sake of others - I am only trying to live my life as easy as I can live it - if it benefits someone else, so be it, who am I to complain.  During my own recovery, I took how other people tackled their obstacles,  regardless of origin, and used them as inspiration.  For instance, I saw a video clip of a young man who was abandoned and homeless in South Korea from age 5 - 15.  Was he being homeless on purpose so he could be inspirational to others?  I think not.  But when he became a contestant on some national talent show, he was able to share his story, and really, by default, inspired people, including me.

I believe its both the same and not the same with bravery.  Sometimes people say I am brave for going through what I went through.

In the sense that I dealt with the hand dealt to me without giving up, some could define that I was brave. And if others want to see me as brave, that's fine with me - especially if they can find inspiration and motivation from that.  Just like I am not being inspirational for the sake of others, I am not being brave for the sake of others.  I am just trying to make life easier on myself. Although I think determined is a better word than brave for not giving up.

But then again, when you are in the ICU, and mentally, you are determined to get better again, I think it is brave to face what is ahead of you instead of giving up.

But being brave is also different from being inspirational because to me, inspiration doesn't have to involve risk.  I think being brave often does.  I didn't risk anything by dealing with the spinal cord injury. I fought it the best I could, but I had to - I really didn't see a choice.  I believe, many times, bravery is risking something you don't have to give up.  It is a fireman saving someone from a burning fire.  It is a lifeguard saving a swimmer in distress.  It doesn't have to a professional - it could be a regular Joe saving someone, but they are risking their lives voluntarily to save someone else.

There is a Winnie the Pooh - Christopher Robbins cartoon which I posted earlier that implies we are stronger and braver than we think we are.  I think that's true.

So, bottom line - I think those of us who have experienced spinal cord injury and have recovered or adapted are inspirational.  It does take a lot of hard work to do both.  While we do it for the sake of ourselves, and not for others, there is a residual effect it has on others, and that is inspiration.

Are we brave just because we suffered spinal cord damage and live with it?  Yes and no.  I think in the beginning we are brave.  We can just give up, but we don't, and there is an element of braveness in that.  However, once we adapt and live our "new normal" lives, while we can still be inspirational, I don't think we are brave anymore.



 

Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh

More doc appts this week, so I might not have time to post until Monday, but in the meanntime, I wanted to share the cartoon below.

Got this image from a Facebook post by Life After Spinal Cord Injury - They have a fantastic facebook page with lots of great info and inspiration for people with SCI.

I tried to provide a link to this particular posting, but he link went to the entire photo album, and then I couldn't find the post on their timeline.  So, that said, here is the link to their FB page.

 Life After Spinal Cord Injury

Video from Children's Hospital Colorado - Parody Music Video

A friend of mine from college posted this video from Youtube.  It is the staff and patients at Children's Hospital Colorado singing, "Let it Go," from the movie, Frozen.

I tried sharing this on Facebook, but for some reason, the "share" would not go through, but since I export most of my blogposts to Twitter and Facebook, I thought it would be appropriate to share the video here, especially since it deals with recovery.

You don't have to be a Broncos fan to be touched by this video.  I found it very very heartwarming.

Children's Hospital Colorado Music Video - Parody of "Let it Go" 

Toe Up to 10K: A Journey of Recovery from Spinal Cord Injury - eBook on Sale Now

My book chronicling my recovery from spinal cord injury is available on Amazon, now. And gradually will be available to more and more ebook retailers in the coming weeks.

Here is the trailer for the book. I used the online software at Stupeflix.com.  A big Thank You to @Ellisshuman for introducing me to this site.

Toe Up to 10K


eBook available now on Amazon, and will make it into other eBook retailers one by one in the coming weeks.

Here is the link to the book's page on Amazon:  Toe Up to 10K at Amazon

Working on Endurance

About six weeks ago, I was able to jog about 2 miles - of course, I probably could have walked it faster, but at least I maintained form.

Late last week, I tried again, but this time, at a faster pace.  A more normal pace, which I did achieve because I was able to pass up some people who were walking along the path.  I was able to keep my balance better; there was only a couple of times when I felt awkward and readied myself for a potential fall (I didn't). However, I could only jog about 14 blocks, and I had to stop.  

But, I feel happy because it wasn't lack of strength that stopped me, nor lack of jogging speed.  It is endurance, and that is something I need to build up.  Being able to sprint is another issue, but I feel that will one day be resolved as well. 

Health Seen As a Bell Curve

A lot of times, I try and define my recovery.  Sometimes I say I am 90% recovered,  sometimes I say I have replaced my old body with a different model.

Here's another way I think about all this.

If people's health is looked at as a bell curve, with those on the left being severely unhealthy or disabled, and those on the right being extremely healthy or able-bodied, most of us fall inside the bell portion of the bell curve.

In this respect, my current physical wellness would put me well inside the bell portion.  It's just that before I injured my spinal cord, I would have been on the right side of the bell, and now I am on the left, but I continue to recover, and move towards the right.

So, I can say I have recovered to a level of normality - but it is on the side of the bell curve which most of the occupants need to make some adjustments to deal with some of the issues we experience.