One of the most important parts of my life prior to my accident
involved physical activity. I loved cycling, running, swimming and
martial arts. Seven months before my fall I completed in the SavageMan
Triathlon which is now considered one of the most challenging triathlons in the
world. Eighteen months before the SavageMan race my son and I earned our
black belts at the Arlington, Virginia, Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Do. It took
us five years of training to get our black belts. I regularly competed in
century rides and occasionally in 24-hour bike races. My job with the Fire
Department also required that I be very physically fit. Physical fitness wasn’t
just a part of my life in many ways it defined who I was. On the day
before I fell I ran 11 miles. At the time of my accident I was around 180
pounds and my body fat level was less than 10%. My run is the last thing
I remember until about six weeks after my accident.
By the time I was aware enough to realize that I had been injured, I
had lost almost 50 pounds and my weight had dropped to about 130 pounds.
For the first month and a half I was pretty much bed ridden and being fed
through a tube. Although I really don’t remember my early physical rehab,
I am very thankful that my doctors started it as soon as my health had
stabilized. In the beginning I couldn’t sit up on my own or stand.
My physical therapists had to get me up and out of bed. Slowly I learned
to balance myself enough that the therapists could hold me up and “walk” me
down the hallways of the hospital. These short walks seemed like miles at
first. Sitting up in a wheelchair required belts around my waist and
shoulders.
I remember being bothered by my inability to move around by myself
and frustrated by how little I could do. It was demoralizing to have to
rely on other people to get around. One of my friends that visited me at
the hospital told me two years later that I reminded him of a very frail and
ill seventy-year old man; at the time of his visit I was forty eight.
My physical rehab continued when I went home and started at Pate
Rehab as an outpatient. Every morning I had to be walked out to the van
when it picked me up. My family would go on walks with me around our
neighborhood and I remember how challenging it was to walk down the street let
alone down to the nearby pond. Any physical activity required a lot of
rest to catch up afterwards. I seemed to sleep more than anything. This
lasted for close to a year and I felt like my progress was moving very
slowly.
One of the greatest challenges I have faced during my recovery has
been accepting the fact that in order to recover in a positive way I couldn’t
push myself in the same way that I had before I was injured. While any
amount of physical activity can assist those dealing with a TBI, if you push
too hard you end up in a one step forward two-step back mode. My family
and doctors have played an important role in helping me manage my physical
recovery. I realize that I have frustrated them because I have not always
heeded their advice or warnings about my activities.
As an example, last Spring I had started riding again and was going
to do part of the R2R group ride that started in San Antonio, Texas. While I was training, I didn’t really
use my water bottle while I was riding.
During the R2R ride I went to drink from the bottle and ending up
choking. It is really hard to ride
your bike when you are choking, pedaling and laughing. I also did the entire ride from San
Antonio to San Marcos because I got caught up in the spirit of the ride.
However, at the time I was not really prepared to do that long of a ride and
ended up not feeling well and recovering for the next several days.
Almost 2 1/2 years after my accident being physically fit has once
again become a high priority for me. I believe that engaging in physical
activity has made a significant difference in my mental and physical
recovery. I realize how fortunate I am that I can even have this as a
priority and actually at times this had been a source of guilt. I hope
that I am finally beginning to make smarter decisions about what I do and
when. For a while I was determined to return to martial arts but realize
that while it is something that I enjoy the risk of my being reinjured is fairly
high. I realize that I also run a risk with my cycling and I am working
to cycle as safely as possible.
My message to others recovering from a TBI is to be physically
active to the extent that you can and that your doctor approves. Physical
activity helps with improved blood flow and the recovery of the brain and your
body. Just be smart about whatever you do. Once you have suffered a
TBI your chances for suffering another injury increase so being thoughtful
about what you do is vital.
Although recovering from a TBI takes a long period of time and makes
changes in our lives, please remember how blessed we are to be survivors.
Accepting the changes we face can actually open new doors for us as we move
forward. For me this period of time represents a personal rebirth.
I would like to mention one of my most challenging days when I returned to
cycling which involved drinking from a water bottle.
For those of you who are involved in cycling or other sports, I
wanted to share a new helmet system. While writing this blog post I
discovered the new brain protective MIPS helmet systems used by many sports http://mipshelmet.com/find-a-helmet. I
purchased the Scott Lin helmet at Cadence Cyclery http://www.cadencecyclery.com/ in McKinney,
Texas. In July I started doing group rides with Cadence and I am really
enjoying them.
I hope that this blog is helpful to others recovering from a
TBI. I would love to hear from others what has worked for them as they
travel the path of recovery.
As I was getting ready to post this, I saw an article on the
benefits of exercise to our brain and thought would share it http://www.dailygood.org/pdf/dg.php?sid=440.
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