"Me and my dad in a courtyard at HUMC"
In a brief moment, everything could change.
My brief moment came in the early morning of Aug. 4, 2008, when I was standing atop the ladder of my family’s above ground 4 foot deep pool, knowing full well, that I shouldn’t dive into it, but at the same time, planning my dive. That was it.
A brief moment later, I was floundering around in the pool like a wounded seal, my right side unresponsive from the fractures I had just caused to my cervical fifth, sixth, & seventh vertebrae. I was lucky. My spinal cord was only mildly impinged, and nerve damage was minimal.
The next day I scared the shit out of my family and friends as they waited as patiently as possible for me to come out of spinal fusion surgery, one that took eight hours and could have left me paralyzed. Again, lucky.
After a week in bed at the fine Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), I came to Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, NJ, a place famous for taking care of Christopher Reeves. I’ve now been here for 5 days, and am doing awesome. I just got a laptop, enabling me to stay in touch with friends, write and blog. The people here are inspiring. From spinal cord injuries to amputees to paralysis victims to brain trauma victims, all here are working for a common goal, getting back to life as they knew it. I am, again, lucky. I’ll be out of here soon and I can walk, talk, read, write and even still play guitar. My right hand is a little ‘slow,’ but that’s what therapy is for.
Is there a lesson in all this? I don’t know. It is personal, maybe it is focusing on creating the positive energy that moves me. Music, writing, & life. We'll see what happens.
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