Advice I would give to a newly injured spinal cord patient.

Every spinal cord injury is different. I am sure you have all seen the charts with the different level of feeling with each spinal cord injury. Just because I am a C4-5 doesn't mean other people with that same level can feel the same. I can move my left wrist but have no movement at all on my right wrist. Anyway, this blog is advice I would give to any newly injured spinal cord patient. I am not claiming that I know everything but this is just the stuff and things that I do know.

It is going to be hard getting used to the numb, tingling feeling that never goes away. It's like hitting your funny bone on your elbow. It's hard to explain. But that is the best I can do. I believe most people with spinal cord injuries have some type of this feeling. It is constant and does not go away.

I would recommend going to a rehab facility. I did not do this. I was in Merit Care now called Sanford (Scamford) for about three months. Looking back I probably should've gone to the Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute in Apple Valley, Minnesota or the Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado. But I guess I turned out okay but could have went through the hurdles a lot quicker if I went to a facility like one of these.

  

Try to find someone with a similar injury as yourself. This might be hard. Even if you do find someone they might not be willing to talk. But I'm sure if you searched hard enough on the internets you will be able to find someone. Of course I did not do this. Geesh.

Another thing that I did not do is read about spinal cord injuries. There are millions of websites and blogs out there for just this purpose. I guess in 1995 there wasn't that many. That is why I write this blog, to help others in the same situation as myself. So read my blog. You should be able to learn yourself something from it.

Besides reading about spinal cord injuries, another thing I did not do is look up videos on YouTube. You can look up just about anything about spinal cord injuries on YouTube and most of them are actually pretty educational. I even have a couple videos posted on my channel. Of course most of mine have to do with hunting.

I would suggest asking questions. Not only to people who might have your same type of injury but anyone who will listen. I had some great therapists during my stay in the hospital. I can still remember most of them. Some of them were awesome. I have said this before in other blog entries but I wish I could remember their full names. I would like to thank them. Physical and occupational therapists deal with cases like me daily. They know their stuff and things.

Get out of the house, don't become a hermit. I have seen this. Not just with spinal cord injuries but with most disabilities, when I lived in a low income housing unit in Fargo. It was depressing going through the common areas and seeing people just sitting there not doing anything. Never going outside of the building. I imagine there were many in that building that never left their apartments. Just sad. People would see me going outside every day and ask, "Where are you going today?" I was always doing something.

I know this will happen in the beginning but don't let your injury take over who you are. Accept the change, it sucks. It's going to be scary. Change sucks. This is a lot easier said than done. But it can be for the better. I just think of all the people I have met because I have been injured. Sometimes I think it is better that I am in a chair because of all of the awesome people I have met. You know who you are. Thank you.

Surround yourself with positive, loving, supportive people that don't suck. I was very lucky in this scenario. My scenario did not suck because of my family and friends. I truly have the best support system there has ever been. A lot of people say that but they don't know what I have. Thank you all.

Don't feel sorry for yourself. It doesn't help. I was too young and naïve when I was first injured to realize that I wasn't going to get better. I didn't realize I wasn't going to be able to do what I used to be able to do. When I realized this was going to be permanent I did feel sorry for myself. I learned quickly that that doesn't help anyone. It not only hurts yourself, it hurts everyone around you. I might look smart but I really am not.

Don't be around people who feel sorry for you. They suck. You know who they are. The people who pat you on the head, just like they would to a beaten-down dog. The people who feel sorry for you will just bring you down even more. Try to break free from these people. This might be tough but it will be worth it for your own sanity. Sucky people suck.

You are still you, just different from before. I have talked to many people about this. Me before my injury and me after my injury. Some people think I have changed. Some people think I am exactly the same. Of course I have changed but I believe my personality is mostly the same. I know I am more outgoing. I didn't talk to anyone before my injury. Usually just shrugged my shoulders. The chair does not make the person.

Find people you can talk to new, old and not friends. Sometimes it is easier to talk about stuff and things to people you do not know at all. I have found this to be true many times. Mostly about personal stuff. Sometimes it is hard to talk to friends that you knew before the injury about stuff that is now new to them also. Does that make sense. It does to me. Hopefully it does to you.

Try to stay positive. It's easier than being negative. I wish everyone could do this in every situation. Not just with spinal cord injuries. I didn't do this in the beginning but I have gotten a lot better at it. Even I have my shit days. But try to not let them take over yourself. Try to not let the shit day drag into days.

Do what you love, you might have to go at from different angle. You have to realize that you can still do what you love. Instead of playing baseball you might have to watch. But you have to remember you are still involved. I have found out that I can still hunt. My freezer full of meat and taxidermy bill is proof. I have written many blogs about this subject. So I will digress.

Don't give up. Have fun. I understand it is going to suck in the beginning. But try to go out and have fun. Rip it up a little. It's hard to do any more damage to yourself. Ha ha. I crack myself up. Get out and do stuff and things.

Hospitals are going to happen. Try to minimize the suckage. It would be in your best interest to learn your limits. I still haven't figured out mine. By limits I mean like the time in your chair per day. When I was going to college I would be in my chair 12 hours a day probably every day, every week. This is not good. It will catch up to you. One summer during college I had to lay in bed flat for three months. That sucked. I have had other pressure sores since then and they were not fun. It usually ends up with you staring at a ceiling for quite a while. You can only count the ceiling tiles so many times. If the so-called professionals tell you to only be in your chair six hours a day and to tilt back ten minutes per hour. I would suggest doing what they say. But then again, I have met a lot of neat people because of my time in hospitals. I have at least three blog entries about my time in hospitals.

In closing, do as I say, not as I did.

Thanks for reading, Clint.

PS: This blog entry was going to go in one direction and it kind of morphed into something else. I hope you enjoyed it. Because I enjoyed writing it. Well except for when I was halfway through and my computer froze. The piece of monkey poop. That sucked. But the next morning I was able to retain most of the info and spewed out some more stuff and things for your enjoyment.

Awesome leather arrow quiver and stuff.

I believe it was last summer when a friend of mine asked if I could do him a favor. I gladly said yes. I didn't think it was anything at all doing this favor. Well I will tell you what happened. My friend wanted me to help his daughter get used to shooting her rifle as she was going to be deer hunting that fall. I believe he said, "She will listen to you a lot more than she will listen to her old man." Ha. Good stuff. So we set up a day, went out to the range and did some shooting.

I could tell she was nervous right away so we decided to shoot a smaller caliber rifle to start the day. We used my Ruger 10-22. She really enjoyed it and she really shot well. Very well indeed. She burned through quite a few bullets. Good stuff.

She was shooting right-handed. But as she was shooting we noticed her left eye was always open. Some people can shoot with both eyes open but not all can master that. I learned a trick while helping coach the high school trap team when one student athlete couldn't close one of his eyes. So we put tape over one lens on his safety glasses. It worked like a charm for him. I will always remember the joy on his face when he started consistently breaking clays after being discouraged with not being able to hit them.

It also worked like a charm on this day. The only problem was we did not have any tape. So we had to channel our inner MacGyver. Good thing we had plastic spoons in the cabinet at the range. We put the spoon behind the left lens of her glasses. All I can say is, it worked.

It didn't take long for her to get comfortable and to get real consistent. It was impressive. It was fun to see her get better and better with each pull of the trigger.

She got her deer last fall and a turkey this spring. That doesn't suck.

I love trigger time. Even if I am not the one doing the pulling of the trigger. Trigger time is what it takes. Meaning the more time around your weapon of choice, the more better you will be. More importantly, the more comfortable you will be around that weapon.

For doing this favor which I really enjoyed, my friend wanted to do something for me. I wasn't expecting anything. I told him he didn't need to do anything. I love getting kids involved in the shooting sports. But he was determined to make something for me and he decided on an arrow quiver.

In his spare time he has a leathercraft business, "Storhoff Saddlery and Leathercraft." He does not suck at this. The leather quiver that he made is a piece of art. It is awesome. I don't even want to know how many hours he spent on it. It fits the back of my wheelchair perfectly. It not only looks great but it also is very functional. It will come in very handy when practicing flinging arrows this summer and many summers to come.

Thank you Brett. You can sit at my campfire anytime… That's a quote from, "The Man from Snowy River."

Thanks for reading, Clint.