Walking around is relatively easy to do these days. I use the walker about half the time. Standing still is fine. Sitting still is fine. Laying in bed is mostly painless. But, transitioning between any of those things is agony.

Getting out of and into bed is probably the worst of it. We’ve managed to get the process down to about a 5 minute routine if everything goes perfect. But usually it’s about 10-15 minutes of log rolling onto my belly with my face shoved into the mattress, pulling out pillows, putting the back part of the brace on, log rolling into the brace, adjusting it, putting the front part on, getting it aligned, strapping it together, readjusting it, and then finally cinching it down. Then I log-roll upright, and sit there for a few minutes while the room stops spinning. Then I do this frog-leg, plié looking maneuver with my legs so that I keep my back perfectly straight while I stand up, just in case my brace isn’t on perfectly.

My muscles are all having to work in ways they have never worked before. My torso is on full lockdown inside the turtle shell. It does not contribute any effort at all — unless my brace is on even slightly too high or too low or slightly crooked, then a ripple of pain rolls across my body as it tries to engage, and then we have to readjust the brace again.

My legs are suddenly responsible for all of my body movement and stability, and they are not excited about it. My calfs, thighs and glutes are ready to go on strike.

My neck is constantly aching from being at funky angles in bed and from over stretching when I am in the brace because I can’t turn my body at all to look at someone or something in the room. The muscles in my upper back and shoulders are so tense if you hit them with little hammers you could play them like a dulcimer!

Heat helps relax my disloyal and tense muscles before they start a rebellion. I try to stretch as much as I can, but obviously there are limitations.

The irony is that I usually need to transition right about the time when my pain medicine has worn out, like early in the morning or late at night.

Of course, staying in one position for too long starts to hurt too. And, it turns out though that transitions are really important to the healing process. Building strength in my arms and legs helps my body recover from the injury and helps stimulate bone growth.

So, as much as it sucks, I am trying to transition more often. This whole thing is a transition. And apparently it’s a bunch of sucky little transitions along the way.

T-78 days.

You know what isn’t sucky though? All of the support that we have received on the GoFundMe that my friend Tom set up!

I cannot express how thankful I am to everyone who has contributed. There are literally not words to convey how it makes me feel. ❤️❤️❤️

Even if we hit the goal it’s not going to cover everything, but it will be such a huge help.

Thank you so much to everyone who has made a gift.