288

This morning Rebecca ran her 20-miler, gearing up for the Chicago Marathon, which I am also signed up to run.  It was supposed to be our first marathon together.  She kicked butt and remained (fairly) injury-free.  I’m getting a refund, thankfully.  It was supposed to be my best time, yet, hopefully working my way to qualifying for Boston (probably by age 45 when the qualifying times get easier!).  God had other plans for me.  

Instead, I’m on a daily basis debating whether or not this SkyRise Chicago stair climb event is biting off way more than I can chew.  Usually I’m thinking I’ll just climb the last 40 stories or something like that.  But this week is really boosting my confidence:

Tuesday: 112 stairs (crushing my previous PR of 58)

Thursday: 140 stairs

Today, Saturday, I had some extra time so I decided to shoot for my entire apartment building, no matter how long it took.  I took the elevator down to the first floor, walking with my crutches.  I waddled over to the staircase, turned on the iPod shuffle, and started.  The first few floors are the hardest thanks to the amenities.  Floor 4, where the pool and rooftop deck are, kicked my ass.  That was 38 stairs alone.  I kept trucking on up, taking a break here and there to stretch my shoulders which were getting a workout.  I use the front of my shoulders constantly for pushing the wheelchair and walking, but don’t really “pull” much, which is what you do when you’re climbing stairs the way I do.  They were achy starting halfway up the 4th floor.  

At floor 8, Rebecca jumped in the stairwell to say hi and cheer me on.  She ran to get me a water and also helped by taking the crutch I wasn’t using on up to the top.  I had been throwing it up to the flight above me over and over again, so that was an unexpectedly removed annoyance.  

Floor 11, 12, 13….

I made it up to floor 18 without too much difficulty.  I had no idea how long I had been working.  I noticed there was another long flight of stairs to the rooftop.  I didn’t like the idea of leaving those untouched, so I kept going.  I thought the idea of opening up the door and soaking in the night air would feel awesome.  I was drenched in sweat.  I pushed on up to the top only to find that the stupid door was locked.  But I made it.  It took me another few minutes to walk down those last 19 stairs, onto the 18th floor, and into the elevator, walking back to the apartment on the 10th floor.

There are 288 stairs from the first floor to the roof, and they all experienced both of my feet :)  I got back and Rebecca said, “That was less than an hour!”  I then just sat there for a minute and realized I had far exceeded my goals for the week.  I said, “Hmmm… what should I do next time?  Just do the same thing, take the elevator down to 1, and do it again?  Ha!”  

So maybe I have a shot at the Sears Tower.  I don’t know.  Time will tell.

Feeling pretty pumped.

Chip

112

It’s been 10 days since my last post.  My life is a whirlwind right now.  It seems like every day there are 1000 things to do.  I’m sure many people can empathize.  It’s just all that much harder when you’re trying to zip around in a wheelchair.  Actually it’s not even that.  It’s this stupid “tone” in my legs.  And the spasms.  Transferring over to my wheelchair takes 1-2 minutes, whereas most paraplegics take about 10 seconds.  Frustrating.

A lot of awesome stuff has been happening, too, though.  So I really can’t complain!  

Trip to NY

I mentioned before that I had been practicing with the wheelchair softball team.  More specially, the Cubs, since the Cubs sponsor us.  Last Thursday, 10 players, 2 coaches, and a cheering section consisting of Rebecca headed to the airport to fly to the “World Series” in Long Island, New York.  They have a wheelchair softball field there.  All the MLB-sponsored teams were invited.  Those that made it were the Yankees, the Mets, the Red Sox, and us, the Cubs.  

Apparently there was some sort of weather delay on Thursday.  It was frustrating since it was 70s and sunny in both NY and Chicago.  Storms in between caused first delays, then cancellations of something like 10 flights.  And that was just on United.  This created standby lists a mile long. 

Long story short, we headed home late Thursday and came back to fly out Friday afternoon.  The Mets were nice enough to hook us up with tickets to a game at Citi Field.  Then we headed on to our hotel in Long Island.  

This was earlier on in the game.

It got colder so we split a hot chocolate.  

The event organizer was nice enough to rearrange the bracket so that we could play all our games on Saturday.  It wasn’t perfect.  He whispered to our coach that things would go smoother if we just won every game.  Ha!

First game against the Mets.  Up by 10 by the end of the 5th, so we won by virtue of the slaughter rule.  I played right field.  Not too good at fielding but got a couple hits.  

Second game immediately afterwards.   Tied after 7 innings.  Tied after 8.  After 9.  After 10.  11. 12. 13… we won in the 14th.  It was a pretty huge finish, too.  I was on first and Tick-Tock was on 3rd.  Justin was up - he’s a quad.  Quads are the only ones allowed to bunt.  So Justin bunted perfectly right down the first base line.  Tick-Tocks rushes home.  The first baseman ran in to get the ball, but since he was on the line, Justin collided into him, sending him flying onto his face!  Meanwhile, Tick-Tock crosses home plate for the win.  Cubs win!!!

We then got a break for food and to rest up for the final game for the championship.  The Yankees were already out.  The Mets and Red Sox both had one loss (to us), so they duked it out while we ate.  

That’s Dan in the middle.  He goes by Cornbread on the team for some illogical reason.  He was crushing it.  For the day he had 10 doubles and a triple and something like 18 RBIs.  Crazy.  

The Red Sox beat the Mets, so we played them (again) for the final game. We almost won by slaughter rule in the 5th.  We ended up winning with something like 13-3 for the championship.  Probably the only time I’ll ever see the Cubs win a World Series :)

I’m doing my best to hit there in the final game.  Hard as heck.

We got a nice trophy for winning the thing and I somehow got Rookie of the Year.  I think I must have been the only rookie or something.

Training

Training and therapy are coming along.  I have been reluctant to sign up for that stair climb but after last night I think I’ll do it, even if I only make it up 20 or 30 floors.  Last time I posted, 10 days ago, I had climbed 58 stairs for a new record.  Two days later I tried again and only was able to get up 42.  Pretty abysmal.  I didn’t try again until last night, when I got up 112!  Still a long way from 2,109 but it felt good to break 100.  At the end my arms were more tired than my legs.  Well, at least I think so.  I can’t really feel it when my legs get tired.  So that’s a plus.

Other than that, basically I’m just getting a tad stronger.  It’s easier to tell by the week than the day at this point.  I’m about 5.5 months post-injury. Cornbread told me it took him 2 years to get his left leg moving decently. He can now ride a regular bike.  I would LOVE to do that again someday. Fingers crossed.  I’d probably just end up in the hospital again if I tried right now.  

Wedding

Rebecca and I are getting married in Kentucky in late October.  We sent the save-the-dates just a few weeks ago and the invites have been systematically going out the last several days.  We’re going to keep it small - just 50-60 folks.  I think her immediate family and their spouses make up half that.  

The planning certainly takes a lot of time.  It seems like a lot of work for an event for ourselves.  The whole process is bewildering to me.  I’ve never been one to say, “Hey guys, I really want to ______ for my birthday this year!” So it feels weird to have an event where we will be the focus.  But I’m sure it’ll be a great time.  I just want the planning to be done so we can enjoy it.

Dear Lord, thank You for giving me the willpower to fight this fight (and fight it hard).  Thank You for the healing You have given me so far.  Please keep healing me.  Thank You for always being there, even though it’s not always ways that I expect.  Thank You for giving me so many gifts in life, even though so many of them are different from things I wanted. Please help me to better understand Your will.  Help me to follow a path that will glorify You the most.  Help me to do something good and right in this corrupt world.  Let Your will, not mine, be done.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

This is from the wall by the elevators on the 9th floor at the RIC, which is their prototype design for the new building they are… building.  

If you aren’t very “religious,” I hope I don’t scare you off.  It is true what the bible says about the meek and humble having an easier time finding God.  I am much more of both now.  It’s hard to be saved if you don’t feel like you need saving.  I hope that instead of thinking, “That’s nice for him, but I’m different,” you ask questions.  I hope you have a heart yearning to learn more and yearning to make this world better.  Self-serving agendas do nothing for anyone, including the “self”.  

Thanks,

Chip    

58

Each floor of stairs in my building is 14 stairs, split into sets of 7 with a landing halfway up.  A few weeks ago I did 40 stairs with much difficulty at RIC.  This time I did 58 stairs with equal difficulty.  It’s a long cry from the 2,109 needed to climb the Sears Tower, but it’s improvement.  

That was just about an hour ago.  My day started off on the opposite end of the spectrum.

I went to bed and woke up feeling miserable.  The last few days I felt extremely down about life in general.  I lost focus and lost faith.  Those are probably the two biggest parts of my life so it was a real problem.  It simply seemed like nothing was going right and no matter which way I turned, there were more problems.  I try to look at problems as challenges, but the last few days I just felt like there was a ton of bricks continuing to pile up on me.  

As miserable as I was, I knew I had to go to church this morning.  With our crazy schedules, Rebecca and I hadn’t been since going in Kentucky.  It was definitely needed.  As much as I wanted to just sleep in and wallow in my grief, I got up (slowly) and we headed to church, arriving a good 20 minutes late.  

There wasn’t much scripture today.  Jackson read from Jeremiah 29 about how it is our responsibility to do good in the city.  In Chicago.  I strongly believe in that and it really struck home, especially with my business.  I didn’t just open the business to make money.  One reason I love Rebecca is because we agree that the most important thing we can do in life is positively impact the world - following God’s will - as much as we possibly can.  

But it has’t been so easy to do that with the business.  There is corruption everywhere.  Everyone is scheming.  I know I should think, “Well all the more need for something positive!” But it has been overwhelming.  That combined with the struggles of my injury, combined with the other ramifications of my injury (financial, emotional, etc.)… it is just a lot to swallow.  

The church service was, as usual, what I needed to realign myself.  But it wasn’t quite enough.  Luckily, Rebecca was there to remind me that I usually don’t think this way and that I’m always talking about all the positives in life, even with my injury, and how blessed we truly are compared to the majority of the world.  And she’s right.  It feels weak to wallow in grief like that.  Like anyone else, I hate feeling weak.  And you feel weak an awful lot in a wheelchair.  

I am finishing up the book by Metaxas about Bonhoeffer.  It’s absolutely incredible.  If you don’t mind a bit of history and density in reading, I highly, highly, recommend it.  He was a saint, basically.  I’ve never heard of anyone more consistent or true in their faith.  So if trying to be like Jesus seems completely impossible (since it is), trying to be like Bonhoeffer is another option that is a good goal I doubt I will ever attain.  

Dear God, please help me.  I am weak.  I need healing of not just my body but of my soul and mind.  Please fill my thoughts with faith and hope so that I can follow your will and positively impact the world in big ways, as I believe You do want me to do!  Make me as strong in stature and faith as David and as wise as Solomon.  Make me as kind and patient as Bonhoeffer.  Help me see the way, dear Lord.  I am lost without You.  I am nothing without You.  Everything good in me is because of you.  Give me the strength to get through today and tomorrow.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

As Mother Teresa said, 

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

G’night!
Chip

Trip to Cali -

The last week was extremely busy.  A week ago Friday, my dad dropped us off at the airport before officially moving back to Kentucky.  I got to experiment with how to do things at the airport and on the plane.  Since we had a layover and airports are huge, I went with checking the wheelchair at the gate.  They are actually extremely helpful and accommodating.  For the first flight, I transferred over to the “aisle” chair, which is a tiny, thin wheelchair they use for people like me to take them to their seat.  It had 4 separate seat belts and then they asked me to cross my arms and wheeled me backwards.  It was extremely humbling to say the least.  When we got off that flight in Minnesota (layover), I decided to use the headrests to walk up front where they could hand me my walker.  Much, much better!  For the other 3 commercial flights of the trip, I never used an aisle chair.  I would use my crutches or walker to get to the first row of seats, then use the headrests, or just the crutches.  The walker is too wide for the tiny aisles they have.

Cali presented more challenges, starting with the 8 stairs leading into the house where we stayed in LA.  We had a place on Venice Beach which was sweltering since there was no A/C.  I think I only used the wheelchair to check out the boardwalk on the beach and at the wedding.  Because of the steps going into the house and the fact that the wheelchair didn’t fit through half the doors, it was the logical thing to do.  At first it was annoying but now I’m glad it was set up that way, forcing me to walk around.  I even did standing showers throughout the trip since I didn’t bring my shower chair.  Here are a couple pics of us at the wedding:

That’s (left to right) Neish, Matt, Erin and Christian, with Rebecca and me up front.  They had cheap sunglasses with a sign that said “In case you are blinded by our love” or something cheesy like that.  Pretty funny.

After a few fun days in Cali and a great wedding, we headed to San Diego to hang out with Jonathan and Kristen; Rebecca’s brother and sister-in-law.  Steps leading down into the apartment kept the challenge going, so I didn’t really use the wheelchair there at all, actually.  

The highlight of this part of the trip was maneuvering into a small, 4-seater Cessna and then Jonathan flying the 4 of us to Catalina Island.  Really cool, especially hearing him talk on the radio and seeing how he flew.  He let me fly for a couple minutes.  I dove about 8 feet and Rebecca freaked out, which was my goal, so I turned it back over to him.  Really cool thing to do.

We went to the Padres/Giants game that night, too.  What a huge ballpark!  Crazy.  

I sadly had to spend a lot of the days working in San Diego, putting out fires and whatnot.  But it was a great trip.  I got tons of walking in, including walking with crutches most of the way from one gate to another in Salt Lake City for our layover.  That had to have been a good 1000 feet or so.  

Tonight I’m gonna try and grab dinner with Kip, one of the inpatients from RIC.  I think he’s mostly rid himself of his wheelchair except for long trips around the city.  He’s the one that had the exact same injury as me, accident days after mine, and maintained a lot of movement in his legs from the outset.  It’s interesting to compare.  

A lot going on.  This week Rebecca and I head to NY with the softball team to compete in a major league wheelchair softball tournament.  That’s  a mouthful.  It should be fun, too.  I think I’ll actually get to play this time.

Have a good weekend - 

Chip