The 2009 Brita Climate Ride

By participating in the 2009 Brita Climate Ride, a 5-day, 300 mile bicycle tour from New York City to Washington, DC, I decided that my recovery is complete. I'm not the same person that I was before my accident-- my ability to ride a bike fast, run, or jump have vanished. But in their place I have gained qualities that are quite elusive-- patience, peace of mind, and perspective. If someone had offered me this swap, I would have certainly turned them down. But this was not my choice-- it was thrust upon me, and I've made the best of my situation.

The biking was challenging, just the way I like it. We started in Central Park, Manhattan, early Saturday morning. We rode through town, hopped on a ferry to New Jersey, and made it to Princeton in time to set up our tents before it started raining. The sound of rain dancing off your tent is soothing, but it makes for a mess when it comes time to pack things up. In the morning, we started off in a slight drizzle and wet roads, but I stayed comfortable with two critical pieces of equipment: a Euro-style cycling cap to keep the rain out of my eyes, and a rear fender on the rear wheel to keep the water from spraying my butt. The lunch stop was exquisite. I ordered Nachos Supreme, which revitalized me for the whole afternoon. The only incident was a ten minute span in which it rained so hard that I couldn't see the cyclist in front of me. Then it stopped just as suddenly as it started, and to our delight, a rainbow appeared.

Day three was the hardest. There were numerous hills and a brutal headwind. Pausing at a rest stop to eat a nutella and banana sandwich, four danishes (one of each flavor), and a bag of kettle chips definitely raised my spirits. Still, I was completely exhausted at the end of the day, and I was delighted that we could stay in cabins and dry all our wet equipment. My cycling buddy decided we would make a fire in our wood-burning stove, but we succeeded only in filling the room with smoke all night. Not quite what we had in mind.

Anna and I began day four with soot and tar in our lungs, but the sun shined brilliantly, making for a great day of cycling. When we arrived at camp that night, it was hard to believe that we only had one day left. But at the same time, I was wiped out, my limp was extremely pronounced, and my butt was sore from being in the saddle for so long. Still, nothing that a good night's sleep couldn't fix.

The final day was awesome. We had a lot of downhill heading into DC, making for a quick 50 miles in the morning. Rather than stopping in Silver Spring for lunch with everyone else, Bonnie and I powered on to Mt. Pleasant. After taking showers and changing into fresh clothes, we sat on my front porch, ate pizza, drank coke, and relished our great bike tour.

After this interlude, we rejoined the group in Georgetown to ride to the Capitol and make our political statement. It was the same day that the Climate Bill was introduced in Congress, making our event extra special.

One thing I appreciated about participating in Climate Ride 2009 was meeting so many talented, friendly people who had committed their careers, and personal lives, to a great cause. While the issues of climate change are multi-dimensional and complicated, one thing is very clear. Each person that regularly rides a bike makes the world a significantly better place to live. It frees us from traffic congestion, noise, pollution, and dependence on foreign oil. It lowers obesity rates, reduces cardiovascular disease, and prevents type 2 diabetes. Cycling builds friendships, connects us to our environment, and helps us recognize and enjoy the beauty of our immediate surroundings. It makes us more energetic, fit, and physically attractive. These are the things we want, right? As a society, we don't have to spend billions of dollars to get them. We can have it right now!

Bicycling from NYC to DC in September

It's been two years since my accident, and I am incredibly grateful for my recovery. I can do almost everything now that I used to do, just not at such a frenetic pace. My life here in DC is full of cycling, socializing, and intellectual pursuits. I could even say that 2009 has been the best year of my life since 2000, my highest standard for joy and fulfillment. So what comes next?

Since I'm not one to just sit around, I decided to join my friends for the 2009 Climate Ride, a five-day, 300 mile charity ride from New York City to Washington, DC. Making such a remarkable recovery from a spinal cord injury has taught me to take nothing for granted, and because my legs have gotten significantly stronger this year, it's time to put them to good use.

Besides sharing the joy of cycling with others, I'm also super-excited that this ride will benefit one of my favorite organizations, Rails to Trails Conservancy (http://www.railstotrails.org). This organizations helps to buy up old, abandoned rail lines and turn them into multi-purpose trails for the public. It's a brilliant model of redevelopment since most of the investment in infrastructure has already been made: optimal routes chosen, trees cleared, paths leveled, and drainage installed. For a fraction of that cost, these areas can be purchased and used to enhance the quality of life for millions of Americans. With health care costs skyrocketing and obesity becoming the norm, Rails to Trails part of the solution in place already.

Though I don't currently have a full-time job, I am committing $400 to this fundraising effort. I need $2000 more to participate in the ride. Can you help me out by contributing $50, or whatever else your budget allows? Below is the link to my fundraising page.
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=702162

On this ride, I am joining the Rails to Trails Team to show my special support for this organization. I am also riding on behalf of disabled people to show that we can overcome incredible adversity to do things that no one thought possible. I'd especially like to thank my surgeons, rehab doctors, physical therapists, parents, friends, and the people of Nicaragua for helping me survive and recover from "una situacion muy grave." To you, I dedicate every mile I ride on my bike.

Cycling 100 miles with a spinal cord injury

I am proud to report that I rode my bike 100 miles this weekend! The event was a group ride with disabled military servicemen who seek to be active and athletic despite their limitations. Many of them had amputations or spinal cord injuries that required them to use hand cycles rather than regular bikes. If you think that riding 100 miles is hard, imagine doing it with only your upper body powering you! These guys were very inspirational.

My team was composed of my sister Katherine, my brother-in-law Mike, and my friend Rebecca Tuuri. We started out in Bethesda on a beautiful Saturday morning and rode 60 miles to Frederick, Maryland. I had expected that I would only make it about 30 miles, given my own limitations, but my legs managed to propel me the whole distance. Then on Sunday morning, we rode 40 miles to Gettysburg, PA, where we finished near the Civil War memorial site. After a delicious BBQ lunch, we got a ride back home to Bethesda. What a weekend!

Thanks to everyone who financially supported us, and to everyone who has provided encouragement as I have struggled to regain my athletic identity. It has been a tremendously frustrating process, but reaching a goal like this is especially sweet.

The old Tom is back!

What a difference two months can make! At the end of December, it felt like my life had completely imploded, leaving me with no answers or direction. But since then every aspect of my life has picked up. My outlook has brightened, my walking has dramatically improved, and my friend Ana and I started a new social organization called Cafecitos, which bears many characteristics of Fiat Lux and the Twelve Hours Club.

Now that walking is no longer a serious obstacle, I can return to an identity that once defined me-- the explorer. Now I won't be climbing any mountains or riding my bike long distances any time soon, but I'm now capable of going on urban hikes and uncovering the many treasures that DC offers. By this summer, I expect to be fully capable of going on day hikes over sizable distances and terrain change.

The new club is very exciting as well. It is completely Spanish-speaking and designed to bridge the Latino and Anglo communities in my neighborhood. Twice a month we get together in my house to listen to Latino music, have Central American food and drinks, and enjoy getting to know each other. I've met a number of great people already, and I expect this group to have just as much success as the Berkeley and Houston organizations.

Life is becoming fun again. For the longest time, it was just one obstacle after another, one frustration after another. I still have a lot of work to do to further improve my health, but it is now good enough that it no longer consumes me. Finally, after 20 months of fighting, it is time to celebrate!

Reflections from an injured athlete

I've got a three-day weekend from school, so it's time to report on my life here in DC. After being massively overwhelmed in my first month, teaching is going smoothly now. My physics class has been taking an enormous amount of time to prepare each week. Doing physics is challenging enough, but helping 24 students through each step is a whole new level of difficulty. Still, I'm really enjoying doing all the problem sets again and appreciating the power of mathematics to understand the universe.

Environmental Science is not as difficult to teach, but we do feel the pressure of covering a lot of material each week. It's basically a college course that requires the students to do a lot of independent study, and my girls are definitely up to the challenge. We've also been reading Daniel Quinn's Ishmael in order to get a sense of the big picture and help us from getting lost in the details of the textbook.

My bike commuting is going surprisingly well, amazingly well, in fact. Cycling home every day from work means that I ride 50 miles per week. My left leg is stronger, my pedaling is smoother, hills are no longer a problem, and my speed is even increasing. My appetite has become voracious again, and any day that I don't ride my bike, I feel that something is missing. I'm definitely an athlete again. I'm not ready to pronounce myself a cyclist yet, but I am definitely a legitimate bike commuter. Now that I've got an awesome new bike light (NiteRider MiNewt x2), it makes no difference how dark it is when I ride home from work. And given my first-year teacher workload, it is usually pitch dark before I leave the office.

Unfortunately, increased cycling prowess has not translated into improved walking. My limp is still significant, and it's been so long since my accident that I don't even remember what it feels like to walk properly. Progress with physical therapy has crawled to a snail's pace, both because most of my time and energy goes into my job, and because there is not a lot more than the therapists can do for me. Basically, from here on out, it's entirely up to me how much better I get. If I go into the gym four times a week and work out at 100% intensity for the next 9 months, I might be in good shape for the next school year. But that is easier said than done, even for someone with my level of determination.

Riding a bike and playing sports is fun, doing physical therapy is not. Doing physical therapy every day, month after month after month, with no end in sight, is absolutely exasperating. So long as I was making good progress, my motivation stayed strong, and I could keep pushing myself. But when there is little noticeable improvement at all, it's really hard to keep going.

I am in an extremely difficult situation. If I don't walk enough, I'll never walk properly again. If I walk too much, I do structural damage to my right knee and hip from limping. The only way to do exactly the right amount of walking is to do it in a treadmill at the gym, where I can push myself until the moment my form begins to break down, and then I stop. I walk on a 15 degree incline forwards, sideways, and backwards. I walk and walk and walk, and when I finish, I'm right where I started.

I'm an athlete that has difficulty putting his pants on in the morning. I'm a mountain climber who struggles to walk up a flight of steps. It's so ironic! Most people hate walking and do anything they can to avoid it. I would happily give up driving for the rest of my life if I could simply walk to the grocery store without struggling.

Well, all of us must carry burdens in life, and mine is uniquely suited to my personality. No one with my kind of injury should ever be able to walk normally again. Yet I am almost there. One more year of fighting, every day, every day, every day.

Now that I've got my teaching fairly under control, I have time turn my attention to other activities I value: volunteering with spinal chord injury patients, and becoming more involved in the Latino church I am attending. Improving my Spanish is actually a lot like physical therapy. I have a long-term goal in mind, and I have to work hard every single week to get there. This weekend, I saw an awesome Spanish-language theater performance on Saturday night. Then on Sunday, I made a new friend at church, Luis, from El Salvador. He moved to DC three years ago in search of work to support his family. His wife arrived here only two months ago, and their children are still back at home with relatives. Now that's a challenging situation! I have tremendous respect for the immigrant community in my neighborhood, and I look forward to learning a lot from them in the next year.

School starts tomorrow!

Here I am in Washington, DC, a day before my students start school. Am I ready? Not quite, but I've gotten a lot of preliminary work done to make the transition easier.

I moved here in mid-July and spent the first two weeks sleeping on friends' floors and looking for housing. Through a tip from my friend Verena, I landed in a great group house in Mt. Pleasant, a predominantly Latino neighborhood. The place is huge, with three floors, seven bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths. Nestled in among a set of historic row houses, our place is renovated and well-maintained. My bedroom is spacious and beautiful-- it has hardwood floors, deep blue painted walls, white trim, and a fireplace! There's also a model sailboat sitting on the mantel, which combined with the blue and white theme, gives the soothing feeling of being at the ocean.

I haven't summoned the courage to introduce myself to many of the Spanish speakers in the neighborhood yet, but that's in the works. My housemates are friendly and fun, and I'm looking forward to introducing them to all my friends from Berkeley, Houston, and Chicago that now live nearby. Once I've got my teaching under control, I'm looking forward to exploring the city more.

Speaking of teaching, I've already been going into work for a week and a half already. Wow, life looks a lot different when you have to get up at 6am every day! Everything here has been as good or better than I had hoped. The facilities are outstanding, the administrative is responsive, and the faculty are bright and enthusiastic. I've already introduced myself to the entire foreign language department, so I'll be able to speak plenty of Spanish both at home and at school. I've spent a lot of time so far cleaning, organizing, and cataloging the materials in my classroom, but now that it's done, I can turn my attention to developing my lesson plans. My environmental science syllabus is ready, and I'm working with my colleagues to develop my physics curriculum.

One thing I was very concerned with upon moving here was my commute to work. I wanted to live in the district to enjoy all the city had to offer, but I didn't want to be so far away from school that my commute would be terrible. As it turns out, I've got a great set-up here. In the mornings, I can take public transportation or hitch a ride with one of my colleagues, bringing my new folding bike and bike clothes with me. Then in the afternoons, I take a glorious, one-hour bike ride home, following tree-lined bicycle paths the entire way. I am very pleased!

It took me a long time to get to this point, but the effort has paid off. I'm very, very happy here. I still have lots of medical issues to deal with, but luckily I have better insurance to pay for it all. Next week, I have an appointment with a Georgetown University neurosurgeon that my sister recommended. He's going to check on the status of my spine, and I would appreciate your prayers that he has good news for me. Also, I've got a physical therapy evaluation at National Rehabilitation Hospital, where I hope that they'll be able to help me walk without a limp by Christmas. I've noticed that my right knee and hip are starting to hurt as I compensate for my weak left leg, and I don't want to create more problems where none existed before.

I hope you can come visit me here! My weekends are generally free, and I'd love to introduce you to the newest chapter of my life.

Superman and Clark Kent

Looking back on my life one year since my accident, I have noticed that I have two distinct identities: one as an athlete and one as an intellectual. They are not alter egos however, since another major trait, my love of socializing, spreads evenly over both. I make good friends both in the classroom and on the bicycle-- it's particularly wonderful when I can share both identities with my friends.

As I have recuperated from my injury, I have summoned my superhero identity to make a remarkably quick recovery. The result however, has not been the return of my superhero powers, but of my Clark Kent identity. Not that I am complaining. Wearing red tights and a cape everywhere would be socially awkward anyway. Superman needs Clark Kent, and vice versa. Now that I am physically capable of resuming my life as an intellectual, the quality of my life with blossom as a result. However, the story cannot simply end happily ever after, because Clark Kent knows what it is like to fly. This knowledge, while wonderful in itself, is bittersweet when the experience cannot be repeated. For most people, this situation arises as they slowly grow old. So too, I imagine, when couples begin to have children. In these cases, previous joys are no longer easily attainable, and one must refocus one's perspective on new possibilites, or risk becoming bitter.

Fortunately, my superhero powers are not yet irretrievably lost. I reckon that another full year of physical therapy, combined with frequent cycling and hiking, will enable me to make significant progress. By this time next summer, I should have a much better sense of my potential for recovery, and at the same time, how much kryptonite I must simply live with. It's encouraging to know that I've already made it out of the danger zone. Christopher Reeve was not nearly so lucky. Only twelve months removed from my catastropic accident, I am already capable of leading a perfectly normal life. Normal, however, is not what I ultimately strive for. What gets me out of bed every morning and makes my life meaningful is the pursuit of excellence. Excellence is always several steps ahead, and it requires a lifetime commitment, not just fitful bursts of energy. And so the journey continues, with many fantastic discoveries along the way.

Reflections from Göttingen

Moments of peace have been rare for me in the past year, but a certain clarity has settled upon me today in Göttingen. For the past two weeks I have been participating in a German archival research program that would naturally lead to writing a dissertation. However, what I discovered while being here has only made it more clear that I don't want to do it anymore.

One reason is that working on large historical research projects makes me extremely unhappy. A few years ago, I was totally blindsided by abject misery brought on by my studies. Now, with more experience, it feels more like a slow, irreversible slide to the bottom. Crawling out of that hole takes months to get out of, and a little bit of me dies each time I have to do it.

Another reason that I do not feel inclined to write my dissertation is that it would take place in Europe. Though I quite like it here, I feel like I have already had some of the most phenomenal experiences of my life in Germany and Austria. Two more years of research and writing here would feel largely anti-climactic. In Latin America, on the other hand, my life experience has only just begun. So if I am going to make another major international commitment, it will be there and not in Europe.

Doing research day after day turns me into a person that I do not like-- myopic, irritable, unsocial, risk-averse, and depressed. I fall back into old patterns of behavior that I thought I had long left behind. The person that I like-- spontaneous, social, daring, enthusiastic, and adventurous-- is a carefully crafted identity that I have developed for over a decade. But when put under extreme duress, it tends to disappear. On the other hand, my love of teaching reinforces and further develops the person that I aspire to be. For that reason primarily, I am choosing to teach at Holton-Arms rather than research in Göttingen.

Let me now turn the tables and challenge you to reflect. Have you asked yourself recently, "Who do I aspire to be?" and "Does what I do on a daily basis push me towards or away from this goal?" Feel free to write or call me with your responses. I am not asking these questions rhetorically: I am intensely curious how you might answer.

I am extremely eager to get settled in Washington, DC this month and start the next phase of my life. I don't know what the future will bring, but the present will soon be very exciting.

Prayers answered

My doctor called today to tell me the results of my recent CT scan and X-rays. Great news-- he said that I am free to resume normal activities! That means I can start bike commuting when I arrive in DC and go day hiking on the weekends. It will probably not be until next spring that I can start road biking and backpacking, but they are certainly within reach. Concerning my spine, it will require continued monitoring, but no more surgeries in the near future. My only limitations are to do low-impact activities and to avoid heavy lifting (the technical term is "axial loading").
In the meantime, I still have a lot of physical therapy to do, probably another year's worth. I continue to make progress, but it is very slow. I still walk slowly with a noticeable limp. But all in all, I am very pleased with my current status and future prognosis. Hooray for good health!
Thanks for your continued support through this ordeal.

Taiwan

One of the most amusing moments during my Taiwan trip occurred before we even got there. Steven and I were sitting with a girl our age between us, and we idly chatted during the 13 hour flight from Detroit to Osaka. At one point a flight attendant, who was obviously just as bored as we were, came down the aisle and struck up a conversation with me: "What does the W on your hat mean?" I told him that it was a Washington Nationals cap, which I had just bought in anticipation of my move to DC. He asked further, "Are the three of you traveling together?" I told him that it was just Steven and me-- we met the girl on the flight. "Oh," he responded with a wink, "Are you and he together?" "No," I answered, "we went to high school together and played on the same high school team." That seemed to satisfy him, and he continued down the aisle. The girl next to me turned and said, "Was he just flirting with you?" "Yes," I said, "yes he was."

The saga continued after I got up to stretch my legs. When I was standing in the galley by myself, the same flight attendant approached me and continued our previous conversation. When the topic of my accident came up, and he said, "I would never have guessed you were injured. You look so athletic." When I mentioned that my surgical scars are pretty convincing evidence, he responded, "Ooh, can I see them?" Then later he asked, "Did you know that you have really beautiful blue eyes?" At this point I concluded that my life was getting back to normal. If gay men are hitting on me, I've obviously made a pretty good recovery. Nobody flirted with me when I was wearing a back brace. Well, except for Gloria, I guess.

Our pleasantries reached their end when he asked me, "How does your injury affect your sex life?" At that pointed, I decided that it would be best to return to my seat. I told Steven and our female traveling companion the details of my encounter, and they laughed themselves silly. As awkward as it was, it certainly helped make the time pass. We were desperate-- it took almost 24 hours to get to Taiwan from Memphis.

The amusement continued when we arrived in Taipei. Steven's cousin came to pick us up and took us to his apartment. When got in the door, I looked around in surprise. Why is there a stack of hot water bottles at the door? Why are there boxes of medical supplies in the kitchen? They explained that the large apartment operated as a medical clinic during the day, and Steven's cousin slept in a small room off to the side at night. It seemed like an efficient use of space, especially for a crowded, expensive urban area. After a little more snooping around and looking at the sterilized instruments on one of the tables, I realized, "Oh my God, we are going to sleep in a gynecology clinic." This must be a woman's worst nightmare.

The principle purpose of my trip was to meet Steven's girlfriend Bonnie. Since Steven and I have been friends for 15 years, I wanted to have some input as to whom he might spend his life with. And for Bonnie's sake too, I thought she should meet one of Steven's American friends in order to see what she would be getting herself into. Fortunately, I was overwhelmingly impressed by her, and we had lots of fun together. In the capital city of Taipei, we toured the campus of her alma mater, Taiwanese National University, affectionately known as "the Harvard of Taiwan." We also went to a night market where the number of vendors was truly mind-boggling. Amid all the chaos, Steven helped me buy a flashy new suit for $75 and a wool dress coat for $50. Seriously styling stuff, good quality, rock-bottom prices. I'm telling you, even in a trendy place like DC, this suit is going to turn heads. Of course, I'll give you a full report about the response it generates.

Besides the great shopping opportunities, the food and drinks are definitely worth mentioning. The first day I was there, I spotted some asparagus juice for sale in a convenience store, and I just had to try it. Of course, it tasted as noxious as it sounds, but it was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. Of the good-tasting drinks, I quickly became addicted to iced milk tea, or what they call "bubble tea" in the Bay Area. Here in Taiwan it was even better because the little black tapioca balls in the tea were fresh, which taste delicious. Inferior varieties use frozen tapioca balls, which taste like little rubber pellets and induce a gag reflex.

Concerning the food, I couldn't read any of the menus, but I had a standing request to Bonnie and Steven to help me avoid consuming blood or organs. The food they ordered me was both excellent and amazingly inexpensive. But many times they had to point out food that did not meet my criteria-- pig ears, eyeballs, intestines, coagulated duck blood, and most vile of all, rectum. I didn't even bother to ask what kind of animal it came from. My mouth is never going to come in contact with rectum. Not now, not ever.

Another great moment in my trip was going to a baseball game in Taichung with Bonnie and Steven. In addition to Nicaragua and the United States, this was the third country where I've watched professional baseball this year. It's a dream come true. Here it was particularly fun. The fan enthusiasm and participation is comparable to American college football or European soccer. It's loud the whole time, even between innings. In our game, we saw a lot of seriously nasty breaking pitches, a number of terrible baserunning blunders, and some late-inning heroics. I concluded that the greatness of baseball is truly universal.

The highlight of the trip was going to Taroko National Park. This place is absolutely stunning: more majestic that anything I've seen in the Austrian Alps, and in terms of otherworldly beauty, surpassed only by the Grand Canyon. What makes this place particularly great is that you can bike through the entire park along a narrow gorge, 100km in length, hemmed in by shear limestone and granite cliffs the entire way. The road is good enough that you could take either a mountain bike or a road bike and cycle to your heart's content. The road has little traffic, tons of curves, and a number of places to stop for food and drink. You'll definitely want to mount a headlight because the road has several dozen tunnels through solid rock. Steven, Bonnie, and I spent three days in Taroko and did lots of hiking there, plus a little biking too.

So if you are an outdoors adventurer, put Taiwan atop your list of places to go. Opportunities for biking, hiking, and rock climbing are unparalleled. Besides Taroko, include Sun Moon lake on your itinerary, where you can bike its vast perimeter. Also, there are also a number of small, nearly empty roads that lead far up into the mountains where tea is cultivated. Adventures abound here, and there is no limit to the amount of fun you could have.

I hope you enjoyed reading this account as much as I enjoyed writing it. You're welcome to view my photos, too. I added commentary to most of them so you'll know what you're looking at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2308103&l=68c27&id=1219341

Stay tuned for an account of my European travels in late June/early July.

My new job!

My recent foray to Washington, DC was a success! I just accepted a job with Holton-Arms, and outstanding girls school in Bethesda, MD (http://www.holton-arms.edu). I'll be teaching two sections of AP environmental science, one section of regular environmental science, and one section of honors physics. I visited campus recently, and I was really impressed. The students are incredibly bright and motivated. The teachers are happy to be there and very friendly. The campus is beautiful, and the facilities are better than any school I've ever seen. Public transportation is quite convenient, and as soon as I am healthy enough, I will start bike commuting there. Though tuition is exorbitant for its students, the school has such a big endowment that they can admit whoever they want. The result is a remarkable diversity of students, reflective of the greater DC population. Well, except for the fact that there are no male students. Minor detail, right?

In addition to my teaching duties, I will serve as an academic adviser for a handful of students. Also, I will be the faculty sponsor of the environmental club. I grinned when I first found out about that. On the East Coast, I will probably be viewed as "the Berkeley guy" for quite a while. It's true that I eat lots of tofu, own two bikes and no car, and prefer sleeping in a tent to a hotel. In Northern California, those traits are so common that they wouldn't even be worth mentioning. Elsewhere, it makes me "unique." Luckily many of my Berkeley friends are living in DC as well-- including Nick, Alice, Jacqueline, Natalie, and Andrew-- who share my tastes. Both Nick and my sister Katherine work in Bethesda, and I'm going to live near Natalie and Jacqueline. Add to that my friends Anne, Beth, Agnes, Angela, Verena, Jennifer, Tom, and my cousin Jenna, and we've already got a great guest list for my housewarming party!

After a really rough year, things are starting to fall into place. I'm in Houston right now doing some really serious physical therapy. It's so rigorous and unpleasant that even someone with my determination finds it difficult and frustrating. I continue to make slow progress each month, so eventually I'll be walking normally, even if it feels like that time will never come. The timing of the new job is good. I simply cannot bear sitting on the sidelines of life anymore, devoid of most of my social contacts and the activities that make my life meaningful. I'm glad things are finally looking up!

Rehabilitation Update

This week I visited my doctors at TIRR, the rehab hospital where I spent several weeks after my accident. Upon examining my leg, they pronounced my leg back to "normal" strength. Thus they were surprised to hear me complain that my leg was still weak. Once they saw me walk, however, they understood what the problem was. It turns out that my opposing muscle groups are fighting each other, rather that relaxing when the other contracts. This is what they call "spasticity," which is a frequent condition for spinal cord injury victims. Normally, they would prescribe a oral medication that relaxes the muscles. While this is fine for those confined to wheelchairs, it won't work for someone like me who can walk already. Instead, they need to target specific muscles like my hamstrings, calves, and adductors. They propose to inject these areas with phenol, an alcohol that acts like a toxin, in order to kill some of the nerves that contract these muscles. They hope that I'll be able to walk better in this condition, and when the nerves grow back six months later, they will fire properly.

Fortunately, we can do a trial run to see if this would be a good course of action. By injecting me with lidocaine, a local anesthetic, we can simulate the phenol injections, but the effect only lasts two hours. That way, we'll have a pretty good idea of what would happen, and whether it would be a blessing or a curse.

Around April 7, I will be going in for another consultation and the lidocaine injections. Regardless of how we decide to proceed, I'll probably stay at TIRR and do intensive rehab for a couple of weeks. Since my leg strength is now "normal," I want to be able to use it. Though my upper body has improved significantly since Christmas, I've felt very little progress with my legs recently. At this point, even though my insurance will not pay my outpatient physical therapy, I'm willing to spend my dissertation research fellowship in order to get better. My life cannot really proceed in the way I'd like it to until I can walk properly.

Even though I've continued to do lots of exercise in Memphis, without the guidance of the experts in Houston, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I'm in a similar situation to someone trying hard to become a good baseball player, but without good coaching. These activities are technical enough that you cannot become better simply by trying hard. I need an expert to focus my energy and optimize my recovery. If that costs $150/hour, then fine. I'm not going wait any longer. The last nine months have felt like half my life.

Tomorrow I leave for DC, where I hope to line up a teaching job for next year. The job search has been an excruciating process, and I've been working at it non-stop since the end of January. At some point, I'd like to have a life that I can enjoy, even if it's just for a year. I don't think I'm asking too much. I really don't.

Catching up with Rice friends in Houston

I’ve been in Houston for almost two weeks now, and it’s been awesome! I drove from Memphis, picking up Rebecca Tuuri in Jackson, Mississippi. We got into town in time to participate in Beer Bike, an annual beer-drinking, bike-racing relay at Rice University. It was actually my first time to attend the event since graduating, which is ironic because it is also the first time that I have been physically incapable of competing. Though it was frustrating to be watching cyclists instead of riding faster than them, I still enjoyed the spirit of competition.

After hanging out with Rebecca's crazy friends, I had dinner with Monica Verduzco and her family. I hadn't seen Monica since I was in the Houston rehab hospital last summer, so she was excited to see my progress. Monica's daughter Lina is now ten months old and more beautiful than ever-- she takes after her mom. I'm certain that Lina will be a heartbreaker by the time she starts kindergarten.

I also had the pleasure of having brunch with Geoff Dethlefsen and his fiance Mindy. Geoff had sent me a text message several months ago saying that he had gotten engaged, but I hadn't heard a thing from him since. Thus I wasn't really sure that the text message wasn't a prank sent by his twin brother George. But it was no false alarm-- Geoff was just ridiculously busy juggling work, planning his wedding, and buying a condo. The big event is taking place in Cabo San Lucas this summer-- congratulations, Geoff!

I had breakfast recently with Jason Hardy and his wife Erin. Jason has been accepted to law school at NYU, so they might be moving to the east coast this summer. Jason has been working valiantly in the non-profit sector with child protective services ever since he graduated, and now he is ready for another phase of life. Thanks for all your hard work for the community, Jason!

To my great delight, I caught up with Jeff Hernandez the other night. He and I were cheerleaders together, but I hadn't been in touch with him since 1999. I had recently found him on Facebook, and I was curious to find out whether he had actually converted to orthodox Judaism or whether it was another of his finely-crafted stories. Turns out it's true! I think we talked the first two hours without taking a breath. I was glad to see that Jeff was doing so well, and I look forward to the next time we meet up.

When I first arrived in Houston, I was stayed at Patrick Quayle's house. His place is beautiful, just like a Pottery Barn advertisement. Unfortunately, Pat himself was not around because he just had ACL surgery. Hopefully we'll be able to see each other once he becomes mobile again.

The rest of my time here, I've been staying at Claudia and David's house. We've had loads of fun together. We watched Some Like It Hot with Claudia and her girlfriends one night. We've seen three Rice baseball games since I've been here, and we won all three. Another night we went to the Mucky Duck, enjoyed some fine live music there, and brought the party back home for a memorable (and late) evening. We celebrated Easter together and had several people over for a delicious dinner. This evening, it was my turn to cook. I made "Tofu, Peanut, and Sesame Soup" from my Berkeley hippie vegetarian cookbook, and though we were missing one ingredient, it came out quite well.

Another notable event that I enjoyed with Claudia and David was the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. In all my time at Rice, I had never been before. As it turns out, it is quite a spectacle. It is held in and around Reliant Stadium, a structure which dwarfs the Astrodome, which was once called "the eighth wonder of the world." Upon arriving, I was shocked to see people riding a ski lift. I have no idea where it took them. I was also awed by a truck perched on a fifty foot pedestal and an enormous ferris wheel that was even taller. I guess I had forgotten that everything really is bigger in Texas.

After checking out the carnival, we went inside to see the livestock. The cattle there were significantly bigger and healthier than the gaunt, scrappy cows that you see in Nicaragua. But the best part was watching the judging. If you closed your eyes, you could almost imagine that you were listening to judges at a beauty pageant. Actually, it was a beauty pageant, just for a different species that what I was used to. Upon reflection, I think the bovine competition is probably a better event because at least the cows don't develop self-esteem issues by participating.

After the livestock show, the rodeo started. Once again, this was a huge production. The last rodeo I had been to was in Siuna, Nicaragua. It consisted of about ten severely drunken cowboys trying to ride a few bulls. In Houston, on the other hand, there were more events than I ever thought possible. Most impressive is where a pair of men on horseback work in tandem to rope a running calf. The first ropes the calf's horns and gives a strong tug, forcing it to kick it's hind legs. At that instant, the second cowboy throws a lasso underneath the calf's feet, which are only in the air for a split second. The fact that they are ever successful really shocked me. It made me revise my opinion that hitting a baseball is the hardest feat in sports. I now stand corrected. And humbled.

After the rodeo, we watched a concert by Pat Green, a very popular performer in Texas. They brought out a rotating stage, shot off tons of fireworks, and put on an impressive show, especially considering that they only had 30 minutes to set up after the rodeo ended. All told, we spent more than eight hours at the rodeo. It was an exhilarating day and a very appropriate way to celebrate my wonderful stay in Houston.

Good news, Bad news

I just saw my surgeon again today, and he gave me good news and bad news. Good news first. I don't have to wear my back brace anymore and I can start doing swim workouts and core training exercises. I've been waiting two months for this news, so I was very glad.

Now the bad news. The doctor doesn't like the shape of my spine, and it's possible that they will have to do another surgery to correct this. That would involve drilling more screws into my vertebrae and adding longer titanium rods to create more stability. That is seriously bad news.

Still, I was not completely shocked today, as my doctor was upset about my Nicaraguan surgery from the very first day that I arrived in Memphis. He told me then that he would need to redo my spinal fusion, and I was kind of surprised that he left it alone until now. Still, I was hoping that two major surgeries would be enough.

But nothing is certain yet. If my spine stays in exactly the same shape that it is right now, he'll leave it alone. But if it starts to collapse further, I'm looking at a world of hurt. So if you like praying, please ask God on my behalf. He obviously likes to help me out, since I'm walking now, but more struggles lie ahead.

In the meantime, there's lots of rehab that I can do. The doctor says that I should swim up to an hour every day. I'm also going to do lots of Theraband exercises, footwork drills, and stationary bike riding.

I'm not especially bitter right now, because even though I didn't get the news that I wanted today, at least it's a problem that modern medicine can fix. Being a paraplegic, on the other hand, is not a fixable problem. And no matter what happens with my spine, there is no more danger to my leg. It will continue to heal over the next two years, and the doctor says that I'll eventually be able to resume most sports activities.

I'm also grateful for the surgery I had in Nicaragua, because even though it wasn't perfect, it probably saved my ability to walk. And walking is a wonderful thing.

I'm grateful too that I've lived life to the fullest for the past twelve years of my life. I did two years of serious backcountry skiing and mountain biking in Austria. I've hiked the Grand Canyon, Mt. Whitney, Mt. Shasta, and Haleakala Crater. I've biked more than 20,000 miles in California, and more than 200 in a single day. I've been a Rice cheerleader and had the best partner in the whole world. I've inline skated with urban animals and worn spandex more times than I can count. I've played varsity baseball and hit a home run. I've bench-pressed 250 pounds. I went rock climbing at Enchanted Rock on the night that the moon was the closest it has been to earth in 800 years. I have lived more in the past decade than most people in a whole lifetime. There is no accident, no sickness, and no person that can take that away from me.

Our bodies are capable of tremendous things, and yet they are tremendously fragile, too. I encourage you to use your body well and enjoy its many abilities. It comes with a short lease and an unknown expiration date. Once your health gets taken away, you don't want to be left with regrets about what you should have done and could have done. Don't wait to start living.

Concerning the future

I am very glad that it's 2008. My health is a lot better, I'm not so limited in what I can do, and I can almost begin to imagine what if feels like to be a normal person again. Long gone are the days where I found myself wearing a back brace even in my dreams. Though it has only been six months since my life was so strikingly interrupted, I have a hard time remembering what it was like simply to pick something off the ground without struggling. As for that guy who used to ride a bicycle with reckless abandon, I feel completely severed from that life. It's an odd experience to have such central part of your identity disappear in a fraction of a second. Thank God that I rode the Devil Mountain Double Century in April. I was so burned out from cycling that I didn't even begin to miss it until I saw a girl riding a Cannondale Six13 in DC in October.

In a couple of weeks, I am going to return to Berkeley to see my old friends and pick up the last of my things there, including my bike. I don't think I even want to look at it now-- I think I'm happier having it in California, where I left my old life. Still, I'm glad that when I come back to North Berkeley, I'll have the ability to walk to campus from Ada Street. It may take me an hour, but I'll enjoy every step of it.

So, where do I go from here? I want next year to be one that I really enjoy. I'll really need that after completing 11 months of physical therapy. When I think about what I would enjoy most, the answer is actually quite easy. I'd like to live in DC where I have so many friends, see what it's like to teach in a high school, and spend my weekends doing fun outdoorsy stuff-- hiking, backpacking, camping, kayaking, etc. In addition to my core of great friends that are there already, Nick and Alice are moving there this spring, Katherine and Mike are coming back in August, and I'm secretly hoping that Dean and Emily land there as well. With so many great people living in the same place, it's an easy decision for me to move there now, because this situation won't last forever. That's American culture, for better and for worse. When I feel so inclined, I can return to my dissertation writing. The money is finally there, but the passion is not right now.

For several years now, I've envisioned three possible futures for me. Plan A was to become a college professor, Plan B was to live in Latin America, and Plan C was to teach high school. It's great to be in a position where I can explore all three, and I am taking full advantage of this flexibility. So for now, I am embarking on Plan C. But I need your help to do it! A lot of you have experience living in and around DC, and I wondered if you had any tips about high schools where I should teach. I'd like to put together a list of about ten schools to apply to, then see what shakes out. Once I figure out where I'm going to work, then I'll start asking your advice about what neighborhood I should live in. I'm so excited-- we're going to have a blast together!

Okinawa and Nicaragua

I just got back from my winter travels, and they were fantastic! First I headed to Japan to visit my sister for Christmas. The trip started rather inauspiciously, as bad weather in Minneapolis forced us to stay a full day there. Fortunately, my brother-in-law's mother lives there, so we had a pseudo-Christmas dinner with her. Then the next day, we headed on to Okinawa, which had delightful tropical weather. Probably the highlight of the trip was going to an amazing aquarium. I have never seen fish like that except on the Discovery channel.

Afterwards, my family ventured on to Beijing for a few days, whereas I came back to the States. I was only in Memphis for 12 hours before my flight left for Nicaragua. It seemed like a good idea when I bought my tickets, but when my alarm went off at 3:30 in the morning, I was less enthusiastic about putting these trips so close back to back.

Nicaragua was great though. In addition to spending time with Gloria, I celebrated New Year's with my friend Craig Harrison from California. We went together to Granada, San Juan del Sur, Reserva Chocoyero, and Volcan Masaya. After Craig left to go back to work, Gloria had a week of vacation, so we ventured to two of my favorite places in Nicaragua, Reserva Miraflor and Matagalpa. Miraflor is only 30km from Esteli, but it is very rustic, having no electricity, no running water, and the coldest showers imaginable. Traumatic shower experiences aside, we had a great time, hiking around, lounging in hammocks, and enjoying the tranquility of our surroundings. The only thing that troubled me was a crazy bird that followed me everywhere I went, zooming right past me numerous times, and even running into me once. Gloria thought it was all quite amusing.

Afterwards, we headed to Matagalpa to visit my host family and tourism workmates. The last time I had been there was June 19, the day that I broke my back, so everyone there was glad to see me walking around and in good spirits. The weather was perfect (as usual) and we spent a lovely afternoon at the family's ranch. Of special interest was learning that my host-brother Memo is going to travel to Norway for three months to visit his girlfriend there. Since Memo has never even lived outside Matagalpa, much less Nicaragua, this trip is going to be quite an adventure for him, especially in the winter when it's dark all the time there!

On my last day in Nicaragua, we dropped by the hospital to see my surgeon. He was delighted to see how quickly I recovered, and I told him that I much preferred this kind of hospital visit, the one where I can get up and leave after an hour. It was a fitting end to a wonderful trip.

I could tell you more, but I think the pictures will convey my experiences far better:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2262970&l=ade56&id=1219341

Happy New Year everyone, and have a great 2008!

December health update

I saw my neurosurgeon again just before Thanksgiving, and he was very excited by my progress. They took a CT scan of my back to see how things had healed, and he said that it looks good. He gave me the okay to take off my back brace while I'm in the house, which is great, because it makes showering much less complicated. Obviously, I'd like to not wear it at all, especially when I'm traveling to tropical places over the winter holidays (Okinawa and Nicaragua), where it's scorching hot even without a back brace on. But like everything else these days, I'll just have to wait to get my wish.

After my two-week trip to the East Coast where I had to walk everywhere, my strength and balance have improved considerably, and I don't use a cane anymore. My hips are much stronger now, and even my stubborn hamstring has improved somewhat. My calf, however, still does not allow me to push off well, thus limiting my stride length and walking speed. It's frustrating to do the same stupid exercises over and over.

The doctor thinks that I'll be able to start swimming by March, and that by the summer, I should be able to go hiking and backpacking. When that actually happens, I'll be grinning from ear to ear. But for now, that seems very far off, not in terms of time, but in terms of recovery. Right now, walking two miles is enormously tiring. In order to function well, I have to sleep about ten hours each night and two hours each afternoon. While this may sound okay to some people, I much prefer the philosophy of the great Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Man is not designed to be a sedentary animal. He was made to walk twenty miles a day and hunt saber-toothed tigers."

Now that it's been more than five months since my accident, it's getting harder to stay motivated for continued recovery. Please keep praying that my leg will get stronger, my back will heal fully, and that I'll be able to enjoy the freedom of movement again. I miss it very much.

Book recommendations

Recently my friend Claudia encouraged me to check out a book recommendation website called goodreads.com. Obviously it's a good way for friends to share the good books they've been reading. But after looking at it more closely, it occurred to me that it could be very useful for academic reasons, too. Over the past year, I have perused hundreds of books and formed very definite opinions about their content. This knowledge could be very useful to my classmates, but since my book reviews sit around in an endnote file on my computer, they are inaccessible to everyone but me. If we put our reviews online, I imagine that tasks like qualifying exam preparation would be a lot easier, since we could make it more of a team effort. I know that many of you are more internet-savvy than I am, so I am curious about what you think of this issue.

In the last couple of weeks I've read The Magic Mountain, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and The English Patient, so if you're curious to hear what I thought about them, check out my reviews at http://www.goodreads.com

Der Zauberberg

I just finished Thomas Mann's Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain, tr. John Woods), and without a doubt it is among the five best works of literature that I have ever read. Covering more than 700 densely-packed pages, it is not for the light of heart, but provides ample reward for the tenacious reader. Published in 1924 and winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929, The Magic Mountain should reside on your shelf next to The Brothers Karamazov, The Persian Letters, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and East of Eden.

Part of why I found this novel so delightful was that I could closely relate to the ordeal of the protagonist, Hans Castorp, who as a young man finds himself unexpectedly confined to a hospital. In his case, he makes a trip to a sanatorium high in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin. The patients are all receiving treatment for tuberculosis, and since most have been there for quite a long time, he finds himself in a very different culture than the "flatlands" from which he came. Just before leaving, Castorp asks for a physical exam to determine the cause of a fever which was plaguing him during his stay. But to his disappointment, the doctor finds that he has a mild case of tuberculosis himself! Our poor hero will be staying on for much longer than three weeks he had planned, and not as a guest, but as a patient.

One of the most interesting themes in the novel is the treatment of time. Far up in the mountains, completely removed from the normal iterations of daily life, time takes on a different dimension. Each day is strictly regimented to best facilitate the recovery of patients. The residents move from bedroom, to dining hall, to outdoor "rest cure," and back, in an utterly predictable manner. Far from what one might expect, this apparent tedium does not cause time to slow down, but rather speed up, since each day is nearly indiscernible from all others. Thus, Hans Castcorp learns, his original three week stay is hardly worth mentioning: up here, a month is the smallest measurable unit of time.

Besides our hero, there are two other outstanding characters: Settembrini, a boisterous Italian literary humanist, and Naphta, a sharp-tonged communist Jesuit. Castorp takes on the role of student when listening to the rhetorical fireworks of these bombastic speakers. These three men, along with a cast of other patients with tuberculosis, fill hundreds of pages of fascinating narrative and dialog. Put it on your Christmas list now!

My next athletic challenge

The latest on my recovery is that I am mostly walking without a cane or anything to support me except my own two feet. This is exciting news! I still have a long way to go, of course, as my leg is still weak and my balance rather poor, but I'm making gains every week. In less than a month, I will get my back brace off and begin rehabbing my back and abdominals, both of which have atrophied significantly given the long layoff. I am not at all looking forward to this part of the rehab at all, as I think it will be exceedingly difficult, but I don't want to wear this brace forever either. No offense to Rebecca, of course, the body art looks great! If you haven't seen it yet, check out my facebook profile:
http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2228536&l=5dbe3&id=1219341

Sometimes it feels like I've been doing rehab forever and that there is no end in sight. So I asked myself, how do I know when my rehab is complete? After a few moments, a thought occurred to me: since climbing Mt. Whitney with my friend Craig back in 2005, I've been wanting to hike the John Muir Trail, a 211 mile scenic stretch from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney. So why not make that my goal for recovery? Once I am fit enough, I'd like to go with a handful of friends on a celebratory hike, one in which we will consciously express our gratitude for having the physical ability and access to such natural beauty on our planet.

I might be able to do this hike as early as next summer, so don't let it sneak up on you. Save up two weeks of vacation and stay healthy and active. If you join me, we'll make memories that will last forever.

Happy hiking!

Reflections upon a 30th birthday

I can confidently say that my 30th birthday celebration was my best ever. Usually at this time of the year, I'm either studying like crazy in school or living in a foreign country. So without any academic pressure hanging over my head and living somewhere fairly accessible, I could enjoy the company of a number of out-of-town friends. I'll tell your guys about our weekend together, and it will also serve as a virtual tour of Memphis for those of you who've never been here.

The first to arrive was Gloria, from Nicaragua. Since the weather was dreary, I took her to the trendy Cooper-Young district for an afternoon in a cafe called Otherlands. It was filled with bohemian-style art and had a really laid-back feel, much like the cafes in Houston that I like so much. Afterwards, we went to a local, family-owned Italian restaurant named Pete & Sam's. Not long after arriving, two elderly couples seated themselves near us, and one of the husbands remarked to us, "Are you on your honeymoon? You look so happy!" We assured them otherwise by showing them our hands, which bore no wedding bands. So then one of the wives came up with an alternative theory: "You must be having an affair! You're both married, but to other people." We laughed that off, confident that the banter was over. But after the meal, as we stood up to go, the husband asked us, "Are you going back home to your children?" It was a most entertaining experience.

On Friday, we headed downtown to check out Beale Street, renown for its blues music venues. Just a few blocks away is a beautiful neo-retro baseball stadium, home of the Memphis Redbirds, the St. Louis Cardinals AAA affiliate. They keep the gates open even when there are no games, so fans can check out the field and the marvelous architecture. Just across the street from the stadium is the elegant Peabody Hotel. Besides being lavishly ornate, it also has an unusual tradition. Twice a day, a handful of ducks, who live on the roof, take the elevator down to the lobby, walk across the floor, and hop into a fountain for a brief swim. As luck would have it, the ducks were still bathing when we arrived. I suggested to Gloria that she grab one so I could take a picture of her with it, but she politely refused.

On the way back home, we stopped by the Brooks Art Museum, which had a rare exhibition of Pissarro's paintings. Situated in the lovely Overton Park, the view outside the building was nearly as beautiful as what was inside. I got a tremendous thrill from reading the descriptions that accompanied each painting, for they contained rhetorical flourishes that only a doctoral-educated academic could create. As I joked with Gloria about the language, she responded, "Don't make fun of it. That's what your blogs sound like."

On Friday night, Nick, Alice, Dean, and Justin arrived from California, and Rebecca drove in from Jackson, Mississippi. After eating some of mom's delicious lasagna, we dropped of Nick and Alice at Steven's house, where we would have an awesome afternoon barbeque on Saturday. Craig was the last one to arrive, taking a red-eye from Seattle that arrived at 9am on Saturday morning, but after an afternoon nap, he was ready for a strong showing at our featured event, a performance of the Justin Conn Band at the Blue Monkey. Justin went to high school with Steven and me, and we have been following his aspiring blues career for many years now. This particular evening was great, and it felt like a proper culmination to a weekend of fun.

Photos are forthcoming. They should fill in a number of things I left out, and they heighten the experience of what I do describe. Thanks again to Gloria, Steven, Justin Conn, Justin Hastings, Nick, Alice, Dean, Rebecca, Craig, Mom, and Dad for making such a special birthday weekend.

A good prognosis

Last week I went to a check-up with my neurosurgeon, and after looking at my latest x-rays, he told me, "By next summer you should be able to do whatever you want." I took that as encouraging news.

Right now, of course, I certainly cannot do whatever I want, but I continue to improve. I ditched my walker now that its plastic feet have worn down, and I am walking with a cane instead. It had been suggested that I put tennis balls on the feet of the walker to make it slide more smoothly, but I have vowed to myself that I will not be seen with such a contraption until I am at least 85 years old. So, cane it is. I'm thinking of spicing it up by adding some multi-colored tape to it, giving it a more stylish Latino look. But I think I'll refrain from using tassles-- you know, the kind that girls used to put on their bicycle handlebars? Enticing as it is, I don't think the residents of Memphis, Tennessee are quite ready for such a display.

I've also been talking with my friend Rebecca Tuuri about painting a really cool design on my back brace. Negotiations are still in progress, but it is likely that the final version will be bicycle-themed. No surprise there, but the details have yet to be finalized, so if you find any especially cool images of cyclists in action, be sure to email them to me.

I stepped up my physical therapy appointments from three times a week to five times a week, basically because I am tired of this crap. The more I improve, the more I yearn to walk without carefully measuring every step. I also long to ride my beautiful road bike again. But none of that is going to happen until my left leg gets stronger. My calf is weak, preventing me from getting a good push-off with each stride. My hamstring is weak, preventing me from pulling it through properly. My hip is weak, causing my body to shift to the right, making it even harder to walk. I am grateful for your continued prayers and encouragement. Keep up the good work.

One more announcement that I'm excited to make is that my friends Luke and Sarah Hartley will be running the New York City marathon to raise money for spinal chord injury research. I was incredibly surprised and grateful that Luke flew down to Nicaragua to see me shortly after my accident, and I am pleased to see his efforts to help those who suffer similar injuries. Many of you have heard of the Buffalo Bills football player who broke his neck in a game. Though his condition looked grim, doctors employed experimental methods to reduce post-trauma swelling near his spinal chord. These efforts have been enormously successful, and it looks like he will walk again, too. Where he is doing his rehab? At TIRR in Houston, the same place that I was! Thanks again to Monica Verduzco for orchestrating my acceptance into their hospital. Now only if I could get someone to write regular ESPN updates on my condition, just like that football player.

Luke and Sarah's fundraising page is
http://teamreeve2007.kintera.org/hartleys
The picture on there is of me and Luke hiking the Grand Canyon, easily the most beautiful place I have ever been. I would very much like to do something like that again. And sooner rather than later.

An update from your Memphis correspondent

I continue to heal, slowly, very slowly, each week. I told you before that I was working really hard to get my hamstring to work. That has come a long way. Now I'm hoping that my calf will make similar progress. Without it, my stride is rather strange, as I have difficulty pushing off with each step. That being said, I very rarely use my wheelchair now, just for long distances, and I expect that my walker will soon give way to a cane. To spice up my workouts, I've started using the elliptical trainer in an effort to get my muscles to fire more rapidly. At this point, snails and other legless creatures are still outpacing me, and I'd like to be a better competitor. Lots and lots of rehabilitation is on the horizon, and I try to remain patient as I plug along each week.

One major disappointment that I've had is that our University of California health insurance (SHIP), does not actually provide us with full health coverage. In fact, we are allocated only $1000 per year for outpatient physical therapy, which is even less than the premiums that we pay. So any Cal student who gets into a serious car accident (or is silly enough to jump off a huge cliff) is going to pay many thousands of dollars out of pocket in order to recover. For those of you who have any connection to our union, our health care would be worth addressing at our next bargaining session. What is especially tragic is that 30,000 students walk around with the illusion that they have full health coverage, but when it comes time to use it, they are in for a rude awakening.

On the brighter side, I had a fun weekend recently. My high school friend Justin Conn is a blues musician based in Nashville, and he played a gig in Memphis on Saturday night at a club called the Blue Monkey. He sounded great, and I was delighted to hear that he'll be playing there again on October 27, just three days after my 30th birthday. So why don't you come and join me? It would be fun to celebrate my 30th with friends, and Memphis is a great town to visit, especially at that time of the year. Keep it in mind as you make your fall plans. If you are already itching to hear Justin's music, go to http://www.justinconn.com As many of you know, my favorite song is "Claire," which is from the EP that he put out several years ago. You can listen to a sample of it on his website.

This fall, I'm going to do a bit of traveling myself. Next week, my dad and I are going to drive to St. Louis to catch a Cardinals' game in their new stadium. They're not playing especially well these days, but it'll be fun to check out live MLB action anyway.

At the end of September, I'm going to head to Charlottesville, VA for the wedding of one of my high school buddies, Michael Wagg. Afterwards, I'm going to spend the first several days of October hanging out in Washington, DC catching up with several dear friends there.

At the beginning of November, I'm going to a History of Science annual conference in DC, and once that's over I'm going to Boston to see friends there. These trips will be a blast, and they motivate me to get well sooner.

My life now is the sedentary person's dream. Unfortunately, I'm not a sedentary person. I'm looking forward to the day when I can walk without having to concentrate on every step I take. I hope it comes sometime in 2007, but I'll work at it as long as it takes.

Going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee...

This blog update is thus entitled as a nod to the upcoming Elvis Tribute Week, an annual commemoration of Elvis Presley's life and death. If you are in to that sort of thing, I would recommend going to the candlelight vigil, which is supposed to be very moving. I doubt that anyone from Memphis actually cares about these events, but it draws thousands of visitors every year. If your are thinking of coming to pay tribute to the King, watch out, because in August the weather is pretty stifling here, with daytime highs approaching 100 every day.

In my little world, I'm making what seems like very slow but continuous progress. I met with my Memphis neurosurgeon for the first time since my surgery, and though he can be a very blunt, dour man, he showed what can only be described as "elation" at my progress. He was delighted that so much leg mobility had returned, that I had control of my bladder (rare for spinal injury victims), and that everything in my back was holding together. He promptly congratulated himself on a surgery well-done and told me that he had performed a similar operation on five more people this summer. Summer, he explained, is when people do "crazy things." Two of his patients were involved in diving accidents, one had been driving a cement truck when it fell off an overpass, and two had tried to commit suicide. This conversation made me realize that people in medicine must see the world very different from the rest of us. Especially those that deal with severe trauma.

The only disappointing thing that came out of our meeting is that I learned that I would have to wear my back brace for another three months. It's not the end of the world, and it won't prevent me from walking, but I won't be able to return to Houston as soon as I wanted, and it means that I will be in Memphis for what feels like a long, long, time. You may have gathered from earlier messages that I wasn't too thrilled to return here, and I think this merits some explanation. Part of why it isn't much fun to be back here is that most of my friends moved away since we graduated from high school 11 years ago. Another reason is that I don't feel that Memphis is a particularly cosmopolitan place. After growing up here, I chose to live in Houston, Innsbruck, and Berkeley largely because they offered so much culturally and geographically appealing. But then it occurred to me that I'm being rather elitist by not liking Memphis, treating it like a place that is a waste of my time. Certainly, I wouldn't have chosen to live here again-- my circumstances necessitated it. But since that's the case, I've had to reevaluate my situation and my perspective.

First of all, if I don't make new friends soon, I'm going to go out of my mind. Spending nearly all of my day in the house and interacting almost exclusively with mom and dad isn't going to work for more than a couple of weeks. The rehab center where I go three times a week has some nice therapists, but most of the other patients are from another walk of life. To put it delicately, most of them have personal recollection of the second world war. Thus its not the social hub that I experienced in the Houston rehab center, so I'll have to look elsewhere for entertainment. One potential lead is to explore the potential opportunities that my high school alumni network may provide. The advantage of going to a small, elite private school is that they are tied into a lot of interesting programs and people in the Memphis area. I'm thinking of asking if there is anyone at my school that works with the Latino community here. Memphis is a very black/white polarized town, and I think it would be fascinating to interact with a largely invisible group. Since I never much liked hanging out with the Memphis high-society types anyway, I figured I'd fit in better with another socially marginalized community. Also at my high school, it might be fun to do some private tutoring and/or substitute teaching. It would be really fun to get to know the faculty from a different perspective, and to see how much the school has changed since my time there.

Along other lines, my friend Bruce, from Berkeley, offered to get me in touch with one of his friends who happens to play for the Memphis Redbirds minor league baseball team. I figure that those guys would be a blast to hang out with, and quite a few of them would understand what it's like to do rehab after a serious injury.

Anyway, I wish I could tell you that I was running around and that everything was better, but that's still going to be a long time. I'm trying to make the best of this situation, do my rehab each day, and make the rest of my time tolerable. It's not the best lifestyle, but far from the worst. I'm grateful that I will be able to walk again sometime soon, and that I've eluded some of the graver consequences of spinal injuries.

Finally, I want to thank all of you that have sent me cards, letters, and books the last several weeks. I have immensely enjoyed reading them, but I have been really bad about thanking each of you individually. I'm still working on it!

Out of the hospital and back in Memphis (a personal note from Tom)

Wow, I'm not in the hospital. No one is taking my blood pressure, it's quiet in the middle of the night, and the ceiling looks a lot nicer in my parents' house (I've spent a lot of time inspecting ceilings in the past 6 weeks. The ones with some water damage are actually the best because you can imagine that they are some kind of contemporary art).

I actually immensely enjoyed my stay at the rehabilitation center in Houston. The care was excellent, I made enormous progress with my left leg, and I had many wonderful visitors. Speaking of my leg, the current status is that when I'm in the pool in three feet of water, I can walk completely unassisted! My balance isn't great and my strength sucks, but it's only a matter of time before I'm walking around town. Perhaps I won't even need a brace. This would represent the best case scenario, and now it's perfectly reasonable to expect it will become my reality.

I've been fortunate to have some wonderful visitors in Houston to keep me company. Both mom and dad have spent countless hours with me. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez is in her third year of residency in rehabilitation medicine, and she works in the building that I've been staying in. Of course, this is not a coincidence, since she helped with getting in there in the first place. My lovely former cheerleading partner Claudia and her husband David Vasser have been tireless visitors, and I have immensely enjoyed their company. For those of you who are former Houston residents, you'll appreciate that we went out to dinner at Chuey's the other night. My friend Catherine Magill, with whom I traveled to Hawaii this summer, has actually visited me twice in Houston. She left today for a year in Japan with the JET program, so I was glad that we could spent more time together, even if it was in a noisy hospital. William Weaver, my friend since first grade (going on 22 years now), just moved to Waco to start his job as a professor at Baylor University. He drove into town this past weekend, and I showed him around Rice a little bit. Maybe it will help entice him to join the Rice faculty one of these days! Now that would be sweet.

Due to a beautiful coincidence in which Deb Forst got married in Houston while I was here, several of my Rice friends came in from out of town for the wedding and dropped by the hospital when they found out that I was there. Amazingly, I saw three of my former Rice roommates. Marshall Wolfe came in from Chicago, Peter Kaltenbach drove from Austin, and Jeff Caves, accompanied by his wife Diane Berry, flew from Atlanta. Other than Diane, I hadn't seen any of them since I graduated in 2000. What a joy! Besides seeing my roommates, I also got surprise visits from Krystal Clarke, A.J. Moore, and Amy Chambers. It was so fun to talk about our college days together.

Now that I'm back in Memphis, I'll get to see a couple of my high school friends, but most of the other people I knew have moved away. That means you guys will need to come visit me here! It's a great place to visit, and now that I'm more mobile, I can show you some awesome stuff. The national civil rights museum is here, right in the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated in 1968. It is truly one of the most impressive, powerful places I have ever been. We also have one of those neo-retro downtown baseball stadiums, where the Cardinals' AAA affiliates, the Memphis Redbirds, play their games. While you're here you'll definitely want to try our world famous BBQ. We could eat at the Germantown Commissary, Corky's, Pig N Whistle, the Rendevous, or if you're here long enough, you could try all four! One more major draw is the Memphis music scene, famous for its blues music. My high school buddy Justin Conn (www.justinconn.com) is an up and coming musician, and he just played at the Blue Monkey last night. If only I had come home a day earlier, I would have been able to see him in action.

Seriously, I would love to have some visitors. My parents have three empty bedrooms in their house, and my social calendar is wide open (for now). I think I'll be here until mid-September. I can't wait to see you! Of course, phone calls and letters are great too, so you can reach me on my cell at 901-857-2466 or send things to 2691 Sweet Oaks Circle, Germantown, TN 38138.

After some harrowing moments earlier this summer, life is treating me well right now. The next big hurdle is a meeting with my surgeon on August 7. He's going to check how my back has healed and make further recommendations about how to procede. Please pray that he'll give me a good report, that I'll get my back brace off soon, and above all, no more surgeries! Recovering from two surgeries has been grueling. I really don't want to have any more. I also want my back to be strong and durable, so I can do more challenging rehab activities and then get on with my life.

That's all for now. Thanks for your tremendous outpouring of love and support. You guys have helped me maintain a positive attitude throughout this ordeal, and things are getting better each day!

Love, Tom

Tom Returns to Memphis

Today Tom returns to Memphis for outpatient rehabilitation activity. His time in Houston has been very successful, as he has made rapid progress in regaining his ability to walk.

One of the main challenges in his rehab is to build function in his hip flexors on the left side. Basically, these muscles help bring the thigh up toward the horizontal. If they don't work, you end up dragging your feet along the ground. Also, Tom currently wears a brace to support his back. Soon he should be able to take the brace off when he walks, but for now it is an important part of the rehab process.

Having said that, I think it is great for Tom to be in the situation where he is trying to build up his hip flexors so he can walk better, as opposed to deciding on a color scheme for his racing wheelchair.

While in Memphis, Tom will be staying at his parents home (2691 Sweet Oaks Circle, Germantown, TN 38138). If he continues to make good progress there, he is likely to head back to Houston for more intensive rehabilitation starting in mid-September.

Tom walked!...well, sort of...

I have not yet viewed it with my own eyes, but Tom told me today that he walked with a walker! It is A-MA-ZING to see how much progress he has made in the past week. When Tom first got to Houston, he could twitch one of his quad muscles. Now, there is definite visible flexing of quads and hammys and calves. I'm not so good with muscle names after that, but he still lacks hip flexers to pick up his leg and the walking muscle on the front of the shin to pull up his toes. He thought his adductors and abductors were a "circus" but when he tried to show me that, he surprised himself and his mom a bit by the progress those muscles have made. His trainer wants to be famous for Tom's phenomenal recovery, so our Tom will soon be a poster child for the rehab center. Tom's dad also arrived today to Houston, so he will have full pampering from both parents. Of course, there is still lots of progress to be made, but he's making great strides!

Tom's first personal entry since the accident

I had been trying to compose a story that started at the beginning of the summer, but so much has happened that I quickly got overwhelmed. So let me start with now, tell you the latest and greatest stuff, then work backwards.

My stay in the Houston rehab center has been a dream come true. I have recovered significantly since my two surgeries, and now I can fully concentrate on rehab. Already in Nicaragua, I started developing strength and mobility in my right leg, and now it feels almost back to normal. The main problem now is that I lost a massive amount of weight since my injury, and almost all of it was muscle. I got down as far as 157 pounds, and I need to be at 170 in order to be at good strength.

Since the accident, I have been concerned about my paralyzed left leg and wondering how much mobility would come back. My surgeons were very optimistic, but nerve and spinal injuries take 3-6 months to heal, and all progress is very, very slow. Additionally, no one really knows how much mobility will return-- it's really a wait and see approach. With rehab, what we do is strengthen what I've already gotten back and hope that with time, there will be more and more to work with. If you are one of those people who is into asking God for help in situations where humans are powerless, then you can pray that I'll get a lot of return in my left leg. The more I get back, the easier it will be to walk. That is my ultimate dream now, to some day be able to walk comfortably again. I still have a lot of places in this world I'd like to walk to, in particular the Andes. I don't care so much if I pick up my intense athletic endeavors again, as I have already accomplished on my bike the greatest challenge I could ever imagine (Devil Mountain Double Century). But I would love to be able to walk up mountain paths, carry a backpack, camp next to alpine lakes, stare at the Southern Cross, listen to the silence of uninhabited areas, and enjoy the outdoor lifestyle again. I am extremely confident that my destiny is South America, and I need two good legs to be able to get around in the places that I want to live.

That's all about the future, what about now? I've got something wonderful to report-- just today, for the very first time, I was able to contract my left quad and raise my foot into the air! This is a very good sign. I think my physical therapist was nearly as excited as I was. I nearly cried watching my left leg work so well. I hope that soon I'll get some movement below the knee as well. My therapist says so, that my hip and hip flexors are the most important, so you can keep that in mind, too.

If you live in the Houston area, please come to visit! I am free every day from 4pm-9pm. I've already had the pleasure to see many of my old Rice friends, and it lifted my spirits tremendously. It appears that I will only be here for two more weeks before they send me back to Memphis to do some out-patient recovery. Then, once I've got more strength in my leg and my back brace is removed, they'll bring me back to Houston for some hard-core rehab in September or October. Memphis may be a little bit more difficult for me, as I don't have as many friends there, but I think I will learn to play classical guitar in my freetime.

One thing I wanted to mention is that the computers in this hospital do not allow access to facebook (imagine that!), so I haven't been able to add my friend requests or read any of my messages so far. Once I get back to Memphis in two weeks, you may have to resubmit your friend requests so I can add you and stay in better touch. In the meantime, it is better to email me at my gmail address. Given that it is difficult for me to sit for long periods of time, I cannot read and reply quickly to your messages, but I appreciate every one of them.

I love you all very much, and your support has given me a tremendous boost.

Tom Now in Houston for Further Rehab

(This news via Claudia.)

Tom has settled in to TIRR here in Houston in room 512. People can call him on his cell phone at: 901.857.2466.

He is still in great spirits. His stay in Houston is predicted to be about a month. His father will be in Houston the duration of that time, with his mother coming for weekends.

His folks will probably stay at my house while they're in town. People can send mail and packages to my office and I'll be sure it gets to Tom while he's here in Houston: Cochran & Baker; c/o Claudia Vassar; 1177 West Loop South, Suite 1600; Houston, Texas 77027.

Continued Recovery

Tom's recovery continues in Memphis. After his surgery went well earlier this week, he has been able to get around a little in a wheelchair. Just being able to sit upright is a big thing, but it's also great to be able to get out of bed.

Tom is at the stage where he will soon go to a specialist rehab clinic in Houston, possibly as early as Tuesday (7/10). Obviously that is another big step in the path to recovery. Please pray for Tom in this next stage.

Hopefully I can clear up some uncertainty about the state of Tom's legs. His right leg is in relatively good shape, but the left leg has more limited activity, so far. In his left leg, Tom has sensitivity, reflex (when they tap his knee with that little hammer), and some voluntary movement (better than uncontrolled twitching). It is uncertain how much his lelft leg will recover, but everyone who has worked with him so far seems to be very hopeful for good outcomes.

While he is still in Memphis, Tom's phone number is (901) 545 7829. His room number is D514.

Tom's Excellent Progress

Tom went through another surgery yesterday (Monday 2nd July) in Memphis. Everyone is very happy with how the procedure went. The surgeon had thought Tom would require two operations in Memphis, but has now decided that yesterday's one was sufficient.

Tom is today sitting up and in a brace -- a very positive development. Since his back appears to be in such good shape (relative to expectations) the schedule for his rehabilitation is being brought forward. He and his parents are currently considering whether to go to Atlanta or to Houston for rehab. That move could happen within a week.

In the meantime, cards (and flowers and bicycling posters) would be welcomed at Tom's parents address:
  2691 Sweet Oaks Circle
  Germantown, TN 38138

Back in Memphis

Tom has returned to Memphis. His flight went well and he is glad to be back. Unfortunately he has another one or two surgeries ahead of him. These operations will be simpler than the operation in Managua, but is still a big deal. Tom has met with the surgeon and is confident that he is receiving high quality care.

Tom said that the aims of the surgery are

• to widen his spinal column


• to remove some more bone fragment from the spinal column


• to further stabilize his spine.

Tom is likely to have surgery on Monday (July 2). Please pray for Tom's operation and continued recovery.

In addition, Tom is able (and eager!) to receive calls at (901) 545 8785. This is a personal line to his room in the hospital, so it should be easy enough to get through. Tom said that visitor hours are 9-10am, 1-2pm, 5-6pm and 9-10pm, Central Time, and that these are times when it will be easiest to get through to him.

Get Well Tom! #3 (AAA Memphis Rehab Assignment Brought Forward)

According to all reports Tom is feeling remarkably well, given the circumstances. I spoke with his mother this morning and she said that they are due to bring him back to Memphis later this week on a private airplane. This is great news!

If he were to come back on a commercial flight, he would have to sit upright for the duration of the flight. To be able to deat with such rigors he would have had to spend another couple of weeks in Nicaragua. The private flight means he can be horizontal during the flight, so he'll be able to come back much sooner.

Let's pray for safe travel, as well as for continued recovery.

Get Well Tom! #2

Hi friends of Tom -- I got this message from Tom's sister Katherine this morning and she told me to pass it on.

Good morning Nick! This is his sister Katherine writing from Tom's email account at his bedside in Managua, Nicaragua. Tom had a 10 hour surgery on Wednesday where the orthopedic surgeon harvested bone from his hip and along with some Titanium rods used it to reconstruct his crushed vertebrae. Tom feels having Titanium in his back is appropriate as it makes him "more like a road biking cyborg"
Tom is recovering well from surgery and although yesterday was a difficult day, he is feeling much better today than yesterday. He has excellent movement of his right leg which is getting stronger every day as his doctor has given him strict instructions to exercise his quadriceps and calf muscles as much as possible to keep up his strength. He is not able to move his left leg at this time, although the surgeon reported he was able to get the muscles to twitch immediately after surgery, so he remains optimistic that little by little Tom will hopefully regain the ability to move that leg. Tom is in excellent spirits and is really enjoying hearing from friends (Just try not to make him laugh too hard because it hurts his back=)
You can post on your blog his update and also let his friends know that they can call him in his hospital room from the US by dialing (011-505-255-6900). That will connect you to the hospital operator and you just have to ask for Room 310.

Get Well Tom! #1

Tom is our good friend and we heard yesterday (6/20/2007) that Tom is in a hospital in Nicaragua where he was on a trip. He has broken some vertebrae in an accident and underwent an entire day of surgery yesterday.
Last night I sent out this update:

"For now since it's getting late, I'll just pass on the good news so far that I heard from Tom's dad in Memphis, as best as I understand:

The doctors were very pleased with the outcome of the surgery. I'm really not sure on what signs of nerve and spine damage Tom had before the operation, but it's my understanding that there were at least some positive signs during or after the operation based on leg twitching (again, I'm not sure on the details, so I'll leave it at that). They woke Tom up from the anesthesia to make sure he made it ok, and then sent him to sleep with some heavy pain killers. Tomorrow (Thursday) the doctors will do the first testing to see what Tom can move and feel. I also heard that everyone's spirits are high, the doctors and staff are excellent and that Tom's mom has been offered a place to stay by some really kind folks and that she feels really supported and blessed through this."

We also heard from Tom's mom that we can pray for Tom to handle the pain he will most likely be feeling when he wakes up today (6/21/2007).

I just spoke with Tom's dad this morning and he says that it's really too soon to know about the details of the damage, but that Tom is awake, alert and hungry (!) and is very optimistic.

I don't think we'll all be able to communicate with Tom directly immediately (I haven't been able to speak with him yet), so it was suggested to me that we could begin to leave messages of encouragement as comments on a blog.

Let's encourage Tom's optimism!