Life is a valuable commodity!

Hello again everybody! I hope you all enjoyed my little MA vacation. I had a great time up in the "wilderness" of a small historic town. Tom and Sheila were great to me and I look forward to returning.

The past 2-weeks of school has been very educational. I am taking two courses that occupy the majority of my time: Ortho I (Upper Extremity) and Neuro I (Spinal Cord Injury). The Ortho class is a lot like the undergraduate classes I have had, but I still find it very interesting (duh!) and the teachers are great. The Neuro class is very interesting and challenging to me. I have worked with SCI (Spinal Cord Injury) patients before, but not this closely. We have had 2 great labs with a really smart and well versed instructor who treats SCI at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in the city. In addition, we had a field trip to Helen Hayes Rehab Hospital in West Havershaw, NY. I am crazy, so I rode my bike up there in the early AM before we were supposed to meet. Dr. Sliwinski arranged a shower for me (my classmates were grateful) and we had a great time. It was so powerful to not only meet the patients, but to observe them in action and talk with them. I appreciate how much I have in life even more since Wednesday. I know that I take a risk everyday on my bike when I ride on the road, but I cannot let fear overcome my exercise enjoyment. I wish I had pictures of Wednesday, but I would have broken too many laws to even count.
On our way back to the city it was storming, so Julie gave me a ride in her full van. I was in the back with Jon and Eyal discussing the "finer" things in life. The storm had knocked down a bunch of trees on the Palisades Parkway too. I counted 7 myself!

So here I am today. Sitting in NJ at the home of my parents after an early morning ocean swim. I love life, the people in my life and especially this cat who keeps spying on me!!

This is Angus. Like all boys, he is nothing but trouble!





See you next post!