I was the one to see Colin this morning, and wil again tomorrow morning. Took puppy Shadow out there with me, and of course, everybody loved him.

Colin told me that yesterday was a particularly bad pain day. Said he figures it’s because he’s been doing so much exercise with his legs for the past several weeks — nerve pain has ratcheted up several notches, and yesterday it ratcheted up several notches more — but has gone back down to what it was the day before yesterday. Also, there is never a time now, when he is not in some level of pain, not even those 20 minutes that he used to count on when waking up in the morning.

Keep in mind that as he tells me this, he’s not at all self-pitying; just very matter of fact, and in the usual good humor.

Yesterday, for the first time, he practiced getting from the bed to the chair by himself with two PTs standing by . . . and he says it’s much more difficult than he expected from all the videos he watched. On the other hand, his legs are unusually heavy (I remember a doctor told him he had unusually dense bones) and always have been unusually muscled, so each one likely weighs 40 pounds! Then, the fact that, because he can’t feel his legs or feet, he can’t do what the brain remembers doing, plant his feet on the floor and then use them to balance as he exerts great effort to haul himself from bed to chair. Which means the brain gets confused, and it’s very disorienting. He figures he’s going to have to practice this maneuver endlessly to get to the point where the brain figures out how to balance during the swing without feet on floor. He figures a bar above would be useful, to use to swing himself, and the PTs both agreed. In any case, he now has a realistic assessment of just what it’s going to take to get himself swinging in and out of bed to chair with ease. He figures his upcoming weeks in the rehab will be where he really learns how.

Next, we talked about the coming rehab of the house he’s in, just what will be necessary. Vlad, who will do the bathroom, asked for a slow video to be taken of that room, so I did that and sent it on to Colin. Vlad will be here sometime this week to assess the situation for himself.

I include here a pic of some initial sketches of the chair improvements that I mentioned I think yesterday.

Oh, and, very exciting! I took a card to him that one of his CB followers, Shannon, sent to him via regular mail, very appreciative of the journey he is on. (She found out about Colin, via me, says she has been following my writings since the turn of the millennium!)

Here’s what she said in her letter to me. (Much more in her letter to him.)

“Recently I have followed the progress Colin has made since the incident and have been sending healing energy his way since the moment I heard. I knew something was going on when there was time when there was nothing on your blog. As this is almost never the case, I knew something was up. when I saw the post, informing of what had happened to Colin, I had a very intense energetic response. At the end of the post, you make a plea for all who could help to do so. I immediately felt myself going into the deep place of energy healing and transformation and energy flooded up and out of me in a broad channel. I could feel others doing the same in a strong collective and directed energy to Colin.

“I have done work in these places for all of my adult life, but even for me this was a potent and intense experience. I have been following Colin’s progress on CaringBridge and have, along with many others continued to send him positive healing energy. I too have seen the vision of him beginning to walk with a walker.”

And, in her long beautiful letter to him, she said she has seen that vision “many times.”

Oh, I’ll take that! he said, excitedly. And then remarked, I’ll take all these wonderful women’s healing energies and visions over the three doctors who said I’ll never walk again.” And about Shannon, he remarked, several times, on the beauty of her handwriting.

Shannon also sent me a Goddess deck and booklet that she created using both tarot and astrology. Haven’t had a chance to look at them yet, but thank you, Shannon, so much for everything you sent to us. A huge energy boost!

Was there for about an hour before Shadow signaled that he’d had enough. Plus, Colin’s pain was beginning to ramp up, so with a quick kiss and hug we made our departure.

Scheduled to see him again tomorrow, and Saturday.