#extrarepsfortrish

day 73 : wheelchair day! finally! . i've been riding around in an almost 40 pound clunker for two months. complete with left castor wheel problems and a broken brake. and i've been daydreaming of this beauty the whole time! . we ordered this wheelchair about 5 weeks ago and it was custom made to my measurements. we also decided to class it up with some matte black and sapphire accents. . happy #wheelchairday to me! thanks @tilite.official !!! . . . #headbandsandhightops #spinalcordinjury #extrarepsfortrish #trishstrong #wheelchairlife (at Craig Hospital)

day 144 : putting gas in the car for the first time! . somehow it’s been the little things i haven’t been able to do that have hit me the hardest. . if you haven’t been let in to the secret, gratitude is the secret of happiness. with that said, training your mind to be grateful for what you have is not a piece of cake. especially when you tend to gravitate towards realism and sometimes even pessimism (not proud of it, just being honest with myself). . for those in the US, gratitude is a big thing this week. can’t say this holiday is even remotely close to my favorite (celebrating stealing a country and mass genocide really isn’t my thing 🙃), but i will always appreciate the opportunity to be mindful and thoughtful of life. . i challenge you to be mindful and appreciative of all those mundane tasks in your day today! . . . #headbandsandhightops #spinalcordinjury #extrarepsfortrish #trishstrong #wheelchairlife #paralysisrecovery #lifeafterSCI

day 140 : today i got these two loves of my life back. . everyone meet lucy (left) and bubba (right), crews & i’s fur-babies. . crews got to see them briefly while getting our car from florida before hurricane irma, but otherwise we haven’t seen them for 4.5 months (shoutout to @tracyshandmadesoaps for putting up with these two derps, especially ms. pillow destroyer over here) . if you know these two, you know a good picture is damn hard to come by. i’m inept at taking selfies, lucy hates the camera more than i think anything else in life, and well, bubba’s just cute. this was the best one i could get and it’s still really blurry! you don’t even want to know how lucy & i selfies came out 🙄🐶#diva . . . #theadventuresofbubsandluce #pettherapyisthebesttherapy #headbandsandhightops #spinalcordinjury #extrarepsfortrish #trishstrong #wheelchairlife #paralysisrecovery #lifeafterSCI (at Tampa, Florida)

day 107 : i've been procrastinating posting a video of my walking. not sure why. . maybe it's because i'm still having a hard time accepting that this is how my body moves now, or maybe it's because i know i've had a tendency to make things sound not as bad as they actually are to those people that are new to learning about spinal cord injuries. . maybe it's because i haven't wanted those people who knew me before this see how sad it is that the person who has made fitness and wellness their life's passion, can barely move one foot in front of the other. maybe it's all those things. . home has been hard. i don't know where to start after being gone for 3.5 months. it's bizarre seeing things and places from before. and i don't have the resources i had at craig. i can't even get around to or reach half the things and spaces in my home. . trying to keep positive and look ahead because i know how lucky i am and how far i've come, but sometimes you have to give a voice to those negative things to acknowledge, validate, and move on, right? #mentalhealth . anyway, i AM proud of this progress, even since leaving for our road trip. left leg still has to come on board and quit giving me a hard time with lifting my foot off the floor, but it'll come! . p.s. - told you the pet bag wasn't going anywhere! #classy . . . headbandsandhightops #spinalcordinjury #extrarepsfortrish #trishstrong #wheelchairlife #oldmanwalker (at South Carolina)

day 135 : reliving our road trip times by watching hgtv in a hotel room and seeing what new movement i have. . right leg slides up and down without a hitch! 😬 . . . #headbandsandhightops #spinalcordinjury #extrarepsfortrish #trishstrong #wheelchairlife #paralysisrecovery #lifeafterSCI

day 123 : TFW the first doc you go to in years (other than, ya know, the past 4 months) is blown away and perplexed by your progress. . we’ve learned over and over again that i am an anomaly with this injury, and i’m grateful for that every minute of every day. but when doc has to double check what year you were injured because this progress does not match her 25 years of experience, it really hits home how incredibly lucky i’ve been and continue to be. . feeling good that doctor is settled. now to get PT set up! #adulting . . . #headbandsandhightops #spinalcordinjury #extrarepsfortrish #trishstrong #wheelchairlife #paralysisrecovery #lifeafterSCI

day 122 : i am ridiculously proud of this crawl! . hadn’t done this in a while and i’m so surprised that it has changed so much. . baby steps....literally. . hope your halloween was great - i made crews get the rest of the trick-o-treaters once i transferred onto the floor to do exercises 😈 . . . #headbandsandhightops #spinalcordinjury #extrarepsfortrish #trishstrong #wheelchairlife #paralysisrecovery #lifeafterSCI

day 94 : officially done with rehab at @craighospital... . they said we could start talking about walking and getting fit for braces at my 6-month re-evaluation and i'm leaving the hospital standing, walking, and trying to beat my mortal enemy right now - gravity. . thank you @craighospital for sprinkling magic fairy dust on me (and also, you know, having world-class nurses, therapists, and doctors) and helping turn my broken man body to a fixed man. . don't know if "excited" is the term for how i feel right now. this hospital was a cushy bubble of accessibility, support, and peers. now i'm heading to the real world, leaving one of the most accesible cities in the country, and going to a place where i don't know a single person in a wheelchair, much less a spinal cord injury. . thank goodness i will be surrounded by the most loving group of co-workers and friends. i was officially discharged last thursday, but due to surprising @addyhaleyeah at her wedding this past weekend in south carolina (seriously, you thought i'd miss it?!) we had to keep it hush hush. . now that we're out (and back in the glorious state of colorado) we're hanging out for a day or two and then commencing our #rgcv - rehabilitation graduation celebration vacation. say that three times fast. how often do you get to do a cross-country road trip as an adult? we plan on taking full advantage and finding every oddity and hidden gem on the road back. . . . #headbandsandhightops #spinalcordinjury #extrarepsfortrish #trishstrong #wheelchairlife (at Denver, Colorado)