After the long drive back from the US (13 hours over 2 days in the car) and the Easter weekend break, I knew I had lost about 2 weeks of the post-SDR progress we had made mobility-wise in St. Louis. The regression was real and FAST! This was expected and not a cause for concern since things would catch up again once I was back into a daily therapy routine - but it definitely caught my attention, for sure. The first session back at home with my team on Tuesday was amazing. It

It's crazy what time can do. This day one month ago, I was resting, after having had SDR surgery just a few hours earlier. In the blurry, hectic and transformational days that followed, I had 18 therapy sessions, learned how to start moving spasticity-free, navigated the challenges (and challenging characters!) of early post-op recovery, met some phenomenal nurses and therapists who have since become dear friends...and saw the genuine beauty and kindness of St. Louis on full

I could write 5 updates for all that I've experienced this past week....but when I last blogged about turning the corner after SDR surgery and that I was beginning to feel like "I've got this" ....I guess I really meant it! Progress has come in surprising and wonderful ways. Most important, I am now free of joint pain in my feet --at rest AND when walking. If this was all I would gain from SDR, I would be the happiest person on the planet. This is huge for me because I cannot

This experience in St Louis continues to be a blessing. Tonight, I'm so strongly reminded of one specific blessing -- that made this trying, exhausting, emotionally-draining, hardest week yet -- truly one of the most empowering, too. Through the opportunity to work with the team at NHRC back home -- as we first started working through years of unexplained pain, a plethora of injuries; and worked through 'management-mode' simply to help me keep my candidacy for SDR, they began