Bio-Fit, Injections & New Friends - June 15, 2011

Steve, Abdul, Julie, Eric

The Bio-Fit workout started with stretching and abs, then Eric moved to machines where he worked on upper body strengthening exercises.  This week Tracy took time to workout along side of him.  When he did situps, so did she.  When he worked on weight machines, she chose others to work on.  That way they both got a workout and felt good.  We took another group picture with Steve in today's picture since he missed the previous picture.  One thing about going through this process is that you immediately feel a friendship and bond with the other patients and families going through the same treatment program.  We feel that we have new friends both in the US as well as Canada and Kuwait, and still have two more weeks to meet new families.

In the afternoon Eric had another lumbar puncture injection in the spine.  That went smoothly.  We briefly met one of the new spinal cord injury patients who is a quadriplegic; a young lady who is 26 years old and has a 5 year old daughter.  Yesterday we met a boy who looked about 8 and is actually 18 years old and has muscular dystrophy.  Each of these cases remind us that Eric could be in much worse shape than he is compared to many other people.

Julie, her son Scott, Joe, Scott, Tracy, Eric

This evening Julie and her son Scott took a taxi to our hotel to join Joe, Scott, Eric and I for dinner.  I scouted around the hotel prior to their arrival and I found a Sushi restaurant that looked worth trying out.  It turns out that Julie and Scott love Sushi and Joe was willing to try, so we braved the streets and sidewalk curbs and went to dinner.  We were pleasantly surprised with the menu and how good the food was.  Unfortunately it was much more expensive than we had been eating, but we decided we could splurge one night.  We shared stories about our situations and families and had a great evening.  Julie and her husband and five children live in California near Sacramento, so it was also nice to spend time with someone who lives relatively close to our home.