The brain is a wonderful and mysterious thing, it can rebuild or even establish new neural pathways where none existed before. I’m living proof - My brain reinvented me.

Between all the reading and my speech therapist, I could talk and interact with people to a limited extent. By three months my progress was so great that they gave me a custom wheelchair, a bright yellow thing with an armrest for my paralyzed right side. By now my routine was set, I’d go to the top floor, get off the elevator and race to the opposite side of the building, then take that elevator down to the next floor and repeat the process. I would do it over and over again, fifteen, thirty, fifty times until I was worn out. Then I would read and practice talking to myself, until it was time for the next appointment.

By the time my casts came off, I would work on the exercise bike until I couldn’t move. I was drenched in sweat, and the pain was so great I couldn’t move. I just kept repeating over and over again I can do it.

At first it was torture, but by the time I left the hospital, I could go all day with the resistance on high, after walking around the entire hospital pushing my wheelchair. I’m still numb on the entire right side and my memory is pretty well shot. But if I concentrate, I can talk and walk nearly normal. I taught myself to do everything left handed – knife skills were a bitch, but I can chop, dice, and julienne pretty well. I’m slow and clumsy, but it gets done. I’ve found that cuts and burns don’t bother me – and there were a lot of them. A quick rinse under cold water and I’m back cooking. It’s not just a lack of pain either, I’ve cut myself to where the bone was showing, and left imprints of my hands on pots when I would forget that they were hot – within two weeks there wouldn’t be a scar.