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Ryan – What were the important milestones in rehabilitation?

Ryan – What were the important milestones in rehabilitation?

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I mean, being able to transfer independently for the first couple of times was huge. Even now when I make a good transfer it’s like, “ah, that was awesome.” But I use to—my wife lived with me while we were in the hospital, but she works local... Show More

I mean, being able to transfer independently for the first couple of times was huge. Even now when I make a good transfer it’s like, “ah, that was awesome.” But I use to—my wife lived with me while we were in the hospital, but she works locally, so she’d have to go to work every day. So, during the day at lunchtime to kind of push myself, I would go get lunch by myself. So, I’d have to leave the floor I was on, which that’s not really that big of an adventure. But it was also, looked at like an adventure, go down to the cafeteria and grab my food. And it was a challenge to have to ask people if you need help or try to get everything on your own. And granted, being a guy, I wanted to get all the stuff I can on my own. So, that was one of the things I would do so that I could push myself to new limits. And being at the rehab center, there’s plenty of people around to help you if something really goes wrong. But there was a lot of days that I wouldn’t eat food with ketchup if that was necessary because I wouldn’t have a way to open the packets. I’d be like, “whatever, I got here on my own. That’s really all I worry about.” So, that was a big step for me. 

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Ryan – What were the important milestones in rehabilitation?

Ryan

Injured in 2015 at age 25, quadriplegic
More Videos by Ryan
Transcriptadd

I mean, being able to transfer independently for the first couple of times was huge. Even now when I make a good transfer it’s like, “ah, that was awesome.” But I use to—my wife lived with me while we were in the hospital, but she works locally, so she’d have to go to work every day. So, during the day at lunchtime to kind of push myself, I would go get lunch by myself. So, I’d have to leave the floor I was on, which that’s not really that big of an adventure. But it was also, looked at like an adventure, go down to the cafeteria and grab my food. And it was a challenge to have to ask people if you need help or try to get everything on your own. And granted, being a guy, I wanted to get all the stuff I can on my own. So, that was one of the things I would do so that I could push myself to new limits. And being at the rehab center, there’s plenty of people around to help you if something really goes wrong. But there was a lot of days that I wouldn’t eat food with ketchup if that was necessary because I wouldn’t have a way to open the packets. I’d be like, “whatever, I got here on my own. That’s really all I worry about.” So, that was a big step for me. 

Ryan – What were the important milestones in rehabilitation?
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