One Year Update
July, 2022 - One Year UpdateWe have now passed the one-year mark from Dimitri's mountain bike accident. He continues to improve and regain function.
As a C4 spinal cord injury (tetraplegic), he will never be normal, but given what we were told now, we could not be more grateful and pleased. Dimitri has worked extremely hard on his rehabilitation.
In the pictures below, there is a pic of him riding his bike. He road from Canmore to Banff and back with Joseph, his oldest son. He also swam in the ocean, which he absolutely loves. Coming out of the water was a huge challenge finding his feet with the waves, but he made it out fine after a few falls. Dimitri also walks on uneven surfaces like cobblestone and dirt road paths along the river valley. This requires a different level of balance.
Even though he is doing exceptionally well, there still is transient paralysis in different parts of his body (mostly L hand and trunk). When Dimitri gets tired or rushed, things get worse, including his balance/coordination. He recently fell on an escalator at the airport in Toronto.
His bowels and bladder need extra attention, and Dimitri needs to modify his eating slightly to help digestion and take a good probiotic, smooth tea, and lots of fiber. He still gets spasms, twitches, and other neurological findings like clonus.
Dimitri is returning to work and is really looking forward to that. Dimitri has learned about pacing, resting, staying ahead of the pain, the importance of sleep, and the critical importance of his exercises. Hopefully, he will be able to juggle the demands of work and his rehabilitation as he is still improving, and no one on his " team " wants to see his progress regress or plateau with his return to work.
Dimitri and I enjoyed a beer at my brother’s house on his one-year anniversary. His team said no alcohol for a year, to optimize recovery, which he followed to a T.