Up close and personal with a Neural Prosthesis

The Exercise Release & Act 2 Curtain Call

This was a first for me. After surgery, the physical therapist’s direction was not to exercise. It seems a little counter intuitive but no exercise for four weeks. The logic behind the order makes sense. Coming out of the first surgery, five of the seven…

Putting the pieces together of a neural prosthesis

What happened during those 6 hours under the knife in the OR? How did the research team rebuild a paralyzed body?

Operation: the waiting game

The second surgery to complete the upgraded implanted neural prosthesis

Not just a place to stay

This research program requires travel to and from the laboratories in Cleveland. That is simply part of the commitment by research participants. When I travel to Cleveland you would think that I stay at the hospital but I don’t. Maybe I stay at a hotel but I don’t. Instead I board in…

Anticipatory anxiety roller coaster

Anticipatory anxiety. You know that feeling. It is rampant around the end of year holiday season. It’s that looming feeling of an approaching event or experience and you just can’t get everything done before it. The more you feel that way the more you don’t get…

Tapping with impatience

Trying to recover from the fog of anesthesia, I recall there was a video the physical therapist showed me after waking up from the second surgery. What really helped my memory was that my Mom sent that video to me to review. It is still on my desktop, this nine second video. What is the…

The Burden is on YOU

As a reader of this series you have seen this phrase a lot. I probably shouldn’t refer to it as a burden because it is more of a responsibility. As with any personal health effort like recovering from cancer, overcoming post-traumatic stress or battling diabetes, at some point you need to do…

The Skin We Live In

Now that we know what changed inside, what is going on outside post-surgery of the implanted neural prosthesis?

Firing up the system

Powering the new implanted IST-16 for the neural prosthesis

Many times we don’t know what we miss until we lose it. In other words, we don’t always appreciate what we have until it is gone. Sure, there are a few exceptions, like lost weight, extinguished debt or…