Hello All,
First I would like to say I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a great new year.
As for here it has been about the same just staying busy with work and still working out as much as I have time for.
I am still going to try to go back to Russia for more injections and keep pushing to see how far I can take it.
I Have had some test’s done here after I’ve been back and some show better now than they did before I went but it is still a lot of work just to get ready to go back maybe in May of 08.
Hope all is well and happy New Year.
Mickie…

Sunday 9/9

It has been a while but we are still hanging in there.
There are no new changes for me yet but everything that I have gotten back is still there.
I still work out every day before and after work which is very hard but that’s life.
My shoulder is hanging in so far as I have backed off on weight lifting by about 50%.
I have started doing crunches and my two top abs seem to be working a little so I will keep pushing it and see how far I can get it to go.
For the bad news Traci may have to have back surgery do to a fall out of the chair but the good thing from that.
She can tell that her back hurts and she can fill it so she will get that fixed and we will try to go back to Russia in January for more injections.
Thanks for all the prayers please keep them coming we can use all of them.

Mickie….

Hey Everyone ! Sorry it's been so long since anything has been posted. Mickie is still crazy busy with work so he has asked me to fill everybody in on whats been going on. We're both staying pretty busy. Here lately it's been very hard to seperate work from therapy. Neither one of us can leave our work at work. Mickie finds himself constantly stuck in Dallas longer then expected while I am constantly trying to get him to go home when he's suppose to. What a hard headed man he is. He does get his riding done though. He rides about 2 hrs in the morning & 2 hrs at night. I'm falling a little behind & it's driving me crazy. Here in the near future, I'll be able to ride even if he's not at home. Mick continues to push & challenge me. He makes fun of me too. : ) I've learned so much from him & I hope that he's learned a little from me too. We both feel very blessed to have the access & the ability to do as much as we get to do. Right now we are scheduled to go back to Russia September 1st. Neither one of us see that happening. It kind-of snuck up on us. We do plan to reschedule. I heard soomething the other day that has stayed w/ me.

Jesus wasn't sent to protect us from the pain of this world. He was sent so we could handle it.

I like that. I stop & think about people like Mick & I and it's amazing how blessed we really are. There are people who have injuries that are so much worse. Yes, we have our moments when we are in pain, get frustrated or discouraged, & even question our entire being, but we handle it. Thank you for your prayers.

Greetings,

This is Mickie and everything is still going great with Traci and me.
Way to much work and still therapy all the time, the shoulder is still a little painful
But I can live with it. The bike is working out good for both of us there have been a lot of
Miles put on it. This past week has been an outrages week just because you always
Wonder if what you do day by day is the right thing to do for the future.
But I have learned that if you believe and believe in your self any dream can come true.
Life is changing everyday and I am so excided to see the next day of my life. I am so thankful to be giving that second chance at one more day.
Please keep the prayers coming because they are all still needed.
Good day to all.

Mickie…

Hi Everyone ! This is Traci. I am updating the blog because Mickie has been crazy busy with work. He said working pretty much sucks. He has been getting up every morning around 5:30am to prepare for his day. He still has to do his stretching, ride the bike, shower, & then drive downtown to work. He has been working long, hard hours & it's finally starting to catch up with him. Sometimes he doesn't get home until 8:00 or later. He has had to cut way back on his weight lifting because of his shoulder. He's in pain most of the time. He doesn't have any trouble falling asleep at night. Now the goal is to try & just stay awake till at least 9:00. I'm finally starting to see that stubborn side of Mick that everyone has been telling me about. Since I have been riding the bike every other day I have been suffering with alot of lower back & hip pain. My leg spasms have increased & seem to stay stimulated all the time. I continue to go to the gym every other morning to lift weights.

We had a great weekend. We went to the Turning Point's 17th Annual Extravaganza. This is an outdoors event that allows anyone with any type of spinal injury or nerveous system disorder to come out & try different outdoor activities. They had jet skiing, sail boating, fly fishing, rock climbing, etc. Mickie got to water ski while I played with snakes. They drew my name for the grand prize which was a pontoon boat worth $12,000. To bad you had to be present to win.... I left early so I lost the grand prize all in the same day.

We will be posting new pictures soon. Keep the prayers coming !

Hello All,

Last week was a long and hard week. I found out how hard I can push the body.
Thursday I was working out and started to have pain in the shoulder so I have backed off of the lifting weights for a few weeks to make sure I don’t tear it again. Other than that a lot of bike riding and floor mat therapy and stretching every day. Traci is coming over every other day and training on the bike plus the drive over here is good therapy for her hand eye coordination. We both would like to say thank you for all the help and prayers it really works so God bless to all.

Mickie…

Hello All,

All is going good here just a lot of working out and getting back to work and seeing how hard I can push it.
Baylor had a handcycle clinic this past Saturday and it was a new start for a lot of people that had never tried riding a bike before. Everyone had the biggest smiles all day so I hope they all will stay with it and keep pushing.
Also Baylor asked me to join there support challenge inspire committee and that makes me fill good knowing all these years have not been a waste and people do listing.
There are new pictures from this weekend at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7689145@N07/ so I hope you all like them and I will talk to you soon.

Mickie…

The new bike is here and working great.
Traci and I gave it a good test today.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7689145@N07/?saved=1 We took some new pictures of it working us out.I will update more soon.

Mickie..

Everything is still going good finally getting the time change back to normal.
Today was a lot of stretching and doing the floor exercises and the normal daily
Workout from just going to town. I am going to try to fit in 4 hours of therapy a day
Plus a full day of work so sleeping should not be a problem. When someone is over here I will have take pictures so everyone can see what is going on. I will talk to everyone soon.

Mickie..

Sunday 22nd

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7689145@N07/?saved=1 The last two days of Russia pictures are uploaded now.
The first week has been hard just trying to adjust back to this time but I have almost got it.
The week ahead will consist of a lot of stretching, standing, and floor work, I am going to try to get about four hours a day of therapy.
On top of that I have to fit in a full days work but I am looking forward to it because every day is different now.
It is hard to explain what I fill because it has been 11 years sense I have felt anything but there are definitely some changes. Now it is a lot of work and pushing the body to the extreme and see what I can get out of it. One of the craziest things is that it is just as scary here as it was in Russia just because I don’t know what each day will be like but the food is better.
I will update soon and try to get as many pictures as possible.

Mickie…