Northend Woodworking is finally here!

It has been a long road to this point, but my website is finally up and running.  Check it out! www.northendwoodworking.com. (Pictures will be added soon - you can see them on the Northend Woodworking facebook page).  I have four sizes of cardholders and two styles of bookholders I am working on right now.

The Moving Message

Every year the communication group that I belong to at St. Rose College has an awareness walk called the Moving Message.  We organize a walk around the campus green to help people learn more about communication disorders and to raise funds to support ongoing therapy. There are many booths set up around the walk - from organizations that work with people with disabilities to local artists and new this year - Northend Woodworking!  My business is up and running and I had made cardholders & a few bookholders in time for the walk.  It was a great success for my first event.  Thanks to everyone who came out to support our group's efforts.

The next big thing

Hey everybody - its been awhile!  I've been keeping busy the last 7 months - still exercising a lot and going to my aphasia class in Albany.

But the biggest, most exciting thing is I'm starting up my own woodworking business!

I've been meeting with a voc rehab counselor for several months who has been helping me figure out how I can get back to work in some capacity.  We explored lots of options, but it made me realize that forestry doesn't work for me anymore - there is too much thinking, writing, and communication involved - processing it all is too overwhelming. Nor am I physically able to do landscaping or tree climbing anymore.  While thinking about skills I have retained and what type of work I am able to do, we figured out that a woodworking shop is the perfect thing for me.  I have made several one-handed things as I have needed them since my accident, including one-handed card holders, that I want to make available to other people struggling like me.  Having made a few cardholders for friends in my aphasia group, someone mentioned that I should be selling them . . . and thus Northend Woodworking was born.  I plan on making one-handed bookholders & cutting boards soon, too, as well as Shaker-style furniture (like the table previously pictured on October 15, 2012). Simple & elegant - my kind of thing.

My counselor helped me write a return-to-work plan that is in process of approval and just waiting for one more signature.  Since I just received the okay, it will be awhile before everything is up and running, but soon I will have a website, business cards, etc. to share. 

I know that this is just part time for now while I am still recovering, attending my aphasia classes and in need of a lot of down time, but it is such a great feeling to have something that is mine again.  Something that gives structure to my days, helps me value my time and gives me a glimpse of my old self.

Anniversary

November 19, 2009 - The day that changed my life.  I fell 3 feet and hit a metal box just above my left ear, causing a skull fracture that led to a blood clot, major swelling and a traumatic brain injury.  A split second that changed everything.

That day, the doctor told Keri I would never walk or talk again. Ha.  Someone once told me it is hard work being a miracle, and I would have to agree.  It is an incredibly long road, but I'll get there.

3 years.

Welcome Back!

Hey, it is Matt and it has been awhile.  I am taking over the blog - Keri is going to help me write, but I am going to be posting from now on.

Here's an update of what I've been doing:
1.  Bioness.  I have this great new estim machine for my leg and it is a miracle worker.  I wear a cuff around my leg just under my knee that is connected to a sensor in my shoe.  When I take a step, it turns on and helps pick up my toes.  Then when I step down, it turns off and my toes drop.   I wear it all the time and it has made walking so much easier.  It is helping my leg muscles to remember how to walk properly. It does the same thing that my brace used to, but is helping me rewire my brain by using electric signals.  My goal is to get rid of this machine just like I got rid of my cane & my brace.  It is a long ways off and a slow process, but that is what I am working towards.

2.  Aphasia Group.  My therapy sessions were great, but I needed a break.  Two and a half years of my life have been spent in therapy and I am doing so much exercising at home, it was time.  But my speech has been difficult and so slow to proceed on my own.  My speech therapist helped me find a group that meets weekly at a local college - and every single person in the group has aphasia or some other language disorder just like me. It has been a miracle to find this group and work with these people.  We have discussions and help each other figure out how to communicate better.  We get some support from the leaders of the group, who are all studying speech pathology, but mostly it is us helping each other.  I have personally noticed much improvement since I've been going to this group - I use many more complete sentences and find it easier to follow conversations around me.  Another miracle worker!

3.  Woodshop.  I spend so much time exercising, using my estim machines, and walking, but I needed something else to fill extra time besides TV - how boring!  The farm where we live has a woodshop and there was room for all my tools - and luckily room for lots more.  I've been finding adaptive tools and tricks so that I can safely build projects one-handed.  After collecting many, many clamps and creating lots of jigs, I've got a few things built.  It only took me 6 months, but here is my first table!


Shaker Side Table



4.  Last but not least, thank you all for everything.  It has been almost 3 years since my accident and I still have a long, long ways to go.  This all takes time and patience and I will get there, someday.  It might be one week, one year, one decade.  Who knows.  But I couldn't haven't gotten this far without your help. 

Thank you!
Matt

Long awaited posts

Thanks to everyone we got to see on our trip back through the Midwest. We had a great time and Matt was so excited to see everyone. He thought it was the best he's interacted with people so far. It also reminded us why we need to be writing, so I am sorry it has taken so long to get back into the blog.

To be honest, it is feeling like everything going on is now our normal life and I forget that you still like to read what he is up to. Plus, in the back of my mind, I've always hoped for the day that I can pass this onto him and he can write to you about what is happening. However, that is still a long, unforeseeable way off, so I will try to keep up better. Here's a start: an update on all three of his therapies.

OT

Of course, Matt's biggest frustration is still his arm and its lack of function. He's gotten a lot more movement back in the shoulder, upper arm, and elbow, but his wrist and fingers continue to be difficult to move. His OT got him a stim unit that we can actually take home and it has been great. Every day, he works his lower arm with the electrical stimulation - he's hooked up with wires that stick to his arm and shoulder. When it turns on, it opens his hand and bends his wrist back. The idea is that his muscles work fine - they just aren't getting the electrical signal from his brain to engage. When the machine turns on, it gives his muscles the signal his brain should be sending and by concentrating on what's happening, he can retrain his brain to work the correct muscles. Its a really interesting process to watch - and in the few months he's been doing this, it is already requiring less 'power' from the machine to get the same movement in his hand.