One year following my T11 spinal cord injury, I returned to a hospital in L.A. due to a major stage 4 pressure sore. The hospital had a special “brine pool” for patients with wounds. Twice a day I was taken to the pool on a gurney where I was helped into the warm, salty water. A physical therapist watched as I moved about and floated on my back for 30 minutes. After three weeks of soaking in warm salty water and lying in a hospital bed, I was released to my parents’ home with a much smaller wound and instructions to stay off my butt.
My parents had a swimming pool, so twice a day I crawled from my bedroom and dragged myself the length of a side yard wearing a plastic apron to protect my legs, knees and feet, and slithered into the pool yard, where I lay in the sun and took periodic swims in the pool. I found, surprisingly, that I could swim as well as ever from the waist up. I began swimming laps — my legs trailing behind me — and in six weeks I was in the best shape of my life — with no more wound.
Alone in the pool, I pushed myself to see how long I could hold my breath underwater. I made remarkable progress and found I could swim at least a couple of laps underwater. It was not only invigorating and healthful, it was also incredibly peaceful. I learned to relax in the water, give up to it, and when my fear was neutralized, I was able to stay submerged for longer than I ever had before my injury. As a result of these workouts, I gained strength, slept better at night, and recaptured a kind of bodily range of motion and flexibility that I thought I had lost when I was injured.
When I moved to Oregon at the age of 29, I began swimming in lakes. My wife and I would camp in the mountains and swim from a small inflatable ramp we purchased. The water was cold, but it was great exercise, and the briskness of the water seemed to wake me up and energize my mind, but I had to be careful not to get too cold.