Me Tube

Turns out, I'm fascinating -- or at the very least, attention-sustaining in two- to three-minute bursts. Since posting my bedside dressing trilogy a week and a half ago, the video clips have received nearly 3400 viewings on YouTube. I haven't done the necessary research to confirm whether that running total is gangbusters for your average, extreme-niche YouTube video clip or not (obviously it will never be Dick In A Box, numbers-wise, but you've got to start somewhere). A dozen of those aforementioned viewers went so far as to subscribe to my YouTube "channel" in, what I can only surmise to be, anxious anticipation of future offerings from me of grainy video clips augmented with bomb-assed soundtracks.

Well, I've answered. For it's grainy video I have and a massive library of bitchin' tunes at my disposal, with which I've cobbled together yet another surefire interweb video classic. Some of you may remember the footage that comprises the beginning of this new clip from the twelve-minute docu-drama DY's Rehab Video featured on this very website in the spring of last year. What you didn't see then is new footage, recorded and catalogued over the course of this last year, documenting what might be construed by some as "progress." Call it DY's Rehab Video - Redux: this time around featuring hi-tech digital transition effects, new informative captions, less talking, and more -- all in a concise, under four-minute run time.

Feast your eyes on this!



(by the bye, according to the troubleshooting guide on YouTube there is nothing that can be done at this time to change the video screenshot, aside from re-editing and slightly shortening the video - decidely not worth the effort)

Dressing Blues

I only do nudity if it serves the story

Back in October several of the therapists at the University of Michigan’s Med Rehab put together a two-day conference for physical and occupational therapists new to dealing with spinal cord injury patients. As a distinguished alumnus of the program and one whose opinion is highly regarded in certain, small circles, I was asked to participate in a discussion panel at the end of the conference. My former occupational therapist from Med Rehab also asked me if I’d be willing to be in a video presentation dealing with the issue of dressing and undressing to be shown at the conference. I agreed.

The following video was shot at my apartment and captured me going through my entire nightly routine of undressing and getting in to bed, which as of last spring I began to do completely on my own without assistance from an aide. I’ve been told this is a rarity for someone with my level of paralysis. After we got the undressing routine recorded, my therapists asked me to demonstrate a couple dressing activities that, although I’m capable of, I don’t do independently on a day-to-day basis simply because of the time and energy it requires first thing in the morning. All told we ended up recording over a half an hour of me flopping around. Due to time constraints, the video was edited for the purposes of the conference presentation. I’ve gone back in and added the clever soundtrack selections, of course.

We didn’t clock the time it took from the start of transferring from my chair into bed, removing my shoes and socks, to the end with me removing my pants, but I think on an average night just the undressing takes twenty minutes or so. Add in the time consumed while I take my evening medication, gather up the peripheral supplies I need at bedside, then position and plug my chair into its charger, and all told the whole process of "getting ready for bed" can take 45 minutes to an hour. However, the first time I decided to get myself in bed on my own I was at it for over 2.5 hours. Such is a condition of independence.

I think what struck me as I saw this video for the first time is how feeble and uncoordinated I look doing this, but then again I don’t get dressed in front of a mirror every day so maybe in my mind’s eye I still believe I have the strapping physique and dexterity of my 25-year-old former self. I’ve also heard the camera subtracts thirty pounds of muscle, or something to that effect.

Without further ado:

Shirt Off/On (Remember all you budding videographers out there, never shoot into your light source)




Pants Off




Pants On (Not a task I frequently take on by myself, but one I get help within the morning unless I end up changing clothes during the day for some reason)