Taking the steps to recovery:

Jean-Pierre Metereau, professor of English, was riding his bicycle through a quiet subdivision in San Marcos on July 10 at 9:30 a.m. when a woman driving a red minivan pulled out of her driveway, and he hit the side of it.

"My first thought was 'Damn, it's gonna hurt,'" Metereau said.

According to Metereau, he couldn't move his legs, so they put a cervical collar on him and took him to Brackenridge Hospital in Austin. He was in the hospital for five days after a back surgery to fuse two vertebrae.

"While I was recovering, I had many visitors," Metereau said. "Many TLU colleagues, friends, my wife and two daughters, who came every day, even the woman who hit me and her husband came to see me."

After that, he was moved to the rehab across the street from the hospital.

"In rehab, I couldn't get out of bed," Metereau said. "But on the second day I was there, they had me walking the parallel bars."

He now has physical therapy three times a week.

"It sometimes involves electrical stimulation of the various leg muscles, but also strange exercises to develop strength and primarily balance," Metereau said.

"Occupational therapy involves painful stretching of hand nerves, tendons, muscles. Twice a week I go to Austin to do upper body strength training for one and a half hours. Weekends, I do exercises at home. I do as much walking as I can with the walker. Thank God for my iPod!"

He had serious doubts about his ability to return to TLU or if he could walk again. Meterau was supposed to teach four classes this semester, but is only teaching two, his 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. British Literature I classes.

"The other two are African Novels and Advanced Literary Studies," Metereau said.

"The African Novels class is being taught by Robin Bisha, but it was changed to another novels class. The other one, Advanced Literary Studies, is being taught by Steve Vrooman."

Metereau admitted that his recovery process has been something else for him.

"Two things: it's going a lot faster than most people thought, and I'm also sick of it," Metereau said. "It is hard work because you have to work at it to get better, but you're always hurting and everything takes longer to do."

Three of the TLU faculty members that came to visit Metereau in the hospital and rehab were Michael Czuchry, assistant professor of psychology, Robin Bisha, associate professor of communication studies and Philip Ruge-Jones, associate professor of theology.

"In the course of the summer, there was Bulldog Basics and we got a call from him saying that he wouldn't be there because he had been in an accident," Czuchry said. "There were gasps all around the room, a stunned disbelief. That's one good thing about a community, there is genuine concern."

During his visit with Metereau, Czuchry thought it would be surprising if Metereau came back this semester.

"When I saw him back the first day, I was really glad," Czuchry said. "It was a good thing to see."

When Bisha went to see him, Metereau was at the rehab hospital and she wasn't quite sure what to expect.

"Dr. Squires took me to see him," Bisha said. "When we got there, Dr. Metereau's wheelchair had been parked on the sidewalk. He was with his daughter, Marisa, and was eating a croissant and drinking coffee. It was the first time he had been able to hold anything, but it was also the first time he had had fresh air in two weeks."

Bisha exclaimed that it was great seeing Metereau back the first week.

"It's inspiring to see his good spirits and how it has taken him no time at all to walk with all the physical therapy," Bisha said. "To see him go back to mobility so fast, he has a mindset of an athlete. He doesn't know how to not approach something like an athlete."

Ruge-Jones, who has lunch with Metereau every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, thinks that his recovery has been amazing.

"He's been getting better every day, and it's been great to see," Ruge-Jones said. "He was optimistically thinking that he could come back and he did it."

Bisha said she can't believe how in only three months Metereau went from wheelchair and wearing a neck brace to barely using a walker and no neck brace.

"I've never appreciated normal until now," Metereau said.