I have been thinking a lot about the impact my disability has on others who are around me, and especially my wife. I am depressed because I have come to the realization that it is a much bigger impact on her than I had wanted it to be or understood it to be.
Traveling exacerbates the problem. We just got back from the Caribbean and I sensed my disability was disabling her as well. Nothing bugs me more than when my disability disables others. I am going to encourage her to go on some trips with her family and or friends.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Weighing in
I find it is important to weigh in. It is important for a C6 to be weight conscious. That 15% of muscle that is not paralyzed carries a big load already! Need to stay light on our hands (or feet for others).
C6's can vary a lot in how they get around. I personally can transfer and choose to push a sporty manual chair versus a power chair. Power chairs are nice and I once used one in college to get around campus. As my arms are getting chronically sore after almost 17 years of manual chair usage I am considering using one part-time. I am afraid I am going to gain weight and get out of shape if I do. Everything else follows and my level of independence could start to slip, which is really not an option for me. This one needs to be decided cautiously.
I enjoy being in shape and working out, but as I age I set aside less and less time for it. And yes, I am 15 lbs heavier than was when I worked out diligently a few years ago. I have been as high as 25 lbs heavier. When I could not wear shoes any longer because my fee were so fat I decided it was time to weigh in at Weight Watchers. I lost a solid 20 lbs and some has crept back on. Wait, are my number correct? I weighed 170 in college and crept up to 200 by the time I was about 35. I got down to 178 for 2-3 years and am now back up to about 188. When I got married and stopped working out the weight started piling up.
I notice it in my feet and in my waist line. My shoes vary from normal mens shoes to EEE wide based on what my weight was when I bought them. C6's usually suffer from edema in their feet and ankles. The more chubby I am the worse it is.
So I find that it is important to weigh in. It is a direct measure of my level of independence. Eat right, feel right, do right.
C6's can vary a lot in how they get around. I personally can transfer and choose to push a sporty manual chair versus a power chair. Power chairs are nice and I once used one in college to get around campus. As my arms are getting chronically sore after almost 17 years of manual chair usage I am considering using one part-time. I am afraid I am going to gain weight and get out of shape if I do. Everything else follows and my level of independence could start to slip, which is really not an option for me. This one needs to be decided cautiously.
I enjoy being in shape and working out, but as I age I set aside less and less time for it. And yes, I am 15 lbs heavier than was when I worked out diligently a few years ago. I have been as high as 25 lbs heavier. When I could not wear shoes any longer because my fee were so fat I decided it was time to weigh in at Weight Watchers. I lost a solid 20 lbs and some has crept back on. Wait, are my number correct? I weighed 170 in college and crept up to 200 by the time I was about 35. I got down to 178 for 2-3 years and am now back up to about 188. When I got married and stopped working out the weight started piling up.
I notice it in my feet and in my waist line. My shoes vary from normal mens shoes to EEE wide based on what my weight was when I bought them. C6's usually suffer from edema in their feet and ankles. The more chubby I am the worse it is.
So I find that it is important to weigh in. It is a direct measure of my level of independence. Eat right, feel right, do right.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Good service is the key to sanity
As a C6 there are quite a few challenges to daily living. Simple things like getting milk out of the refrigerator or making a bowl of soup can turn out to be a disaster in a hurry. If you are a C6 you know exactly what I mean. If you aren't a C6 and are interested to know what it is like, try making a meal from a wheelchair with a pair of boxing gloves on and a 50 lb. sack hanging around your neck. The 50 lb sack is a simulation of what it is like to not have trunk muscles and the gloves are to simulate paralyzed hands with minimal functionality. You will need to concentrate on balancing and keeping your posture exactly right to stay upright all while trying to get a bottle of milk from a shelf that you can barely reach.
It takes a long time to master/relearn skills that have been lost in an a serious accident. I firmly believe that I need to try something literally a hundred times before I determine if it something worth continuing, "Repetition is the mother of learning". Although it is a real downer when you realize repetition isn't working.
There is this two year mark that people talk about that is the supposed "you have whatever you are going to get back" deadline. For me two years was actually pretty close to that. After struggling and striving for strength and learning how to use a handicapped body one becomes settled and somewhat accustomed. Think about this, when did you decide whether or not you are/were a good artist? You probably had an art class in elementary or jr. high school. If you considered yourself good then you still probably do. If you considered yourself not very good then it is likely that you have stayed away from it and when people ask, you respond based on your early experiences. Well, same with paralysis. At some point around two years people have made their decisions about what is doable and what is not. Some folks are ambitious and others may be less so. When someone decides they can't do something they are correct even if the only reason they can't is because they decided they can't.
When you figure out what your limits are finding good service to fill in the gaps of things you can't do is key to keeping yourself sane. Surround yourself with people who are eager and willing to help out with things that can be disastrous. Some people have a way of making me feel like I am burdening them by asking for help, and some love to be helpful and it makes them feel good to help a guy who is trying an fumbling. Surround yourself with the latter!
As I watch my C6 comrades, I notice some are too comfortable ordering their loved ones around. Nobody wants to be this guy, but it can happen to us without realizing it. So what is the art? First, you have to establish that the person who is helping you has a proper amount of time to accomplish what you are asking them to help you with. Second, I always make sure they are comfortable with the task at hand. Third, your manner and attitude in asking has to be sincere. Fourth, you need to have patience toward their effort. Have you ever had someone ask you to do them a favor that you gladly performed only to be chastised by the same person for not performing the task exactly the way they thought it should have been done but never communicated? I don't know about you but it doesn't motivate me to continue. On the other hand, when they are grateful it is a pleasant and repeatable experience. Without a doubt I am guilty of my own examples, but I do my best to be always grateful.
Darn, I am getting tired. Advice: find and hire good help but don't burn out your caretakers. Of course that assumes you have money to pay for it. Go to college so you can pay for all this.
Cheers
It takes a long time to master/relearn skills that have been lost in an a serious accident. I firmly believe that I need to try something literally a hundred times before I determine if it something worth continuing, "Repetition is the mother of learning". Although it is a real downer when you realize repetition isn't working.
There is this two year mark that people talk about that is the supposed "you have whatever you are going to get back" deadline. For me two years was actually pretty close to that. After struggling and striving for strength and learning how to use a handicapped body one becomes settled and somewhat accustomed. Think about this, when did you decide whether or not you are/were a good artist? You probably had an art class in elementary or jr. high school. If you considered yourself good then you still probably do. If you considered yourself not very good then it is likely that you have stayed away from it and when people ask, you respond based on your early experiences. Well, same with paralysis. At some point around two years people have made their decisions about what is doable and what is not. Some folks are ambitious and others may be less so. When someone decides they can't do something they are correct even if the only reason they can't is because they decided they can't.
When you figure out what your limits are finding good service to fill in the gaps of things you can't do is key to keeping yourself sane. Surround yourself with people who are eager and willing to help out with things that can be disastrous. Some people have a way of making me feel like I am burdening them by asking for help, and some love to be helpful and it makes them feel good to help a guy who is trying an fumbling. Surround yourself with the latter!
As I watch my C6 comrades, I notice some are too comfortable ordering their loved ones around. Nobody wants to be this guy, but it can happen to us without realizing it. So what is the art? First, you have to establish that the person who is helping you has a proper amount of time to accomplish what you are asking them to help you with. Second, I always make sure they are comfortable with the task at hand. Third, your manner and attitude in asking has to be sincere. Fourth, you need to have patience toward their effort. Have you ever had someone ask you to do them a favor that you gladly performed only to be chastised by the same person for not performing the task exactly the way they thought it should have been done but never communicated? I don't know about you but it doesn't motivate me to continue. On the other hand, when they are grateful it is a pleasant and repeatable experience. Without a doubt I am guilty of my own examples, but I do my best to be always grateful.
Darn, I am getting tired. Advice: find and hire good help but don't burn out your caretakers. Of course that assumes you have money to pay for it. Go to college so you can pay for all this.
Cheers
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Hello world!
"Hello world" is a software engineers first program that just says, "Hello world", to indicate that the program is doing something. So this is my hello world blog entry!
I am a C5-6 quadriplegic. Therapists tell me I am a C6, although I broke C5 & C6 (my neck) on May 12th of 1990 at Lake Powell (Utah). C6 is the abbreviation of cervical vertebrae 6, or the 6th vertebrate down from the skull. This is the first thing people wonder when they meet or see me so I thought I would get that out first thing. I am in a wheelchair and my back is starting to curve slightly after 16 years of quadriplegia although I am still pretty darn handsome (if you ask me). I was 22 at the time, and I am now nearly 39. I'll tell more about the whole event at a later time.
The purpose of this blog is to provide hopefully useful information about C6 quadriplegia to other quads or others who have friends or family members that have a similar injury. I'll probably babel about other non-related things too, but what inspired me to start this blog is a Caribbean cruise I just returned from. I thought it would be useful to tell other C6 quads what to expect when they go on voyages like this. I had a great time, but felt misled by the cruise line and their so-called wheelchair accessible excursions. "Well, if you can climb six steps up a ladder then this excursion is wheelchair accessible." People need to know this kind of information.
Disclaimer:
I am not an English major and neither was my mom so I'll do my best to spell well and complete my sentences with proper grammar, but this is my formal disclaimer right here that gives me the freedom to make mistakes :).
Unfortunately I will need to cut this first one short because my wife gave me one of those ultimatums like wives do a few minutes ago. Yes, she married me after the accident, more on that later too. A great catch she is. Married to a C6, she ought to have a blog of her own.
Cheers!
I am a C5-6 quadriplegic. Therapists tell me I am a C6, although I broke C5 & C6 (my neck) on May 12th of 1990 at Lake Powell (Utah). C6 is the abbreviation of cervical vertebrae 6, or the 6th vertebrate down from the skull. This is the first thing people wonder when they meet or see me so I thought I would get that out first thing. I am in a wheelchair and my back is starting to curve slightly after 16 years of quadriplegia although I am still pretty darn handsome (if you ask me). I was 22 at the time, and I am now nearly 39. I'll tell more about the whole event at a later time.
The purpose of this blog is to provide hopefully useful information about C6 quadriplegia to other quads or others who have friends or family members that have a similar injury. I'll probably babel about other non-related things too, but what inspired me to start this blog is a Caribbean cruise I just returned from. I thought it would be useful to tell other C6 quads what to expect when they go on voyages like this. I had a great time, but felt misled by the cruise line and their so-called wheelchair accessible excursions. "Well, if you can climb six steps up a ladder then this excursion is wheelchair accessible." People need to know this kind of information.
Disclaimer:
I am not an English major and neither was my mom so I'll do my best to spell well and complete my sentences with proper grammar, but this is my formal disclaimer right here that gives me the freedom to make mistakes :).
Unfortunately I will need to cut this first one short because my wife gave me one of those ultimatums like wives do a few minutes ago. Yes, she married me after the accident, more on that later too. A great catch she is. Married to a C6, she ought to have a blog of her own.
Cheers!
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