I’m a PERSON who uses a wheelchair

I’m not here to disgust you as I live my life and I don’t want to hear that you feel disgusted by my wheelchair because it sounds like a YOU problem and I’ve got plenty of my own issues thank you. I’m a PERSON who uses a wheelchair.

Also, it’s not my job to be your inspiration from the seat of my power wheelchair. I don’t want your thumbs up as I transfer from the passenger seat of my car to my wheelchair. Or worse, you telling me that some nonexistent deity loves me to make yourself feel like you’re a good person all while conveniently forgetting that I’m a PERSON who uses a wheelchair and not every person believes what you believe.

I’m not a child. I’m a 57 year old stroke survivor, and I don’t appreciate being talked down to like I’m 5. I’m a fully grown, educated PERSON who uses a wheelchair

Just because it’s a power wheelchair doesn’t mean that I can’t speak. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is when people assume that I can’t speak just because I’m sitting in a power wheelchair. Ask me if you’re not sure, and I’ll happily tell you in paragraph form that not only can I speak, but you should listen to me when I do because I actually have something to say from my experiences that you might just need to hear. I’m a PERSON who uses a wheelchair.

So treat me like a PERSON. The wheelchair is not me. I’m the PERSON sitting in the wheelchair so treat me as you would any PERSON. Or better yet, treat me like you would want to be treated.

If you have issues with people who use wheelchairs you’d better make sure that you never end up in one because I can guarantee that you’re not emotionally strong enough to handle it.

Thumbs up for the best and most complete YouTube channel for stroke rehab exercises at home

I recently found this channel on YouTube. The physiotherapist takes you through issues and solutions to whatever you might be dealing with LITERALLY from moving your thumbs to running! This video is a short one, but there are longer form videos as well. I only wish that I knew about the channel when I was released from the hospital, I’d be further along.

https://youtube.com/shorts/jDXiMSiuuzc?feature=share

Great video explaining the difference in Health care between the USA and Canada. Spoiler alert it’s all financial

If you’ve been with me for a while, you already know that I’m currently dealing with disability and that I used to live in Los Angeles before I became disabled. While I lived there, I was lucky enough that the priciest thing I needed medically was having the cysts that grew in my breasts drained a couple of times per year at costs ranging from 900 to 2000 dollars. The thing that brought me back to Canada was something that would have bankrupted me, but because I never became an American citizen, I still had the ability to come home to Canada and only pay 80 dollars per month for the provincial health insurance, which is pricey for Canada . The surgery that was required and the following treatment came to a grand total of ZERO DOLLARS. I was smart enough to stay here in Canada because just a few years later, my whole world changed because I had a massive stroke caused by an atrial myxoma tumor that had been growing in my heart for 25 plus years. The emergency cardiac surgery and the 6 months of in-hospital stroke recovery came to a total of ZERO DOLLARS.

I’m about to go into the hospital to have a cyst drained on the 13th, and it will cost me NOTHING . I have no idea what the stroke or cardiac surgery would have cost in the states ,but I can safely say that I’m happy to be home where you’re not treated like an ATM for being sick.

Ch ch ch changes and a confession

Starting with the confession. I’ve been chickening out of doing something that I’ve wanted to do for well over 40 years. Which, if you know me, is very much out of character . At first, I chickened out because it went out of style, and then it came back in vogue about a decade later and I chickened out because it was something that I felt like I couldn’t wear to work, because it was a bit rebellious for a woman and not considered feminine.

I came close to doing it a few years back when my mom and I saw Cher in concert, but it was only close but not quite the thing I’m talking about now.

Do you think you know what it is? The title of this post should give you a clue. If you still aren’t sure, just scroll down, and you’ll see…

I finally got a mullet!

Yes, I’m a bit embarrassed to say that I’ve been lusting for the mullet haircut ever since David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust album šŸ˜³ This year, I decided that it’s time. I’ll be 58 in July, and it felt like a good time to do it. Nothing is stopping me, and it’s very much in style ,thanks to Miley Cyrus and Stella Cini from YouTube.

I only hope it doesn’t make me look like I’m desperately trying to look like I’m 20.

Watch “Wheelchair Accessible House Ideas” on YouTube

The video below gives some great ideas for renovating your home for easier use as a wheelchair user. I really enjoy watching how other wheelchair users make their space work for them. For me, it’s been a long process, and I’m still trying to figure out some things.

And can I just say it’s bloody expensive? Because it is! Between spending a couple grand on a manual wheelchair and then having to also shell out several thousand more for a power wheelchair, if your disability requires one, you’ll spend nearly 10 grand before even addressing your home. For me, getting a bath lift was a necessity, and it cost me 1800 bucks . Then there are several grab bars that run just under $200 each with installation, and because we have 2 bathrooms ,I needed 3 in each room. And then I needed something to use that would make getting into bed easier, so another $180 for a saskapole, which is a floor to ceiling metal pole with handles that I can pull myself up with and then lean onto the bed. It’s also necessary for me to get out of bed so at least it has 2 things it helps me do.

And then there is the lift chair, which ran us $3500 for the living room, because I can’t stand from a regular recliner ,I require one that will lift me into a position that I can more easily stand to transfer into my wheelchair ā™æļø

And I’m lucky to have an able bodied husband to help me . However, because I receive no financial help from my government ,it was all out of pocket for us. At the time, it wasn’t easy to fork out the cash. Thankfully, that situation has changed for the better, and I have everything I need,and even a couple of things I didn’t need, but wanted.

It’s mostly gone…

But not quite. My temperature is still spiking from time to time ,causing sweating that menopausal women would recognize as night sweats. It’s the kind of sweating that ,in the morning, you look at the bed and see you’ve sweated your silhouette onto the sheets, or if it’s daytime, you’re clothes are stuck to you. That’s bad enough, but then throw in half an hour of frozen to the core . But those are my only symptoms left, and they finally feel like they’re waning.

So today, I had a bath followed by a walk, with the leg brace around the hallway outside the condo using the handrails hubby put up. I just went once around, but…

Confession time. It was my first walk in about a year. I’ve been lazy and mildly depressed so I’ve neglected my exercise. Until I discovered and purchased my Zeen, I thought that if I could transfer, that’s all I needed . Then I saw the videos for the Zeen and thought it looked like something I could do.

I still think that I can use the Zeen. I just have to strengthen my left leg somewhat and my core a little. So it’s once around the railing every day until I’m able to Zeen.

My favorite YouTube couple is working through ability differences and having fun. Happy Valentine’s Day šŸ’—

I follow Cole and Charisma on YouTube, and I love how they interact . They have fun, no matter what the task, and it’s always a good time.

So, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share the following video, one of my favorites from their channel, because of the way they actually try to understand life in the others shoes, or wheels šŸ˜€ Not everything always works out, but they care enough to try.

Are you recently disabled? Habitat for Humanity gives you some ideas about how to modify your home .

The very good folks at Habitat for Humanity prove that they mean ALL of Humanity by building homes for us disabled people, too. I decided to share this video because there are things in this house that, if you’ve been recently disabled, you may not have thought about. After all disability isn’t just a grab bar. It’s everything from the heights of light switches and plug ins, to ramping the entrance and exits and having counters that the wheelchair can fit underneath . Not to mention, the bathroom mirrors must be lower so that we can see our actual face and not just the 6 inches above our head .

Check out the video below. Even if you’ve been disabled for years, you might find something here.