How has technology changed your job?

… my life.

As you know, I’m retired, have been far almost a decade, and during this time, my ‘ job’has been stroke recovery .

There have been quite a few technological improvements and inventions that have me more encouraged, independent, comfortable,and entertained as a wheelchair user.

Inventions like the Zeen

Then there’s the Scewo Bro power wheelchair that takes accessible to a whole new level, allowing the user to acend and decend the stairs .I’m dying to try it, but it’s not available in Canada yet. Though it just got into Mexico, who knows it might be soon.

Streaming has definitely gotten better while I sit in front of the TV, and I’m trying each year to drop cable TV in favor of streaming services , and there are fewer shows that I record.

And I watch those  shows and binge those streams from the exquisite comfort of my lift chair.

My last binge was the Residence on Netflix, and I can’t recommend it higher . It’s a fantastic 8 episode mystery/comedy series that had me enthralled. Shonda Rhimes knows how to make a great show.

Even my Travel Buggy made its debut in my city within the past 10 years. It’s the perfect electric wheelchair for outdoors. It’s only 60 lbs and folds up like a lawn chair, and it fits in our trunk . But, most importantly, it’s given me a lot more independence back, and that is priceless.

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

Not as often as I should.

What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?

Because it’s really all I can wish I had. It would be incredibly stupid of me think about anything else while my current goal is to walk to and from the bathroom every time I have to go, to not use my wheelchair or my AFO brace and simply walk to the bathroom with the assistance of my quad cane. That’s all I can allow myself to focus on. Because I have real grown-up problems. I’m running out of time. I’m nearly 60. It doesn’t get better from here. My body is not going to become magically able to dance ballet en pointe, so thinking about doing that is just wasting time that I could be using to focus on walking to and from my bathroom.

What is your favorite type of weather?

The older I get, the more the changing seasons affect me. After my stroke, it’s affecting both my energy and my strength. Used to be that a crisp fall day was my favorite weather . And autumn was my favorite season. Now, I find myself enjoying the mid to late spring sunshine and any temperature over 15 degrees Celsius and under 28 degrees Celsius the most .That’s a great thing because where I live,it rarely gets hotter than that in the summer, so I’m able to enjoy the weather for more of the year. So now my favorite weather occurs from mid spring to mid fall,and sometimes even into late fall.

Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

Was my most influential teacher.

I used to be very impatient and not very in tune with my health. I only saw a doctor when I needed to have some medication, like antibiotics, or have a breast cyst drained. I thought I was healthy overall. What I didn’t know was that I had something growing in my heart from around the age of 30. There was no way to know it ,partially because I was living in the United States, and I avoided the doctor because it was so expensive even for a check-up,and besides, I was young and, I thought, healthy. Also, a machine called the echocardiogram that allows doctors to see inside your heart had not been invented.

So, 5 weeks after my 50th birthday, I was very surprised when I had a massive stroke that I barely lived through .I then learned that the stroke itself was a side effect of a much more serious problem, a large benign tumor in the right atria of my heart. I was lucky to have the stroke because it alerted doctors to the tumor. Most people with this type of tumor don’t get a warning. they will literally just drop dead.

The tumor is called an atrial myxoma, and it’s proof that something doesn’t have to be cancerous to kill you. If a piece of it hadn’t broken off and traveled to my brain, I wouldn’t be alive today to write about it.

I highly recommend that everyone should get an echocardiogram scan because it’s the only way to know if you have a heart tumor. Don’t think that just because you’re younger that you’re perfectly healthy. Get the scan. I didn’t realize that the fact that I was short of breath was a symptom of anything other than the fact that I was getting older, and that is literally the only symptom I had .

If you’re reading this, call your doctor tomorrow and request an echocardiogram. It could very well save your life.

What do you wish you could do more every day?

Help from my husband. As spring has sprung, actually, since daylight savings time, my body has been getting stronger. Also, I’m getting more energetic and am trying to use that strength and energy to do more things for myself and need fewer things from him. For example, my husband usually washes my hair, but for my last two baths , I washed it myself. It might not seem like a big thing to you, but I usually don’t have the energy to do it myself. Also, I usually need his help with sitting back into my lift chair, and for the last few times, I’ve been strong enough to do it myself. Over the next several months, until winter raises its ugly head again, I will try my best to become more independent,including my ultimate goal of walking to the bathroom consistently without my wheelchair or AFO brace. I will definitely need to use my quad cane, but that’s perfectly acceptable. I need to use this strength and energy as much as possible while I have it. I NEED TO BE MORE INDEPENDENT. It will be a full decade since my stroke on August 24th and I feel like I should be farther along than I am. So I’m going to use the strength and energy to fuel my determination and tenacity so I can reach my goal of walking to the bathroom consistently with just my cane and that will be a huge accomplishment for me.

What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?

Neither of us has any tattoos ,which is quite unusual for 2 gen xers.

Although when I was in my early 20s, I seriously considered getting a tattoo in the webbing between my thumb and index finger. I was thinking about getting a cartoon character. Ironically, because I’m ornithophobic,I wanted to get the character Woodstock from Peanuts . Because I seriously considered it, I remained inkless.

What is one word that describes you?

Others have said things like smart, beautiful, determined, brave, tenacious, funny, and sexy.

If you ask me…  vain and introverted, if there’s a word that combines them. I’m sure that there is one, probably in German, but I’m not fluent enough to know it.

What was the best compliment you’ve received?

That it has nothing to do with my looks.

The best compliment I ever received was this past summer when I had tea with my mother and my husband at the fancy hotel we both used to work in. The owner of the art gallery in the hotel said that I’m determined and tenacious. Ironically, I’ve not thought of myself that way until he said it,but it’s definitely true.

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

If, for example, it’s Monaco and I have a full charge, I might just use my wheelchair.

But assuming you mean the country in which I reside, as it’s the second largest country on earth, and I can’t drive any vehicle other than my wheelchair nor can I ride a bike. Also, I get motion sickness on anything that isn’t a smooth ride, so that means no train ,even if it is wheelchair accessible. So I guess it’s a plane for me. That works out well because I sleep very well on planes. I curl up in the fetal position with the pillow they give you between my head and the window, and as soon as the engines roar to life, I pass out. I’ve been this way for all my life.