Crippie Discusses Fidget Toys... In Front of a Camera

Ohai Y'all!

CRIPPIE MADE A VLOG PEOPLES! I'll just let it speak for itself...

Crippie's Tippie - Fidget Toys from Special McSpecial on Vimeo.
So, what do y'all think of Crippie's first attempt at a vlog? Frida is very proud of herself and she wants to be in more movies.

Here are some sites where you can purchase your own fidget toys...
http://www.officeplayground.com/ (FOAMIE BIRD IS HERE)
http://www.colonialmedical.com/catalog/Therapy-p-1-c-493.html (ACTUAL PT STUFF IS HERE)

On an unrelated guinea pig note, naturally Frida was acting like a total butthead today and had to be put in time out. I think the fame got to her head. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to feature another guinea pig next time I make a vlog ;)

Crippie's Tippie - FIDGET TOYS A FREAKING AWESOME

Working With Pain

Hey Y'all!

I took my pain medication an hour later than I should've and boy am I feeling the consequences. Lesson learned, and I hope you all have learned from my fail.

While I'm on the subject of pain, people have been asking me how pain effects me at the office. I'm not gonna lie, there have been times whilst at work where I've been temporarily rendered useless by pain. I could hardly type a few days ago. My arthritis was so bad that it literally hurt me to press the shift key with my pinky finger. Regardless of how much pain I might be in at any given time I refuse to let my coworkers know it. The moment I put the "pain card" on the table people are gonna start treating me differently. So here is what Crippie does for pain management at work...
1) Take pain medication regularly- I take pain medication every morning before work, usually that helps take away the worst pain. If I am in more pain during the day I just take another pill.
2) Hot Water- When I couldn't type I took a quick bathroom break and ran my hands under hot water for a few minutes. It loosened my hands up enough so I could continue work.
3) Take a super quick break- If my pain is so bad that I literally can't do anything I just sit at my desk for a minute or two until it passes.

While these work relatively well, at the moment my biggest life saver is SQUISHY!

I Shall Call You Squishy, & You Shall Be Mine, & You Shall Be My Squishy

Squishy is technically a "sensory stimulator gel pad" and is used to calm down "agitated, diminished capacity, elderly people". Squishy looks like something you would buy to keep your hands in a good position while working on a keyboard, so no one at work seems to notice the giant blue squishy thing on my desk. Not only does Squishy keep my wrists comfy but it also me message my fingers when they stiff, distracts me when I am in too much pain to focus, and it helps me focus when I get tired. 

Fidget toys in general have kept my functioning for years, but Squishy is probably the more "grown-up" fidget toys I own. One of these days I do a post devoted to the rest of my collection.

Crippie's Tippie- Don't stray from your medication schedule. Bad things happen when you forget your pills.