CRIPPLEFEST 2013!!!

Ohai Y'all!

I want to thank you guys again for all of your kind words. The past week has been extraordinarily difficult, but I think I'm on the mend.

This weekend was Cripplefest, and I had an absolute blast. We had 48 people at my house. Old cripples, adult cripples, teenage cripples, kiddie cripples and even baby cripples all under one roof! We discussed doctors, scars, tumors (and what to name them), and more. All the kiddie cripples played soccer on a completely even playing field, granted those kids didn't need an even playing field... they were wicked good at it. The only difference was that they knew not to whack the kid with the fixator on his arm. Personally, I had a hula-hooping competition with some little girls. I was nice and let 'em win, plus I taught them some tricks. Surprisingly I didn't get the crap beat outta me by small children. Quite the contrary actually... one of the baby cripples took a little snooze on my lap. The kiddie cripples also enjoyed carrying Helen around (she got food out of the deal, so she didn't care) and petting Nellie, Maggie and Aggie.

I think it's safe to say that Cripplefest was an immense success. Cripples got to meet other cripples for the first time, they got support, and they got to be normal. Not to mention everyone got cake pops, the cake pops alone made the day awesome.

So yeah, that was my weekend... it was crazy but I loved every minute of it. Things are still a little nuts around here, we've got some relatives staying with us and... um... what else? There was something else I wanted to tell you guys but I forgot...

Oh right... I acquired some pigs a few hours ago!!! I'll post more about 'em tomorrow. I'm pretty sure this proves that I am in fact, insane.

Crippie's Tippie - I know having a disability can make you feel extremely isolated, but you are NOT alone. There are people out there who understand what you're going through.

Blllaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhh

Bleeeeehhhhhhhhhhh

Ello everyone, I hope y'all are enjoying your weeks thus far. Mine's been pretty good except for one thing... THIS FREAKING WEATHER! The snow, the ice, the rain, the barometric pressure changes... my tumor-riddled body pretty much hates me now. I've been hanging out with my best buddies Glenn the Heat Pack and other awesome friend PAIN KILLERS. They've been making everything tolerable, but I'm pretty uncomfortable right now. The past few days have basically been like this for me...

Yuuuuupppppp, one of those weeks. I've been trying to distract myself from all the discomfort. Wanna see what I've been up to? Well, when I'm not at work I am either...

Playing with animals, cause they're cute and all that jazz. Maggie wants you all to know that she is adorable. Helen wanted to tell you all something, but she forgot what it was and promptly fell asleep.

I painted my nails an obscene number of times. This one here was 7 coats of polish and I removed it the next day. I also reorganized my nail polish container. During this process I might have sorta admitted to being addicted to nail polish, meh... oh well ;)

Lastly, I've been taking stupid/borderline horrifying pictures of myself with the "Walking Dead: Dead Yourself App". Let's face it, if there's one thing to truly brighten my spirits, it's the fact that "The Walking Dead" returns in less than two weeks! W0000t. I also recently noticed that on top me naming my heat pack Glenn, my guinea pig is named Maggie, and my car is named Penny... I've been naming things after Walking Dead characters even before the show aired! I also have relatives named Carl and Andrea.... GASP... I NEED TO FIND MORE THINGS TO NAME AFTER TWD CHARACTERS! I think I might have to start calling Helen T-Dog from now on 0.0 

And on a completely unrelated note, I found a tube of scar treatment lotion in my bathroom, so I'm trying it out to see if it does anything. 

Well, that's it for tonight folks. I hope the weather isn't kicking y'alls asses too.

Crippie's Tippie - Random, but if you're using glitter nail polish, use Elmer's Glue as a basecoat, that way it will all peel off

Sure, You'll Listen to Obama but Not to Me!

Salutations!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I spent my day working and popping tylenols for a freakishly sore back. I did get to go into work late-ish today so I got to watch the inauguration today. I don't know about you guys but I enjoyed what I saw, and I wasn't the only one in my house who agreed. Angel was "watching" with the family, and by watching I mean sleeping on the couch. Someone on the TV said "All rise" and the next thing we know Angel is sitting at full attention, watching the TV. If that isn't funny enough when the person said "You may be seated" she went back to sleep! I don't get it, she hardly listens to us! But I guess she's a democrat.

Believe it or not she is not the only political pet in our household. Even though Helen slept through today's festivities, she made her opinions known during the election. Whenever I'd watch a debate with her she'd start growling whenever Obama spoke! She'd be perfectly fine with Romney but as soon as Obama started talking she'd make her opinions known that she did NOT like him. At all! So yeah, one of my dogs is a democrat and the other is a republican. My guess is that when they are not busy sleeping or eating they are discussing whatever current events they heard when they were awake.

The piggies don't particularly care about politics, and they probably won't unless someone proposes a ban on lettuce. If that ever happens... ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE!

In other news, the scar from Fanny's removal has officially keloided. No longer is it a scar that's kinda puffy for the time being but will flatten out in a year or two... nope... mofo is a keloid. Since this scar is on a sensitive area that moves around a lot, it gets rather painful from time to time. It's not as painful as Fanny was so I don't mind the trade off... but still... the bastard hurts. I'm trying to put lotion on it but me thinks I might need to invest in a scar cream to help soften this sucker. Any suggestions in good scar creams? Would a stretch mark lotion be better? Help me comrades! WHAT SHOULD I DO!

In other, other news, I've been rejected for disability AGAIN. This time we sent an ass ton of papers and medical records, and my doctor needs to fill out some forms stating that I am in fact, a cripple. Ugh, I hate to say it but if I get rejected again I'm not gonna bother fighting it. For the amount of money I'd be getting, it's not worth putting in any more effort.

That's it for tonight folks, y'all have a good tomorrow. STAY WARM!

Crippie's Tippie - Dogs are smarter than they look sometimes

No Pain, No Cane

Yo!

I hope all my Jewish readers had a super fun last night of Hanukkah on Saturday. My last night of Hanukkah was rather enjoyable. I got rest, eat lots of food, hang out with the family, and I actually finished reading the first Walking Dead compendium (8 books right there). First book I've read and finished in a good few years... and I finished it in less than a week. YAY ME!

I figured since tomorrow marks the 3 month anniversary of Fanny's removal I'd give y'all an update of how my health is goin'.

Since having Fanny removed my leg feels sooooooo much better. Not only that, I now find it easier to move that leg in general. I still have a limp and my gait is kinda off but my leg doesn't drag anywhere near as bad as it used to. It's been such a vast improvement that I no longer walk with a cane! Granted, I keep it in my trunk in the event of an emergency, but I've been doing really well without it. I've even gone on some long-ish schleps without it, I get a little more tired but I think it's worth it.

My new scar is kinda a bitch sometimes. There are moments when it just stings like a mofo. I'm trying to put lotion on the area to help the skin stretch. It seems to be helping a little. The scar itself is healing pretty well. It's raised off the skin a millimeters, but it's thin so it doesn't look that bad. The scar is currently a fabulous shade of purple, it'll probably lighten over the next few month... but for now it really is a nifty shade of purple.

*Knocks on wood* While I still have my usual frequent aches and pains no new problems have brought to my attention, which is nice. It's nice to have a "normal-ish" existence for little while.

A few days ago I started taking a new medication for an unrelated hormonal imbalance. Luckily I haven't had too many side effects from that yet. Apparently it makes you sick to your stomach at first. There was one night where I wasn't feeling too hot, but otherwise I've been good. Also, I have not been a hormonal wreck, which is nice for everyone else around me ;)

And even though this isn't exactly news, I've got a funny health story from today. So, I was at work and the heat was out due to some electrical issues. One of my co-workers brought in a little space heater to keep us warm. While I was working a co-worker with whom I share a desk with asked if she could turn the space heater off, as it was getting reaaaaalllllyyyyy hot. My reaction? I didn't even know that the space heater was under my desk, right by my legs. Thanks to nerve damage from several surgeries I have issues sensing temperature below my knees. I literally did not feel anything. Not even a breeze! Yup, I'm special. I usually forget about the whole temperature thing, unless I'm stepping into a pool or hot tub or something. It seems like a pleasant temperature then as soon as my knees touch the water I'm like "HOLY CRAP".

So yeah, that's about it. Do any of your disabilities cause any irregularities that amuse your co-workers? Cause mine are pretty impressed with me legs right now :D

Crippie's Tippie - If you're like me and have problems feeling temperatures, be careful. Just because something doesn't feel hot or cold to you that doesn't mean you get a burn and or frostbite. 

Sweet Charity

BROADWAY TITLE, YUS!

I hope all of my fellow crippled comrades had a splendid weekend. Mine was purdy damn awesome. As I've mentioned maaaaannnnnnyyyyy times throughout the past couple of weeks, my BFF and I are hosting a Scentsy Party benefitting the MHE Coalition, and on Saturday we had an open house/party for it. I was a social creature and had a blast with my friends and family. The open house was a huuuugggggeeeeeeeeeee success. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the fundraiser thus far, and I want to give a special shout out to my BFF who is donating her commission for the cause. YOU GUYS ARE SO FLIPPIN' AWESOME, LOVE Y'ALL!

I can't believe how much I actually did this weekend, apart from the whole being social thing. I walked up and down the stairs a buncha times, stood for rather long periods, did lots of bending and moving in general. Not bad for less than two weeks post-op! I also can't believe how active I was considering how much my damn incision has been hurting. Seriously, this has probably been the most painful part of my damn surgery. Ya see, now that bandages and staples are off, my incision is free to tighten and heal naturally. This is usually uncomfortable, but the tightening paired with fact that the skin around incision moves whenever I do makes for a rather painful feeling. It kinda feels like my skin rips whenever I get up. Of course its not actually ripping, but it feels like it. I'm probably gonna cover the scar with bandaids tomorrow to help everything stay in place. I reckon I should also try to not move whenever possible and let my incision heal. Regardless of how much my damn scar hurt, this weekend was awesome and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Scentsy Buddies!

The Scentsy MHE Fundraiser will continue online through November 3rd. If any of y'all want to do some holiday shopping for a good cause you should check it out. Also, sorry if I'm annoying people by constantly talking about the it, I swear I won't talk about it as much now.

Crippie's Tippie - Scensty Parties are surprisingly fun and entertaining

Staples: That Was Easy

Oh Hello!

It's kinda amazing how well that slogan summarizes my day. My post-op appointment was today and I finally got those damn staples removed!

I'll admit I was slightly nervous about having the staples taken out, purely because I didn't know what to expect. Was I going to be attacked with a scary looking staple remover? How much was it gonna hurt? All those fun feelings. I had a general idea that today was gonna be on the painful side so I took some stronger pain killers before I left for the doctor. It actually wasn't too bad. The only thing that hurt was when my doctor took off the bandage. Picture removing a giant waterproof bandaid from your lower back to you bum... OUCHIES! Once the bandage was removed I got the chance to see my scar before the staples being removed. My first thought was "HOLY MOLY THAT'S A LOT OF STAPLES". 17 staples to be exact, on my ass. Then the doctor approached me with some creepy looking pliers and I braced myself for the worst. I totally watched him remove the staples, because I walk on the wild side. Much to my shock, it totally didn't hurt. Some of 'em stung a teensy bit, but that's nothing. Before I knew it, the 17 staples were gone and I got to take a real gander and my fancy new scar. It kinda looks like an idiot tried to steal my kidney but was off by several inches. The scar itself looked like it was about 5 inches long, vertical with a slight curve. Part of me thinks its gonna heal keloid but it's waaaaaaaaay to early to tell. I'm kinda tempted to get a flower tattoo using the scar as the stem. Admit, it would be awesomeeeeeeee. Just to freak some of y'all out... here's a picture of some of the staples.

I also gave my doctor the picture of Fanny with the google-y eyes. He got a kick out of it. It's a shame that most people don't draw faces on objects removed from their bodies, a cryin' shame.

I'm feelin' pretty good right now, I was FINALLY able to take a shower and FINALLY get rid of that leftover iodine. My scar feels kinda weird though... it's at that point where when it comes into contact with anything it's like "BAD TOUCH... oh wait... it's my skirt... never mind". Now I feel like I'm almost completely recovered. All I need is a few days to let my scar really heal, and I'm good to go!

Tomorrow is gonna be a super exciting day for Crippie, I'm hosting my Scentsy Open House Fundraiser. If any of my local readers wanna stop by, just message me for details! Maybe I'll see some of you guys there!

Crippie's Tippie - Check out my Scentsy Fundraiser y'all! 

Do Mosquitos Love Cripples?

Yo!

Crippie hopes all of her readers had a wonderful Wednesday. Crippie's day went rather well actually. I found out that one of my buddies is officially in remission from stage 4 cancer (Can I get a w000000t) and my sister might have found a job!!! I was also unusually achy today, probs because it's gonna rain on Friday. But the good news certainly trumped the pain today.

The great sleep saga continues tonight. I'm gonna attempt trying to write a coherent post late at night again. While it was certainly not successful last night, I realized that was due to my consumption of a caffeinated soda after 8pm. Oops... lesson learned.

Now... on to that title... summer has officially begun (YAY) and that means that bugs are in the air (boo). I don't know if it's just me... but mosquitos freakin' love me. Well... that's not entirely true. mosquitos love certain parts of me. When I was younger I would get eaten alive by those stupid bastards, I would be covered in bites from head to toe. Over the past couple of years (6 or 7 years maybe) bugs have been very selective when biting me. They like to bite me at my surgical sites. Only at my surgical sites. My wrists and my legs (which are always covered) get bitten while the rest of me is bite free. How weird is that? These aren't even new scars... some of 'em are 10 years old! Have any of my comrades had similar experiences? Is scar tissue tasty or something? I'm super curious if anyone else experiences this. If not, maybe it's proof that I am an animal whisperer! Maybe this is the mosquitos way of saying "You are the chosen one".

In guinea pig news, Maggie was hanging out with me tonight. She had a dandy time watching computer and listening to Lady Gaga. Seriously my pigs love her, they purr whenever Poker Face is played, it's probably something about the beat. Anyways, I took some insanely adorable pictures and Maggie wanted me to share them with you.

Is this my best side?

Or is THIS side better?

Ya know what, ALL of my sides are fantastic! I'M SO DAMN CUTE!

 I'm actually starting to get that "I'm about to pass out" feeling... sweeeeeeeeeeet. Perhaps this whole "trying to be coherent and write a blog at an ungodly hour of the night" thing helps. At least this gives me motivation to post daily again.

Crippie's Tippie - This summer's must have item is bug spray! 

Keep On Waiting.......

Ohai

The Mama Pig Update - Annnnnnnnnnnddd we're back to square one. I returned home from work today to find blood in the trio's cage. After inspecting all the pigs I discovered that it was Mama Pig. After watching her for a little bit I came to the conclusion that she has another UTI. *Sigh* We're gonna attempt to flush out the infection. Crippie has been giving Mama Pig about 2 cc's of water every 3 hours or so. I'm also giving her the chinese herb Shilintong, which should act as an anti-inflamitory. If she doesn't get better we'll take her to a vet. Mama Pig probably is genetically predisposed to bladder issues. She passed this trait on to Nellie, Frida, and Emma. So they will all periodically get UTI's. So yeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh, Mama Pig requests ninja healing vibes. She's ever so tired of being sick.

Moving on to MRI news, my doctor has reviewed my film and he will let us know what's going on tomorrow. While this is kinda annoying that he couldn't have just called us with the results, this is ultimately a good thing. If my ortho was concerned about a tumor being cancerous he would have called us today. He also said that I don't need a second MRI... YAY CRIPPIE!!! This also means that my ortho could clearly see my pelvis in my first MRI and that he should hopefully know why I was having problems sitting! Crippie is super curious to find out what's going on with that. The whole sitting issue has improved quite a bit with my total pillow buddy. I now only use that at work, cause that's where I sit the longest. Crippie eagerly awaits these results. Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed guys, it's been working thus far!

Since I'm pretty sure that Fanny will be removed Crippie can't help but think of funny things to do with the tumor. I know I want a photograph on Fanny once she's out, but Crippie thinks it would be rather amusing to keep her in a jar. Crippie could glue google-y eyes on it! It would be like "my pet rock"... ONLY MORE AWESOME! If y'all think that this is just bizarre and creepy, this is just how Crippie eases herself into situations like this. I have to laugh about how I'll have a huge scar on my ass... and knowing my luck it will keloid. It will be like cripple tramp stamp! I can also picture the recovery process like the hospital scene from Forrest Gump... lying on my tummy eating ice cream.

Again, might seem weird that Crippie thinks like this, but finding the humor in situations like this makes them soooooooooooooooooooooooo much more bearable.

 Crippie's Tippie - Humor is the greatest medicine. If you don't laugh about something, you'll cry

Well, There's Your Problem

'Ello

The Mama Pig Update - Mama continues to stabilize. She still not 100% back to normal. I'd probably say she's about 90%. Crippie is gonna monitor her throughout the day tomorrow since I don't have work. Since Mama Pig is feeling better I can finally devote more time to my other piggies. Tonight I was chilling with Nellie. Nellie missed all the snuggles.

I call this look "Stare Vacantly at the Wall While Mommy Gives Me Rubs"

Crippie was supposed to have her second MRI in a few hours. BUT we ended up canceling it. Why? Because the people at the radiologist's office called us and said that the first MRI should provide my doctor with all of the information he needs. Crippie is gonna pick up the MRI disc tomorrow and send it to my doctor. If this is the case, that my problems are so blatantly obvious that a second MRI is not needed... CRIPPIE REALLY WANTS TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON! Crippie is pretty sure that Fanny is pressing on the sciatic nerve but I have no clue with what's causing my sitting problems. I really hope the answer is super obvious and more importantly, super easy to treat. Although, Crippie is being very cautious about this new development of sorts, cause let's face it, the radiology office could just be seeing tumors and assuming that they are the cause of my problems. Once Crippie's ortho sees the images from my first MRI he'll let us know whether I need another MRI or not. 

The heat wave has been continuing by me. It was again insanely hot on Tuesday. Crippie shockingly decided to wear shorts to work (it's hot and our dress code is very relaxed). I'll admit even though I am ok with showing my legs and my scars to random people, I was afraid that my coworkers would notice all my scars. Yes, I already walk with a cane so it's kinda obvious that something ain't right... but I don't like having my coworkers know the extent of my crippledness. I'm afraid that once I make it really obvious people will always treat me "special". For now they treat me like any other coworker, I like being treated like a normal and I thought showing my scars might jeopardize that. That being said, it was insanely hot and my office is full of windows and not so stellar AC. So, Crippie again decided to put on her big girl panties, suck it up, and put on the damn shorts. Much to my surprise no one noticed or cared about my legs! No one said a word to me, no one asked what happened to my leg, NOTHING! Well, I could tell that someone was staring at my leg at one point... but still... not bad. Crippie has to remember that adults have better things to do than notice my legs. That's probably one of my favorite parts about being surrounded by adults, they treat me like a normal human being. I reckon I'm still transitioning from being around younger, dumber people who would treat me like crap because of the whole cripple thing. 

Before I depart for the night, Crippie has to give a quick shout out to my Mom & Dad. Yesterday was their 25th wedding anniversary! Happy Silver Anniversary!!! <3

Crippie's Tippie - Just because a problem is visible to you, that doesn't mean that everyone else will notice it.

Screw It, I'm Puttin' Shorts On

Crippie has oodles of things to discuss with y'all!

First and foremost, Crippie hopes everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day weekend. While we are enjoying our time off, let us take a moment to remember everyone who gave their lives for this country. May they rest in peace. 

The Mama Pig Update - Mama is continuing to stabilize. She had two whole days without monitoring! I monitored her for about 2 hours today, she wasn't gassy at all and she was able to poop. She's not completely recovered yet, and I'll probably take her for a drive tomorrow to really get the gears going. Crippie cannot even begin to tell you guys how relieved I am that she is improving. When she first got sick I thought I was gonna lose her. It's been a rough couple of weeks with her, but all the work and worrying seems to have paid off. Crippie really can't say this enough, pigs are hard work. If I hadn't done anything to help Mama she wouldn't be here now. 

Next, it has come to my attention that I am probably offending a bunch of people by calling people without disabilities "Normals". To the readers who are offended... I'm sorry if I am offending you, but I just as I use the word "cripple" I mean no harm. I like to think of it like Harry Potter. There are people who possess magical powers (witches and wizards) and people who do not possess magical powers (muggles). It is easier to say "muggle" versus "people who do have magic powers". Yes, Crippie is well aware that just because a person is not disabled that doesn't mean they are normal and that their lives are full of sunshine are unicorns. I know that there is no such thing as a normal person and that everyone is messed up in some way or another. But for the purposes of this blog, which mainly pertains to disability it makes sense to classify people who have disabilities and people who don't.

I call people without disabilities "Normals" simply because I couldn't find a better word for 'em. Believe me I thought about it. Crippie thought about "Healthy" but that didn't really make sense. "Able-bodied" was also in the maybe pile, but that sounded like I was excluding people with mental illnesses. Someone jokingly said I should call 'em "Bloods" but that would have been reaaaaaaalllllyyyy racist and offensive. If anyone can come up with a better name please let me know. I'd love to see what y'all come up with. 

Moving on, I don't know about you guys, but it was really freakin' hot today. So hot that Crippie needed to wear shorts. Why is that such a big deal? Because my legs aren't exactly my best asset and I don't particularly care for exposing them. Crippie's general approach to clothing would be to highlight the assets and minimize the less awesome parts of you. Anything above the knee tends to make the imperfections in my legs more obvious, so I usually stick to knee length skirts and shorts. I'm  not saying "OMG my legs are sooooooo ugly and deformed I hate them", but everyone has a not so awesome "problem area" and mine is my legs. But the today's heat called for above the knee shorts. So Crippie put on her big girl panties, and then put on her only pair of above the knee shorts. I must say, it felt kinda liberating. Sure, my legs are still not awesome, but I really do not give a crap! Crippie will always notice and focus on the problems with my legs, but most normals don't see anything wrong with 'em... well... except for the giant scar running down my leg, but I think of that as a conversation piece. To prove my point, here's Crippie's leggies... and yes, for Crippie those are really short shorts (modesty is the best policy!)

My conversation piece, it's won several scar wars

My leggies

Left leg, showin' off three of my surgical sites. 

I thought I had mosquito bites on my leg, turns out they are tumors on my ankle, SWEET! 

See, even though I see a lotta things wrong with my legs I can recognize that they're not terrible. Who knows, maybe I'll wear a skirt without tights to work this week! SCANDALOUS! 

Random, I finally saw "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". Crippie loved it, especially the opening graphics, sooooooooooo shnazzzzzzy.

Crippie's Tippie - Chances are your body doesn't suck as much as you think it does

Remembering Pointy- One Year Later

Hey Y'all!

Crippie was just looking at her calendar when she noticed that today marks the 1 year anniversary of her 10th surgery. It might not seem like something blog post worthy, but this means that I haven't had any serious medical issues for an entire year *knocks on several pieces of wood*! YAY CRIPPIE!!!
I remember it like it was yesterday *insert dream sequence music*. My really awesome display tumor Pointy had grown to a point where he could lacerate something and or break through my skin. So Crippie opted to spend her last week of her last Christmas break having the bastard removed and recovering from the surgery. I knew this particular surgery was going to be relatively easy compared to some of the other surgeries I've had in the past so I wasn't terribly worried. It wasn't until the night before surgery that the nerves kicked in. Since Crippie is verrrryyyyy familiar with having surgeries I know what's coming, the whole waking up from surgery thing, the whole "my heart beat gets really irregular after surgery" thing, etc. When the nerves and everything do set in I have a tendency to start violently shaking, picture having the chills times 10. So I spent the night before on my living room couch, watching movies, and violently shaking.
Crippie lives about an hour and half away from the hospital and my surgery was scheduled pretty early in the day, so we had to leave the house around 4:30 in the morning. Once I got to the hospital itself the shaking only got worse, eventually some heating blankets made it go away. Thankfully Crippie's nurses were super nice. I mentioned how much I hate having IVs put in and the nurse was like "Oh... if we put a hot compress on your hand for five minutes before I put the needle in it won't hurt as much", and go figure it really didn't hurt... OTHER NURSES FOR MY OTHER 9 OPERATIONS... Y U NO DO THAT!
Crippie is also known to very nauseous before surgery, we talked to my doctor beforehand and he prescribed a patch to put behind my ear which surprisingly stopped most of my nauseousness. I still threw up before the surgery anyway, but the patch helped. After Crippie was done vomiting the doctors gave me some "happy" meds and boy howdy did they do the trick.
Next thing I knew Pointy had been removed and I was waiting in recovery. I was literally in no pain, quite the welcome change. Crippie spent the next few hours napping, waking up from a nap, nap again, wake up, nap, etc. Before I knew it I was discharged and on my way home!

My recovery went really smoothly. I was hardly in any pain, probably a 3 or 4 on the pain scale. A week later I returned to school and everything went back to normal. All I have left of Pointy is my dandy Tampon scar, which still totally looks like a tampon.
*Raises a glass* Here's to you Pointy, you were a great little tumor and I'll never forget you. Tell your tumor brothers and sisters to NOT cause me any problems!

CRIPPIE'S SURGERY TIPPIE - Have the following things in the car for your ride to and from the hospital... blanket, pillows, and a trashcan with several trashbags.

SCAR WAR!

Yo!

First off, gotta get this out of the way.... w0000t we got bin Laden! Now we return to finding the other hide and seek champion of the world, Carmen Sandiego. Where the hell has she been?

Now on to other business. I've had 10 operations over the past 12 years. My scars have the tendency to heal sorta weird. I usually heal keloid (big, red, puffy scars). That's my leg when I was around 12. Luckily those scars have faded considerably since.

I had surgery on my wrist in January, so naturally I was curious as to how I was going to heal. I really didn't want a giant scar on my wrist. Recently the scar has healed enough so I can get a glance as to what I'm gonna be dealing with for the next few years until it fades. Alas, it kinda keloided. In a shocking twist of hilarity, I noticed yesterday that my new scar is shaped like a tampon. I consider this a good thing. I'M A REAL LIFE HARRY POTTER! Now, if my scar hurts whenever my monthly visitor draws near that would be awesome.

Now, what do I do with a scar that looks like a tampon? I do what any person with a kick-ass scar would do... SCAR WARS. Scar Wars are competitions where people decide who's scar is more awesome. Things like size, color, and shape are usually deciding factors. I've been participating in scar wars with my fellow cripples for years. I usually win these competitions. I've only been beaten by one other cripple, but her scars really are impressive.

The moral of this story? Don't freak out when you realize that you have a scar shaped like a tampon on your body and that it will probably be there for the rest of your life. Instead, celebrate it. It is a fun little quirk that will provide many an interesting story later on. I am proud of all my scars, they are like tattoos, only with better stories.

Crippie's Tippie- If you don't like showing your scars, I hear vitamin E does wonders for the healing process. Some people also say that "mederma" stuff works like a charm.