Back to Basics

Howdy!

I hope y'all have been having a dandy week thus far. Mine's certainly been interesting. Shall I bring you guys up to speed?

First off, someone hit my car in a parking lot... with me in it. No worries though, there was hardly any damage to my precious Penelope, just a scratch on the car and a few scratches to the rim of a tire. Seriously, it was so minuscule that I told the guy who hit me not to worry about it. It was a scary experience though. One of my main fears about driving is getting into/being involved in an accident and killing myself and or someone else. My thought process getting out of the car was "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! WHAT AM I GONNA DO? WHAT AM I GONNA... oh... wait... there's no damage here... oh... okay... we're cool." I was a lil shake-y for a while but I calmed down after an hour or two. Now I ain't even mad, just thankful that nothing worse happened.

On to cripple things, the past few weeks have suuuuuccccccckkkkkeeeeedddddd pain wise. How bad? Well, I spent most of my labor day weekend laid up in bed watching "Orange Is The New Black" because I was literally in too much pain to move. Side note, I really enjoyed that show. If I had a "busy" day it would take another day to recover, and I'm using the word "busy" loosely because I really wasn't doing all that much. Anyway, today I went to my pain management doctor to discuss everything. She gave my back a once over and we came to the conclusion that my gait and lack of strength in my back is causing the pain. She gave me some exercises to do so hopefully that'll help. We're also adjusting my medication schedule a bit. I usually take my meds at night. We're now splitting them up so I take some of my weaker meds earlier. This should help manage my pain better and keep it at bay longer. Fingers crossed that it works. On the bright side, my arms having given me much trouble over the past two weeks, which is a welcome change. Pity the other issues overshadowed that.

On to piggie things. Lucy-fer was on a bit of an asshole rampage for a few days, until we discovered "solitary confinement". And by that I mean we put her in a pet carrier and left in there for a little while. One night before dinner Lucy was acting up so I put her in solitary. Her case was on a chair next to me so I could see her the entire time. It was 30 minutes of "WHY AM I HERE MAMAAAAAAA" and lots of sad piggie eyes. She started to learn her lesson after that, but she truly learned her lesson a few days after that. Lucy had settled down, but one her favorite pigs, Maggie, was ignoring her. Lucy would go by Maggie, not touching her or anything, and Maggie would start freaking out and screaming at Lucy until she left. Well... one day I check them and I found Miss Lucy-fer sulking in a corner. I took her out for some one on one time and we had a nice talk. I think she's starting to realize that her actions have consequences.

YOU CAN SEE THE SADNESS ON HER FACE! It's been a few days since we've had that discussion and *knock on wood* Lucy has not gotten into trouble. She's been a very good girl. Maggie is still wary of her and screams whenever Lucy comes near her. Poor Lucy-fer, she just sits there like "WHAT DID I DO!?!?! I JUST WANT TO SHARE A HOUSE WITH YOU".

So that's about it. Fun week. Happy Friday everyone!

Crippie's Tippie - Just because an animal is aggressive at times don't assume it's evil

Use the Stairs LIKE A BOSS

Ohai Everyone!

I hope y'all had a tremendous Thursday and a freakin' awesome Friday. My day went pretty damn well. I had the day off from work today so I got to hang out with some family friends who were in town. That alone would have made for a fun day, BUT it gets better. Ya see... I forgot that one of said friends was a physical therapist. Silly Crippie. We asked her about the whole stair situation because that was probably gonna be my biggest challenge coming home. Good thing we asked her how to do it because boooooooooooooyyy was method of getting up the stairs wrong. It turns out that when you cannot put any weight on your leg, the best way to get up the stairs is backwards. Yup, you heard me, backwards!

The new and improved plan of getting me up the stairs is simple... basically I grab on to my double railings (WHICH EVERY HOUSE NEEDS) and jump up each step backwards. Someone needs to stand in front of me to spot me, but yeah, it's relatively easy. Not to mention jumping up the stairs backwards with one leg sounds totally badass! I feel like such a daredevil! Now I have 10 days to make sure my arms are strong enough for this feat of awesomeness.

Today we also took Angel and Helen to the vet for a post-op check if you will. Angel had a pretty good time, she got to go in the car, smell some awesome new dogs, play with some of said dogs, and she didn't try to kill the vet! Helen on the other was not as pleased the outing, once she realized where she was the whole "DO NOT WANT" mentality kicked and she freaked out a bit. She felt better after her 30 second (no exaggeration) check-up. Speaking of Helen tomorrow is her 1 year adoption anniversary!  It's hard to believe that little pipsqueak has been with us for an entire year. How are we gonna celebrate? With her favorite food of course! We gave Angel a hamburger for her birthday, but Helen is not the hugest fan of meats. Helen loves all things cheese. Heaven help you if you try to eat a string cheese near this dog, because she will try to kill you for it. So we are gonna celebrate by letting Helen have some cheesy products. Yes, we know that cheese is really not a great thing for dogs, but she has it in moderation.

And as promised... ANIMAL PICTURES TO MAKE UP FOR A SHORTER POST!

You know what would help me sleep... CHEEEEEESSSSSEEEEEEEEEE 

Angel and Helen sleeping

Sleeping Beauty

And representing the piggies... here's Frida being awake and cute

Crippie's Tippie - BEFRIEND A PHYSICAL THERAPIST!!! 

The Facts of Life

Greetings!

Crippie literally just spent a good 10 minutes reminiscing about the days when she would watch "The Facts of Life" on Nick at Nite. I was always partial to Jo and I never cared for Blair... and can Crippie get an amen for a young George Clooney <3
Crippie is reliving her old Nick at Nite watching days because the HAWMC blog prompt told her to... sorta. Today's prompt is... Learned the Hard Way. What’s a lesson you learned the hard way? Write about it for 15 today. Once I got the prompt I started singing The Facts of Life theme song (which I remember in it's entirety) and it just went downhill from there ;)
Okies, *starts clock* Crippie learned long, long ago that one must always listen to and respect their elders. Random lesson but a true one. How did Crippie learn this little nugget of wisdom? Well, after my first surgery I acquired a fair amount of painful nerve damage. My doctor made me go to physical therapy. At first Crippie did not listen to her therapists and refused to move her leg because it hurt like a mofo. Those who have experience with not moving a limb for a while know that if you don't use it you lose it, and that's what happened to me. I had muscle atrophy because I refused to listen to my therapists. Eventually my therapists told me to cut the crap and do my damn exercises or else I'd never walk again. Crippie was a good girl and did her exercises after that awakening. After I started to see progress I realized I should probably just shut up and trust that the experts know what they are doing. Crippie learned that if you don't do what smarter people tell you to do... you will suffer the consequences. 
Since Crippie was 10 when she learned this valuable lesson she's been able to put it to practice for over a dozen years and I've definitely seen good results compared to other people. Crippie rarely, if ever, had arguments with her parents... because I know that even if I disagree with something that they always have my best interests in mind. So while must teenagers are like "ommmgggg my mom won't let me have a car, I hate her" Crippie was like "my mom wants me to have a lot of road experience before I get a car because she doesn't want me to die". While most teenagers and college students hate their teachers with a passion, Crippie always listened to them and tried to learn as much as she could from them. Even if I didn't care for some of their personalities I acknowledged that they know more than I do and ultimately they are right. Most of Crippie's teachers were impressed with my ability to behave and follow rules. At work I trust that my superiors know what they are doing and I follow their instructions. I'm actually building a solid reputation as the "good" designer at work!
There are people who think this trait is weakness, but those who do not listen to their superiors will only have to learn more things the hard way.

Crippie's Tippie to Teenagers - Chances are your parents are not idiots. Please tell me how your 13 years on the planet have taught you more than your parents 40 some odd years? They love you and are looking out for your best interests.

NHBPM- 5 Thing-ies That Changed Crippie

Hey Y'all

I had my pain management appointment today. My doctor quickly shut down the anti-depressant idea for me for several reasons...

1- I'm not depressed, and anti-depressants can have some pretty unfortunate side effects

2- I'm young and she doesn't want me to start on an anti-depressant regime for the next few decades

3- While anti-depressants can be used for pain relief it is meant for older people with a different kind of pain. It's more for fibromyalgia related pain, not there is a tumor pressing against your hip socket pain. 

Now, on to today's NHBPM post. Today's topic is...

5 things that changed my life. For better? For worse? List 5 things that changed your life as a patient, caregiver, or Health Activist and how.

1) My first birthday- The day I was diagnosed with MHE. Pretty self explanatory of why that changed my life.

2) My first surgery- I was ten years old. My first surgery was supposed to be a fairly easy with a quick recovery. It ended up causing massive complications and the worst pain I'll probably ever experience. I was forced to grow up very quickly in order to deal with everyhing. Before my surgery I was a child with a minor disability. After the surgery I was a young adult with a severe disability.

3) Crippie Meets Fellow Crippies- When I was younger I thought I was all alone with my disability, but after my first surgery my family started reaching out to other families with MHE. Within the next two years I was in contact with several Crippies my age and we became friends (I'm still in touch with most of 'em btw). From that point on I stopped feeling alone and pitying myself.

4) Physical Therapy- I've had PT on and off for the past 12 years. When I started PT it was incredibly painful. The therapists were crying watching me struggle. One of my therapists told me that if I wanted to get better I would have to deal with the pain and work through it. This was a huge epitome moment for me. I worked really hard at my therapy, struggled through the pain, and saw results. I have applied this philosophy to everything else I have ever done. If ever I feel like I can't do something, I push myself and try to make it happen. 

5) CRIPPLEFEST- Every year we have a gathering of cripples at my house. It really is one of the biggest highlights of my year. Apart from it being a blast, it has always been a day of support and activism for us. I became a mentor for some of the younger cripples and I am trying to see to it that my little "buddies" don't suffer in the way that I did.

So those are the main things that transformed Crippie into the cripple she is. Most of them sprung out of the first surgery one, the more I think about it the more realize how much that bastard screwed me up.

Crippie's Tippie- Even though something royally sucks and has probably changed your life in a negative way that doesn't mean something good can't come out of it. Without that first surgery I never would have met my cripples! 

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J