Living and laughing with a disability - cerebral palsy; ordinary life, extraordinary circumstances.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Return to doctor

After 9 sessions of therapy, I returned to Dr. Molly yesterday. She asked how therapy was going. I told her that they traced my rib pain to my mid back. She had me scheduled for an mri in the morning.

What will it show? It worries me. I hope it's not to serious, but that we see what is happening so that it can be treated.

I had a therapy session yesterday also. I made the mistake of mentioning lower back pain. A couple different excercizes and I woke up today with severe back pain.

I need to get off the computer and go relax.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Therapist is right!

I thought I new better than my therapist. On Friday, PT Amanda watched me walk with and without my walker. She determined that I put less stress on mt ribs when I use me walker.

Yesterday I told PTA Mark that I was not convinced that the walker helped me walk better. He had me walk with and without it.

It was obvious that they were right.

Mark said, "So, our degree mean something?"

I was thinking mostly of the hassle it is getting my walker in and out of the car...and getting my bag on my walker.

Therapist knows best!

It was very enlightening to see a mother helping her daughter, who has CP, with her therapy on "The Nanny" last night.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Physical Therapy...

It has been over five years since my back surgery and the comprehensive physical therapy that I went through.

Last June I complained of chest pains at work. My branch manager insisted that an ambulance be called. It was not my heart. Best they could tell it was indigestion.

I kept returning to my doctor. I was not good at pinpointing my pain and he was not good at figuring it out. They x-rayed my lungs and saw some pneumonia. Antibiotics. The pain persisted. More antibiotics, more x-rays.

I asked my doctor if I could get a mri, or if I should go see Molly, a specialist I have seen before.

Dr. Molly thinks it could be a muscular-skellatal thing and had me go to physical therapy. My therapists have been good. They traced the pain from the rib area in my chest that is painful to a spot in the middle of my back that, when they poke and prod, is also painful. They have also found slight inflammation in my right breast that is slightly inflamed - or that feels different. My scoliosis also plays into it. My ribs are really tight.

I am hoping that when I return to dr. Molly on Feb. 26, that she orders a mri, just to see for sure what it is.

I think I am fighting a bit of depression right now. Dealing with this unknown pain for so long. I am also frustrated by my lack of success when it comes to creating and running websites. I am trying to figure out SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which is the process of getting your website recognized by search engines such as Google.

Seems like I always try to succeed at things that I am not good at doing, and I ignore doing
then things that I am better at.

I will pull through this.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Kind Hearts

I feel I rant too much.

Cheryl, manager of the child welfare branch I work at, came to me yesterday and said some people were concerned that I was having to park too far from the front door.

When I get to work on time, I have a disabled parking space close. A few days ago I returned from therapy and my spot was taken. I parked at one of the disabled spots much further down. It really did not bother me because my pain level walking has been down lately.

But somebody saw me.

Cheryl said that if my spot is taken I can use one of the client spots near the front door. I have thought about asking for such accommodation, but I have not.

Today Jodie and I went to the middle school / high school campus of our sons private school. We have the option of sending him there next year for 6th grade or keeping him at the elementary campus for one more year.

When we were leaving, a vice principal came running out to our car as we were leaving. He wanted us to know that we can park at the front curb of the school during non-busy times. I was moved that he would run out to tell us that.

Kind hearts.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

A Night Out

Monday night Jodie and I had to go to the mall to exchange a mp3 player. We we done late, and we were hungry. We decided to go out to eat at a seafood place close to home.

We were seated fine. When our waitress came, she asked what special occasion brought us out. We said that our son was at grandma's house and we wanted to take advantage of it.

I saw an apitizer I wanted on the menu. I pointed to it and said I would like that. The waitress looked atJodie and asked if it was okay.

Another waitress brought the food out. She moved Jodie's smaller plates and warned her that the dinner plate was very hot. With my plate, she left it on the outside of the table and ran off. I was moving my plates around when our waitress came and helped.


I felt so disabled! ...And invisible...