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

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Jodie's turn to see Dr. Molly

Jodie has been dealing with swollen ankles and poor circulation in her legs.

I had an annual checkup scheduled with Dr. Molly today, but with no pressing issues myself right now, I called and canceled my appointment and they let us move Jodie to that slot. I know that my time is coming when I will need the appointments, but not at the moment.

With Jodie's spastic cerebral palsy, poor leg circulation is nothing new. Last week they did an ultrasound to make sure there was now blood clots.

We have both expressed surprise that our doctors we have now know less about our disabilities than the doctors we had when we were young.

Dr. Molly is no slouch. She heads therapy over at Providence Hospital, which makes what she told Jodie today all the more interesting. She said that most people with the amount of spasticity that Jodie has in her legs are not still walking at our age.

We are in uncharted territory. People with our sort of disabilities in previous times did not work full time and were not as active as we are. By no means their fault. The opportunities we have had were not there for them. Dr. Molly said most of them were in wheelchairs and in institutions.

Jodie still walks and Dr. Molly is amazed. If Jodie did not fight to walk every day and did not press on the way she does, she would quickly lose her ability to walk.

Dr. Molly asked how old Jodie will be when she can retire. Well, she told Jodie, "you won't be walking then."

We can live with that. With God's grace, we can live with what comes today and with what comes tomorrow.

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