hi Joan, I saved your response from the question I sent you earlier. I've been trying to think of a way to express how impressed I am. Then I get this. Joan, you blow me away! I turned 47 on the 14th of December, and I have had such a struggle with what to do now. Having only been a quad for just over three years, and waiting tables or working in an in-home childcare center prior to my accident, I have no idea where to turn. Alot of people in my life suggest going to school, which I have not done now for 25 1/2 years. I was registered to start for the first time in 22 years one month after my accident. The field I was looking into going to school for, does not seem even remotely appealing, nor do I think it would any longer be a good fit for me. I would like to look into something that might be recession proof, but what is these days? friends mentioned that I should go into volunteer work, but that doesn't pay. How do you do what you do? I'm scared as hell to get out there in the big bad world. In between a nonexistent family, and PCAs that don't show up on time in the morning, or sometimes at all, I'd never be able to get ready for class or work. What's a kid to do, eh? Lucinda C-45 complete? July 31,' 05. Minneapolis, Minnesota
When I was first injured I applied for a service dog, and they told me they had never trained a dog for my level. They suggested that I train my own dog, but as you all know the first couple of years is usually taken up with learning how to live in our new bodies-and mindset too. My youngest daughter was only 15, and we were into showing horses, so that is what we did for four years. Then life just took over, I designed and had a house built for myself-luckily my family could do it, so labor was free. I had sold my original house, so I was able to finance the new house with a mortgage. I have worked hard at developing a support system for myself, and as I get older it is hard to maintain it but so far I have been very fortunate. My daughter lives in my old house but I do try not to use her for my personal care as I learned very early on that it is hard to maintain a mother daughter relationship when your daughter is your personal care giver. But she does help out when necessary. I have always been an active-some would say pushy-person, and I still am. I had four mentally retarded young men/boys living with me when I broke my neck. 18 years later, I still have two of them, and we help each other out, I am very good at walking people through problems verbally, and they are very good at following my directions. It definitely works for us. I volunteer at my grandchildren's school-love working with kindergartners-and that make sure that I stay involved with young people, which for me is exhilarating. I am active and serve on two local organizations as a board member, and have been asked to give some speeches to local volunteer organizations. We still have three horses, a greenhouse, five acres to try to maintain, so I do not run out of projects to do. As my mother in law always said-Joan, if you would stop thinking we would all have less work to do. One day, I am sure my mind will shut down or at least slow down, and they will all have less work to do. This has been my way of coping with the devastation of a spinal cord injury, each of you have shown so many other ways to cope, and I am so impressed with the quality of life that all of you on the quad list have achieved for yourself, that it inspires me to keep on going. There I go again-motor mouth-good thing I use speech recognition :-) Joan -----Original Message----- From: Merrill [mailto:merril...@cox.net] Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 11:36 AM To: 'William Willis' Cc: quad-list@eskimo.com Subject: [QUAD-L] Service Dog Life My first service dog came to me through an organization. Years after she passed on I was turned down for a successor dog because they thought at C5 I was too sick. So, I thought if I treat my puppy as a service dog, with lots of work and training that in time she would become one. With my physical limitations getting rewards fast enough was impossible so the clicker training technique worked well for us. I was surprised to what a good dog my golden had become even though she was not the class act as my first dog. Do you live mostly indoors confined to mostly your dg's company? My health is not what it was, and at times I do feel that I am not satisfying all her needs. Last month this family cared for her for several weeks. Wonderful people. They had given my dog such care I never could which has made my dog so very happy. My point to all of this is I am interested in how active you are and if you too are shut indoors most of the day? I am feeling so self centered taking her back now that it is time for her to return because I cannot compete to her life with a really family much more active than I. Do you believe that it is true I am all she wants? Do you have a strong family or supportive people around you which helps not being restrictive? Was the service dog organization right in their judgment of me in your mind? Merrill From: William Willis [mailto:lwillis82...@msn.com] Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 9:03 AM To: quad-list@eskimo.com Subject: FW: [QUAD-L] Exercise Joan, you are one tough cookie. I am a c-5 and I don't think I have anything near your gumption and zest. Hang tough and God bless. Willis ________________________________ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:04:32 -0500 To: quad-list@eskimo.com From: d...@unh.edu Subject: RE: [QUAD-L] Exercise Way to go Joan! Dan At 11:33 PM 12/21/2008, Joan Anglin said something that elicited my response: Lucinda I am a C4 complete. October 1990, fell off scaffolding in my barn. Shoulder shrug is it. I have had to have three tracheotomies, but fortunately for me I was able to get off of each trach within a couple of weeks. I have an omega trac wheelchair, very powerful even if it is not very fast, and have not tipped myself over since I bought it. It has given me a very confident and safe lifestyle, especially now that I have a German shepherd puppy-now eight months who is already helping me out. She can open most doors, is very calm in stores, loves children and will sit to shake hands with them without command, and of course she is a great conversation opening. I have always been an independent person, and really enjoy getting out by myself. With my cell phone, Elfie my German shepherd, and my omega trac Im good to go. We have joined a German shepherd Schaeferhunde Gruppe (in a former life I trained German shepherds in Germany, and I am very much looking forward to taking Elfie through her SchH1 degree in a couple of years. However, I will be the first one to admit that it is a whole bunch more difficult training a dog when you cannot use your arms. She has had to learn to step up on my wheelchair to get a treat from my mouth. I am now working with the silent whistle as my whistle left me when I broke my neck. J Sorry to go on. I am just very excited about all the things that seem to be happening in my life. I'll be 70 next April, and we are trying very hard to get me certified to go scuba diving in Honduras. Everyone around me scuba dives, and now I figure it's my turn. Have a great day. Joan From: LTeasley [ mailto:ljtbe...@yahoo.com <mailto:ljtbe...@yahoo.com> ] Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2008 2:12 PM To: quad-list@eskimo.com Subject: RE: [QUAD-L] Exercise Joan, what level is your injury? using a chin control suggests pretty high, but with your prior talk of going around the property, i thought somewhat low. regardless, it sounds courageous. lucinda c45 complete? july 31, '05 mpls., mn --- On Sun, 12/21/08, Joan Anglin <poaj...@sbcglobal.netwrote: From: Joan Anglin <poaj...@sbcglobal.net>> Subject: RE: [QUAD-L] Exercise To: "'Merrill'" <merril...@cox.net>, quad-list@eskimo.com Date: Sunday, December 21, 2008, 12:00 PM Ouch, the suspender idea could be very uncomfortable? Of course, my solution for the quad gut is a bodysuit, which is not uncomfortable for me, but is difficult for my attendants. I?ve gotten so used to it that I feel uncomfortable without it. And I agree with Lori, that one of the biggest problems it is my butt spreading sideways. LOLI still wear a size 10, but I definitely hang over the 16 inch cushion. Oh well, it could be worse. As far as exercise, my greatest achievement is successfully blowing the hair out of my eyes. Seriously, although I cannot do more than a shoulder shrug, I really bounce myself around just going around the property. So I guess that would qualify as exercise. I still do shoulder exercises with my arm in a sling suspended from the ceiling, I?ve never gotten any return, but my neck and shoulder muscles are still quite strong. I do not use a headrest, since I use a chin control I did not want to be smacked in the mouth by a chin controller and on the back of the head by a headrest, and that has helped to keep my neck muscles strong. Those of you in the northeast states stay warm. It?s been cold here, but for the most part sunny, with highs in the low twenties. We finally got snow several days ago, and it is still hanging around, but nothing like the northeast states-thank goodness. I hope everybody has a great day Joan No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/> Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.19/1860 - Release Date: 12/21/2008 3:08 PM ________________________________ It's the same HotmailR. If by "same" you mean up to 70% faster. Get your account now. <http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_bro ad1_122008> No virus found in this incoming message. 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