Romance in the chair

If I have a van and a power chair like that, I'd be working like a regular employee in any company.

Empowering people with disabilities

On July 24, 2010, BloggersUnite is asking bloggers and writers around the world to use their voices to raise awareness about empowering people with disabilities. Participating is easy. Simply share a story about living with a disability, working to empower people with disabilities, or supporting an organization that empowers people with disabilities. On the event page, you will find links to resources like events, organizations, articles, badges and more. We encourage you to get involved in your community by participating in a local event, or supporting an organization that empowers people with disabilities by volunteering or helping them raise funds. Then, write about it!

5 Inspiring stories you should know about

Five inspiring stories I’ve featured on both here and my other blog (and some from a friend’s) that you might have missed.

The woman who touched the world  
Joni Ericson Tada - the quadriplegic woman who rose above the tragedy that rendered her paralyzed for life. She can only move her head but she’s starred in a  movie, she paints, has her own albums and married.

Nick Vujicic – Get back up
The incredible story (with a video) of a man born without limbs. This will make you cry and truly inspire you. After seeing this, you'll realize how blessed you are.

The blind who led the blind
Ann  Sullian – the woman behind Helen Keller. Ann too suffered from a sight disability nevertheless, under her tutelage, she mentored one of the most amazing and remembered woman in history.
Wheelchair Bodybuilding: Rich Knapp
A competitive bodybuilder in a wheelchair. Read his story and be motivated!

Graduate speech to remember Eric Duquette
Diagnosed with autism and learned to talk only when he was five but graduated Salutatorian in his high school class.

Check them out and if these stories do not touch and encourage you at all, I don’t know what else would.

The song that will be with me forever

So my dad kept watch that night and we had our moment. As I lied there, unmoving but with eyes open and much aware of things, he took out a piece of paper where something was written and then he began to sing acapella…

When you’re weary, feeling small 
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all, I’m on your side
Oh when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

When you're down and out, when you're on the street,
When evening falls so hard, I will comfort you.
I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes,
And pain is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will lay me down,
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will lay me down.

Sail on silver girl, sail on by,
Your time has come to shine,
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine, oh, if you need a friend,
I'm sailing right behind,
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will ease your mind,
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will ease your mind.

…near the end of the song, his voice cracked and his tears fell and met mine. I felt so guilty, I didn’t want mom and dad to be so sad, so hurt, so burdened (yes, children do blame themselves a lot for everything that happens in the family) . I wanted to comfort him, to say it will be all right but I couldn’t say a word and I was only eight.

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When I die, I want this song played as they lay me to rest.

Richard Knapp (One inspiring interview)

Here's the story of a man who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis back in the 80s but instead of succumbing to self pity and the disease, he not only fought back but made something great out of it.

Here's an interview a friend of mine did with him. Be inspired!

They fixed the ramp! (a good update news related to my accident)

I remember talking to the Administration Engineer who came with us to the orthopedic hospital when I had my cast, speaking for other handicap people like myself who might meet the same accident on that ramp, telling him to make sure the mall have the ramp fixed.

I said, it’s a good thing it’s me who had that accident there, it could be someone who’d be more than willing to sue the mall for negligence on their part to make sure their facilities are safe for people with disability. It would not only cost the mall a huge amount of money for damages but he too, could lose his job.

I don’t know if that got to him or he really felt responsible for  )it's his job after all) what happened to me that he had the work done fast on the mentioned broken ramp for PWDs (People with disability). My brother tells me, they’ve fixed the broken ramp.

God is good! Now nobody (hopefully) will ever go through the same accident in that area again. IF only all the public places with provisions for the disabled will learn the same lesson, we will make life one more step easier for people like me.

My freak accident: Cast off (the final post on this) Part VI

Like I said before, the next time I write here, my cast will be off and it is, so I’m a happy woman today!

Thank you all for following the story, for the prayers, the texts of concern and the encouragements! God bless you! Although the bone still needs to completely heal, I’m on the road to that. I’m just so glad I won’t be dragging this ‘green thing’ around anymore and will start to get my life back to normal again.

I’ll be able to attend church (I miss the kids and class so much). I’d be able to move around more and be less dependent. I could see my dad is happy too and he’s also gotten well.

I praise God for the healing and lastly, let me just say my mom is the greatest!

My freak accident (patience, perseverance and grace) Part IV

I confess to not being very patient. Despite years of working with children, I should’ve some mastery of it by now but being honest, I’m poor at it, specially, with myself. When I want to accomplish something, I want it now, if not, I’d give up or lose interest while in the process of waiting. Something I really need to improve on.

When I wanted the cast off, I wanted it off two days after the leg was wrapped. That’s how impatient I am at times. And all I can think of after those two days is seeing my leg again without the green ‘thing’. I tried counting the weeks, three, two, one more….I’m supposed to keep the cast for at least 6-8 weeks and as of this writing, I’m on my 26th day with it and the thought of two more weeks is driving me insane. Hopefully, the x-ray will reveal I won’t have to wait two more weeks.

But I must perseveringly press on (James 1:2-4  Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.). Although I’ve made some speed progress and because the leg doesn’t hurt as much anymore, I can move with little pain now but I’m still far from where I was before the cast. And not only must I re-learn to do things differently for now (with a cast leg), I also have to be strong for  the parents. Dad got so affected by what happened (so affected he bought me a new computer! Not bad huh?). So at times, when I’m just about to break down, I can’t. I have to hold the fort for the family who only hurts because they love me.

I’m able to keep a straight face and a hopeful spirit just  only because of God’s grace. The truth is I don’t know how I manage but it seems I do. I'm confident in the Lord. I've seen His faithfulness all m life. 

I bet the next time I post about this the cast will be gone.

My freak accident (life at home with a cast) PART III

Continuing where I left off…

My last post had me ending this series talking about a road trip with the family and I’m back from that trip and looking forward to a long hopeful four more weeks of cast at home.

The first few days with the wrapped leg at home were truly arduous. It was difficult enough not being able to walk and move freely like normal people before the accident and now, I have to drag a fiberglass cast that’s about twice heavier than my own leg. Add to that, the fractured bone and the daily swelling episodes when evening comes.

For the last many years now, I’ve become independent in the house; do whatever I want alone and whenever I want. The rest of the family can go on with their businesses without having to worry about me. In my house, I’m like a walking person. The only thing I can’t do there is climb stairs (I live in a three-story building and hibernates on the second floor)

Now, with a cast, I need assistance when moving or transferring from my chair to the bed or any other parts of the house. I can move and transfer myself but someone has to assist and move my cast leg. During showers, I have to elevate my right foot and keep water from getting in the cast. Everything I do takes twice the effort and time now but by God’s grace (and being honest), I haven’t broken down yet.

It’s going to be a few weeks more of this but I know soon I’d be free from this heavy burden. This morning, I was able to get from the bed to my chair alone and later in the day, will try from the chair to the bed. So I’m not just coping with the cast but also making progress with the cast.

From this experience I realize being in a wheelchair without a cast is so much better than being in a wheelchair with one, made me appreciate my life before the accident more though there wasn’t much of it even then.

My freak accident (The injury) PART II

Continuation….

The crowd started to thicken but I couldn’t see well because my glasses flew along with my fall. Good thing they didn’t break and nobody stepped on them. The guards radioed and we were assisted to the clinic right away.

The mall clinic nurses (two of them, pretty ones I noticed) were already alerted and informed of what happened before we got there. One of them checked my BP and it was 190 over 140 (That’s high – probably due to the shock and pain I was put through). I’ve no hypertension history. They gave me a pain killer and started cold compress on the injured leg.

We all thought, including me, that it was really nothing that my leg just got sprained or twisted. There was no sign of trauma, no swelling, discoloration, not even a bruise. It just hurt when moved. Nevertheless the nurses recommended an x-ray.

We had lunch and lots of food before we went to get an x-ray. One of the nurses suggested they eat without me and just leave me in the clinic, bring my food there but no way! Not going to miss lunch with family, NOT at Gerry’s grill! We were all hopeful it’s nothing. By this time, the pain killer was working so my leg hurt very little so I thought everything was just ok.

They referred us to the ‘medical city’ inside the mall and I had my x-ray there. I’m touched by my brothers’ support and show of love and concern. What a blessed girl being closely assisted by two good looking fellows (my brothers). While the rest of the family waited outside, the 3 of us went for the x-ray. The transfer from the chair to the x-ray bed was excruciating. MY baby brother supported my back as I leaned on him, sitting on the x-ray table while my other brother supported my injured leg on the film plate. I guess one set wasn’t enough so they had us do it again after a few minutes.

The shocking revelation

How surprised we were to see a 5 inches diagonal line crossing the tibia of my right leg. It’s called a hair line fracture or an oblique, closed fracture. It showed very clearly on the x-ray film, you won’t need a doctor to interpret the result, you can see it yourself. The nurses said I would probably need a cast for it.

I didn’t want a cast. I only wanted a splint and a stronger pain killer. I’ve been through worse than this and thinking this pain would be nothing compared to the pain I had to endure during my first therapies when I first got paralyzed. I just wanted to go home and was certain in a few days this leg will be alright BUT my brother convinced me to have it cast. He said the line fracture crossed the bone so if I don’t have it cast and I accidentally leaned on it or one more fall, the bone could break in two. He also said it’ll take longer to heal if not cast AND I might not be able to go with them to the trip if it becomes too painful to move it. No way, I’m letting this trip pass, I’ve let so many chances in my life pass and regret each one so NO, I’m braving this one…and with that I succumbed to having my leg cast.

They took me to the clinic one more time before we left for the National Orthopedic Hospital. They gave me another pain killer and took my BP. And it's gone down to 150 over 100. Still a bit high for my normal BP but understandable under the circumstances.

To be continued…

My freak accident (what really happened) PART I

(As you all know or maybe not yet, I'm already in a wheelchair before this accident happened, since I was 8.)

MY dad was going to treat the whole family to lunch at the mall and we were all just excited and thrilled - a pre-gathering before our family road trip up north a week after my accident.

We parked just a few meters across the entrance of the mall. MY dad was the one with me when it happened. The irony of it was that the accident happened at a ramp for disabled people and I’m disabled!

We were about to go up the ramp (only a foot high) and my dad gathered his strength to push me up the ramp but failed to notice the damaged part of the ramp, a crater just before the climb (obviously, negligence on the part of the mall building administrators and engineers). The smaller front wheels of my chair got caught in the crack and the impact threw me off my chair and into the ground! It happened very fast and so unexpected.

I could’ve survived that fall, in fact I’ve no bruises or any other injury except the fracture, BUT my legs got entangled. My right foot (the most paralyzed limb in my body) got caught under my left leg and the ankle bended the wrong direction, the pain just had me scream my lungs out!

The guards (2 of them) and my dad panicked and picked me up instantly (Guys, don’t ever do this if you ever see an accident. Let the victim lie on the ground unless the patient would be in greater danger there until medical personnel arrive – maybe try calming down the patient, asking what hurts so you’ll know where to not touch). I couldn’t mouth the words “Don’t touch me!” because a scream was all I could manage from all that pain. They failed to get me on the chair the first time, so they tried again and each time, I squealed like a pig when they moved me, each time I clutched my right leg to protect it from further damage.

(The story doesn’t end here but this is all I can manage for now. I can’t stay long on the computer yet, I have to move and elevate my leg to keep blood circulation – doctor’s advice. Thank you for reading and continue to pray for me.)

To be continued…