Living with Cerebral Palsy

Living with CP: the teen years part 2.

2012-04-16T21:55:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. In today's entry I'm going to talk about how it was to bring a newborn baby home and all of the adjustments that had to be made in the family. Let's get going.

From the very first day we brought Nicholas home from the hospital, we could see we were probably going to have some difficult times with the family dog. When we came home, we sat Nicholas down on the couch in his car seat and the dog jumped up on the couch and was basically standing over top of Nicholas. He did not do anything harmful, just smell him. The dog was not a large one. He was a Cockapoo.

We also must remember the handicapped son in the home, as well. As you might guess, it was somewhat hard for me to get used to all the changes that were going on. For the first 11 years of my life I had all the attention. Now, I had to share it with Nicholas.

My father is one of those individuals that likes to work very late at night. It was not unusual for him to work until 10 or 11 o'clock. That meant that my mother would have to take care of both of us and the dog all day long.

We thought as time went on that the dog would get better but unfortunately it got worse. He started to tear up the carpet in the house. One day my father put him on a chain in the hallway while we went away and that floor was linoleum. When we returned home, he had damaged that floor. We all knew something had to be done before he damaged the whole house.

In my next entry see what happens next. Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the teen years part 1.

2012-04-12T15:16:00.000-04:00

I hope you all are having a great day. Before I talk about my last year at Meadowdale High School, I'm going to tell you all about when I was no longer an “only child”. Let's get started.

My first 11 years of my life it was nice and peaceful in the house. It was just me, my mother and my father. They attempted to have other children but my mother had a miscarriage and another unfortunate pregnancy where the umbilical cord got wrapped around the baby's neck at birth. Since he was full-term, he was named David. When my mother found out she was going to try for lucky number 3, everyone knew that it was going to be a long 9 months.

Sure enough, when she went to the doctor he told her that he wanted her on complete bed rest the whole time. They also gave her a monitor to bring home and wear around her belly 24-hours a day so that they could monitor the baby's heartbeat from the hospital.

It was so hard for my mother to lay around for 9 months and not do nothing and have everyone else do everything for her. She liked to get up and go and do everything on her own. That being said, the 9 months came and went with no problems. My mother and father named the baby Nicholas.

In my next entry, find out how it was to have a newborn baby in the house along with a dog and a handicapped son. I’ll also get into how I came to live with my grandparents.

Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 42.

2012-04-11T15:02:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. Before I get started with today's entry I just want to say thank you for your interest in this blog. Yesterday was my best day for blog views since I started this blog, so please continue to tell your friends. Now, let's get started with today's entry.

I'm going to write more about the three years I went to the hospital for therapy, and also when they decided to start me in water therapy.

When you have Cerebral Palsy, your muscles get so tight because of lack of body tone. They have found out over the years that if you get in water that is about 90 degrees it relaxes the muscles and it makes it easier to move around.

Amazingly, when I got in that water I could hold on to a bar on the inside of the pool and walk around it all by myself with no problem. Also, when you get in water you are lighter, so that also makes everything easier, too.

The main thing to remember is to not stop working your body and to always try new things. Also, don't ever give up.

Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 41.

2012-04-10T14:27:00.000-04:00

I hope you all are having a great day. Today, I'm going to continue to talk about how our vacations have changed over the years. I will also explain all the work you have to do to make sure everything goes just right when you go on vacation when you have Cerebral Palsy.

As I got older and heavier, I have to stay in my wheelchair. A lot of people don't have to worry if the hotel room doors are wide enough to get a power wheelchair through or if the room is big enough for everyone to get around in. Also, consider that if you don't want to drive your vehicle around town there are handicapped-accessible transportation options.

Someone can not just call one time and set up everything and be done with it. You have to call several times to be sure you have planned for handicapped accommodations before you leave. If you don't do that, it’s likely that when you get there, something will not be right.

Also, it’s difficult to travel by air when you have a power chair. You have to have special gel batteries. It's also wise to have a copy of your wheelchair specs to give to the airline and even the captain of your plane. Some of the smaller commuter airlines may not be able to fly with the additional weight of the power chair. Be sure that if you have connecting flights that everyone is aware of the wheelchair. Planning ahead is important.

It is also a good idea when flying to call your insurance company before you leave and see if you can take out a short-term policy to cover your wheelchair until you return. That way if the airline damages your chair when they load and unload it from the plane, the insurance company can try to get the airline to pay to repair your chair.

You will find that through my experiences I have a lot of good information and tips.

Have a nice day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 40.

2012-04-08T13:09:00.000-04:00

I hope you all are having a wonderful Easter weekend. I'm working this weekend because this upcoming week I'm going to be somewhat busy so I don't know how many blog additions I will get done this week. In today's entry, I'm going to talk about how our vacations have had to change somewhat over the years as I got older.

As you might think, when I was younger and smaller it was easier to go on vacation than when I got older. This is because we could just fold up my manual wheelchair and put it in the back of the vehicle and go. Also, if someone held me up under my arms I could walk a little. That means that if I wanted to get on an amusement ride or something on vacation, someone would just lift me on it. It's the same way with swimming. Someone could just get in with me and we would swim.

When I got older and heavier and I got my power chair, vacations became a little harder. We had to take our vehicle with the lift on it and it became harder to get me out of my chair. So whatever we did, I had to stay in my chair. I could not go swimming anymore unless the pool had the lift to help me get in and out of the water.

You would think that with the ADA (the Americans with Disabilities Act) that became law in the 80's, I could go anywhere I wanted on vacation and not have to worry about anything but unfortunately that is not true. I will explain what I mean in my next entry. Maybe the next time you go on vacation you will know some helpful things to do before you go.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Living with CP: the early years part 39.

2012-04-05T14:48:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. In this entry I'm going to write about how I started to learn so much about a computer.

One day when I was about 11 years old, my uncle Tom came over and he told my grandma “Brian should start working with a personal computer. If he learns how to use one, it will open up a lot of opportunities for him to be able to write, communicate and even play games to help him learn. If he learns how to use a computer, it will help him do many things and have more opportunities later.”

My uncle Tom knows computers inside and out. He can build them from the ground up. The first computer that be built for me was just basically for games so I could get use to the basic operation of a computer and get used to working with a trackball since I could not use a mouse due to a very limited range of motion.

The more I got used to things, he would show me more and more. Today, I can operate a computer with the best of them. I have been able to get special equipment and software over the years to help me operate a computer as quickly as possible, because it takes me a much longer time to type. I’ll write more about this in later entries.

When you are handicapped, your main support is your family. Many people assume you don't know anything because you are in a wheelchair.

In my next entry see how our family vacations have had to change somewhat as I got older over the years.

Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 38.

2012-04-03T16:06:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. Today, I'm going to talk about how hard it was to get me sitting right in my new chair.

I can not just sit in a chair and be ready to go, I have to have pads for support to help me sit up straight. Another problem people with Cerebral Palsy have is that their body shifts in a chair as the day goes on. It does not stay in one spot. That is what happened with me.

Steve from ATG Rehab would come over to the house and make some adjustments to my seating. He would get me looking pretty good and then about two hours after he left I would be falling over again. We could not figure out why.

One day Steve actually came over and stayed about five hours. He would make an adjustment to my chair and then he would watch my body and see how it moved over time. He even took pictures and sent them to doctor Kitts and they talked on the phone many times. She would tell him what to try next.

After about 6 months between everyone, they got me sitting the best I ever did. Sometimes it takes people working together to get everything just right. It also takes time. You can't just say “here it is” and be done with it.

In my next entry see how I got started working with computers. Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 37.

2012-04-02T21:45:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day. I'm going to talk about the first time I got a new wheelchair after my first appointment with doctor Kitts. Let's get started.

Anyone out there that has Medicare and Medicaid knows that it is difficult to get them to pay for certain things. What made my situation worse was that my five-year time period was not up on the chair I had. Doctor Kitts said the chair I had was too small for me, but we all knew we would have a hard time getting it.

Doctor Kitts always said that when you have Cerebral Palsy you have to sit right in your chair, so we had another battle on our hands.

ATG Rehab sent the paperwork in for the new chair to Medicare and Medicaid. They told us it would be about 6 weeks before we would hear something. That came and went and nobody heard anything. Each time Grandma would call ATG Rehab they said they had not heard anything either.

Finally, after about a year my new chair was approved and then it took another 6 weeks to get the chair. After I got the chair I had to have all kinds of pads to hold me up right.

In my next entry find out how we did this. Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 36.

2012-03-29T17:15:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. In today's entry I have a story about when I was going to Roth Middle School. We had another fight on our hands as we tried to get an aide in the classroom to see things our way yet again. Let's get started.

Let me start by saying that everyone that went to Roth was required to wear a uniform which consisted of a white shirt and navy blue pants. With my type of cerebral palsy I can not feed myself, so an aide had to feed me. One year that was a problem. One day we all went to lunch and I told the aide he had to feed me. He told me “you either eat it or wear it!”

After he saw I could not do it he started to feed me, but he gave me such big bites that it was falling out of my mouth and it got on my shirt and all over my face. That day we had spaghetti and meatballs and here I am with a white shirt on that was a total mess that I had to wear the rest of the day. How do you think I felt?

When I got home that day my grandma saw how I looked and I told her what happened. She was not happy at all. That very same day she called the school and setup a meeting with me, grandma, my teacher and the aide. In the beginning the aide could not understand why we were having the meeting, but when we started talking he knew what it was about. My grandma said “how would you feel if your kid came home with food all over them?” He said, “not very good.” After that, we did not have any more issues with him.

A lot of people think when you have cerebral palsy that you don't want to look your best. That is not true. That is why you have to speak up. Have a nice day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 35.

2012-03-27T18:04:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. I'm going to talk about the first time I took the proficiency test after my IEP (Individualized Education Program).

As I said in my last entry, when we had my meeting that day everyone thought we were crazy for wanting me to take that test except Bill Foreman. The bad thing was usually when you took that test, they put everyone in the library. With me having cerebral palsy, I could not write so I had to have someone write for me. That meant I had to talk to that person. The first day we started out in the library but after about 10 minutes we went back to the classroom because my aide could not hear me.

Since I have cerebral palsy I could have as long as I needed to take each part of the test. When you have cerebral palsy you think much better when you are in a room alone. So when we went back to the classroom, they decided to put all the kids in one room and me and the aide in the other taking the test.

There were five parts to the test that included reading, writing, math, science and english. Everyday for a week I took a different part and one of the teachers was not very happy because she could not do what she wanted on the days I was in her classroom taking the test because of how long it took me to take the test. But, she could not say anything.

The first time I took the test, I passed three of the five parts. When you have cerebral palsy do not let anyone tell you that you can not do something. I did pass all five parts.

Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 34.

2012-03-26T16:04:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. Today, I'm going to tell you a little more about Meadowdale Elementary and the other schools I went to. I also plan to tell you about one teacher that went to almost every school I went to. Let's get started.

Let me start by saying when you have Cerebral Palsy you really have to fight for everyone you want involved with your life, and if you are lucky you will find some people along the way that will help you on the right way to go. It seems like a lot of people think that when you have Cerebral Palsy you’re not very smart. There are different degrees of Cerebral Palsy. A lot of people that have Cerebral Palsy are just as smart if not smarter than others. I had one teacher that knew I was smart. His name was Bill Foreman.

I had Bill Foreman at Gorman, Roth Middle School and Meadowdale High School. When you are handicapped and you go to school, every student has what they call an IEP (Individualized Education Program) where the school meets with you and your parents and reviews the goals they have set for you. I have news for everyone. If you are not happy with one of the goals they have for you, you have every right to fight that or even have ask them to change it.

There is a proficiency test that everyone has to take before you can graduate high school. If you are handicapped, you don't have to take it. One time at my IEP meeting my grandma thought I was smart enough to take it so she wanted me to try to take it. Everyone thought we were crazy except Mr. Foreman and he kept winking at my grandma.

In my next entry see what happens next, have a great day.

Living with CP: the early years part 33.

2012-03-23T12:21:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. Today I'm going to talk about when I left Gorman school for the first time and went to a new school.

Keep in mind I went to Gorman school for the first seven years of my school life, so when that day finally came when I had to go to a new school how do you think I felt? Whenever I have a big change in my life I get nervous. It also takes me some time to adjust to everything.

The first day at Meadowdale Elementary school I was very nervous. I did not want to go at all because I did not know any teachers or kids. At my old school I knew how everything worked. When I got there that first day no one met me at the bus. When I went in the front door someone asked my name and then they took me to my homeroom.

This school was different because it was a normal school, but it had handicap classrooms. In each classrooms there was a teacher and an aide. They only had 2 handicap classes in the entire school. There were people with all kinds of disabilities and when we went to certain classes like music class, it was not specifically for handicapped students, but for everyone.

That was hard for me because the music teacher had a loud booming voice and he liked to yell when the kids did not listen. When I went to that class for the first time I lasted about 5 minutes because of my sensitive hearing and I had to leave because I started to cry. The teacher could not help it. That’s just how he was. Soon, I got used to everything by just taking one day at a time.

Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 32.

2012-03-22T13:59:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. Today, I'm going to write about when I started therapy at the former St. Elizabeth's Hospital.

As I mentioned, when you have Cerebral Palsy you need to keep your muscles lose on a regular basis so your body doesn’t get tight. Up to this point, I have not had any kind of therapy for about 10 years, so I knew that the first day of therapy would be challenging.

On that day when we got there, I had an occupational therapy and physical therapy evaluation. Sure enough, when I had the physical therapy evaluation the first thing they did was lay me on the mat to check my range and see how tight I was. When she started she could hardly move me because I was so tight. The therapist worked for about 45 minutes and near the end of the session I was moving much better. In the beginning of the session I was sweating and I wanted to cry. They just kept telling me to breathe. I was even getting sick in my stomach.

Every time after that I got better and better. My grandma and I did this for three years. I don't know if everyone with Cerebral Palsy has this problem or not, but because my muscles are so tight, my left leg pulls in and my left hip is 50% out of the socket. So I put something between my legs in my chair to keep my legs apart.

In my next entry we are going back to my school days and I will talk about when I finally left Gorman School and went to a new school for the first time. Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 31.

2012-03-20T12:58:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a great day today. Today, I'm going to talk about what happened after my appointment with doctor Ellen Kitts. Let's get started.

As I said in my last entry one of the first things doctor Kitts said at my appointment that day was that she wanted to try to get me a new wheelchair because the one I had at that time was too small. Doctor Kitts has always said that anyone with Cerebral Palsy has to have a chair that fits them correctly. She also doesn't believe in having operations unless it is absolutely necessary.

She also wanted me to start some occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy. Keep in mind I have not had anything like that in about 10 years. A problem people with Cerebral Palsy have is if they don't keep their muscles loose, body tone gets very tight. So when you do work out again to get everything loose, it will probably really hurt at first.

Grandma felt like is was more important for me to be able to sit up in my chair and work on my computer before I could do anything else. So, with me going to therapy three days a week, we knew I could not do that and go to school, too. That would be too much for me in one day, so my grandma decided to take me out of school three days a week and I went to school two days a week. I was able to get a home tutor.

Let me just say that when you have Cerebral Palsy, you have to keep working with yourself your entire life, because your body does get tight.

In my next entry I'll talk about starting therapy. Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 30.

2012-03-15T17:58:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a great day today. In this entry I'm going to tell you all about my first appointment with doctor Ellen Kitts. I'm also going to tell you about some of the events that followed that appointment. Let's get started.

Me again.

Prior to the appointment, we received a call as to what we were to bring with us. The lady on the phone said it might be three hours before we could see the doctor so we were ready for a long day.

Steve from ATG Rehab went with us that day because he wanted to hear what she had to say. We were sitting in the waiting area and we kept seeing this lady come out in the hall. She had white hair and she would just come out and walk down the hall and actually pick stuff up. So we thought she was the cleaning lady. After they called my name and the nurse did all that pre-check stuff, here came the doctor and it was that lady we had seen in the hall. I think my appointment was scheduled at 1 o'clock and I got in about 4. Does that tell you how booked she was?

Uncle Tom, Me and my Dad.

When she came in Grandma told her everything about me. She checked me and my chair out everywhere. We were there about three hours talking to her and the first thing she wanted to get me was some occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy. She wanted everyone to work together to try to get my trunk stronger so I could sit up better. Next, she wanted a new chair for me because she had determined that the one I had was too small for me.

In my next update, see where we go from here. Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 29,

2012-03-14T12:22:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a great afternoon today. In today's entry I'm going to tell you about two special people that have helped make sure of two important things, both when I was young and to this day. One being that I had the right wheelchair and the other being that I was sitting correctly in the chair. I will be jumping around a little as far as my timeline goes so bear with me. Lets get started.

Me.

You might be thinking I could just go out and buy any electric wheelchair and sit down in it, and I'm ready to go right? Wrong! Since I'm on Medicare and Medicaid, I'm only eligible for a new chair every five years. Not every wheelchair company works with Medicare and Medicaid. Before you can get a chair they have to approve everything before they will pay for it.

This is why I have used ATG Rehab all my life to get my chairs. When I was about 14 and a half, I moved in with my grandma and grandpa. At that time I was falling over in my chair and had saliva falling out of my mouth. My grandma knew we had to do something because I could not do anything. She spent about a week on the phone calling all around and we found a doctor that specialized in Cerebral Palsy. The problem with the doctor was that she only came to town once every three months for 2-3 days from Wheeling, WV. When my grandma called to make the appointment they said they were booked up for a year. My grandma started crying on the phone and the lady said come on in. This was at the former St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Dayton and the doctor's name is Ellen Kitts.

My grandma also knew that she would probably want some major adjustments on my chair and I had one guy down at ATG Rehab that did all the work on my chair named Steve. That day of the appointment he cleared his schedule so he could go with us to the doctor that day.

In my next entry I’ll let you know what happened when we got to see Dr. Kitts.

Living with CP: the early years part 28.

2012-03-11T21:00:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. I have to more stories about Gorman School. I also have a story about my first electric wheelchair, so let's get started.

A Power-Wheel Jeep.

During the last 3-4 years that I went to Gorman School, someone gave the school 3 of those big Power-Wheel vehicles that kids play in, two Jeeps and a fire truck. The 2 jeeps were normal for the kids that could use their hands and feet without any problem. The fire truck, on the other hand, was highly modified. When you got on it you could drive it with a joystick. I think the main reason the school got those was to help the kids with their reaction time and thought process, and of course for fun!

My next story also happened 2-3 years before I left that school. One year someone came in and said that they wanted to design and build a playground for handicapped people. I never saw anything like it before. It had paths all over it for wheelchairs, it even had huge swings you could get on with electric chairs. They would strap the chair down first and you could swing.

Even when I was young, I could not sit in a chair by myself without some sort of support. I get all my chairs at ATG Rehab in Dayton, Ohio because they make sure I'm sitting right. I have to have side supports on my chair so I do not fall over. The older I get the more difficult it gets because my body is always changing.

In my next entry I'm going to tell you about two special people that helped me keep up with those changes over the years and even to this day. Also, the extra work that one of them did to make sure everything was just right for me. Have a great day, everyone!

Living with CP: the early years part 27.

2012-03-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone. As I said previously, my mother and dad decided to take a family vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and my dad really wanted his mother and dad and brother to go with us for a vacation. Let me give you all a little background information on my dad's parents first. They lived in Cambridge, Ohio on the side of a hill in a old fishing shack. They still had an outhouse until the early 90's and they just were set in their ways. My dad's mother and father have since passed away.

The car we took.

My Uncle Danny lived with them. He was an Army veteran. He is one of those people that like to stay up all night and sleep half the day. A day before we left, the three of us drove to Cambridge to try to talk everyone into going. Grandma and grandpa said no but Danny said yes.

Uncle Danny, me, and m

My dad and Danny decided it would be better to drive at night, so the next night about 7PM we are off. Everyone thought I would go to sleep, because we drove 23 hours straight but I stayed up with everyone else. We stayed in a house on the beach for a week, the house was on stilts. We did everything in that town, it was a nice vacation.

Have a wonderful Friday everyone, I might have a entry Sunday if not I will Monday.


My Mom and Me.

Living with CP: the early years part 26.

2012-03-07T12:59:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I hope everyone is having a great day. The weather is great here today. I have a question for you. Do you think my grandma and grandpa took me on vacation that year even after I got that sunburn? You will find out in this entry. I'm also going to tell you about the time me and my family went on a vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. So let's get started.

A Bad Sunburn.

The previous night before I was scheduled to leave town with my grandma and grandpa on vacation, my mother called my grandma and told her what had happened that day with me getting sunburn. My grandma knew I would be upset if we canceled the vacation, so she told my mother we would go ahead and go. I could not even sleep because I hurt so bad. The next day came and I could not wear anything but a T-shirt. When my mother took me out to the car and my grandma saw what I was wearing, that is when they realized how bad I was. My grandpa even had a hard time putting me in the car.


Aloe Vera.

We went to Brown County State Park that year in Indiana and stayed at the Abe Martin Lodge, but before we left town we stopped at Meijers. Meijers is a one-stop department store. My grandma went in and got one of those big bottles of pure aloe vera gel, and before we even left the parking lot my grandma put that all over my body. The first two days of that vacation we did not do anything but watch movies in the room. After that, I was at least able to go do some stuff and it ended up being another nice vacation.

My upcoming story also happened when I was about 11 years old my family decided to go to the Outer Banks of NC. Have a great day everyone.

Brown County State Park Sign.

Living with CP: the early years part 25.

2012-03-06T13:38:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. Before I get started on today's entry I want to tell everyone why I did not have an entry last Friday. We had some threatening weather as all of those tornados passed through the Midwest and my grandma did not feel comfortable staying here so we spent the day at a local shopping center where we thought it might be safer for us since we don’t have a basement.

Good Samaritan Hospital. Dayton, Ohio.

Today, I have two stories for everyone today, and for the first one we have to go back when I was born. Back then, my uncle owned a boat on Lake Erie and my grandma and grandpa were vacationing on his boat. When they were gone, my mother went into early labor and they were up on the boat with no phone. Someone from the place the boat was docked at was called and he was able to go to the boat to tell them that my mother was in labor. Lake Erie is about 3 hours from here. My grandma and grandpa drove as fast as they could that night to get home.

My mother was not living with my father at this time, and she did not have enough time to let him know that she was in labor. Instead, she called my Uncle Tom who lived next door and he took her to the hospital and he had to act like he was her husband in order for him to go in with her but the hospital finally caught on.

A Pool.

My next story happened when I was about 11 years old. Every year my grandma and grandpa took me on a vacation somewhere. It was that time of year again but this time it would be a little different. The day before we left, I went swimming with my mother and my grandpa's brother and spent all day in the pool. As you might have guessed, I got sunburned. That night my mother put lotion all over my body. I could not stand anything touching my body at all!

In my next entry you will find out what happened next. Have a great day, everyone!

A Bad Sunburn.

Living with CP: the early years part 24.

2012-02-29T16:07:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. I don't know about the weather everywhere else today but it's going to be about 68 degrees here. Down south last night they had some bad weather so please pray for everyone. Let's get started with today's entry.

A power wheelchair.

In today's entry I'm going to talk about one year when we had the Christmas play at school. I'm also going to tell you a story about when the school talked my mother into letting me try an electric wheelchair. In the beginning the occupational therapist (OT) and physical therapist (PT) at school just wanted me to use it at school and not take it home so I could get use to everything. From the very first day I sat in that chair, I did not have any problem maneuvering that chair. I did not hit anyone or anything and they could not believe it. After that, they let me take the chair home and try it there for a week. It was no problem for me at home either. Soon thereafter, they helped me get an electric chair of my own so there was no more having to push me everywhere.

A Christmas Play.

Every year at school we would put on a Christmas play and we would have all the parents and grandparents come. Every grade would do something different. The week before, every grade would practice in music class. All that week, everything went great and then the night of the play came. Everyone in my grade had to wear Santa hats, so my grade got on stage and everything started. My hat was too big for my head so it started to go over my eyes and I could not see. Since I have mobility limitations, I could not fix it myself so I started crying. They had to stop everything and get me fixed up again. After that everything went great!

I really do hope this blog is helping someone out there. I'm trying not to forget anything so see what happens next. Have a great day.

Living with CP: the early years part 23.

2012-02-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today, and had a great weekend. I went to a Dayton Gems hockey game this weekend with some of my friends.

A Dayton Police Car.

I'm going to talk about some of the very special events they would plan for us at Gorman School, like Career Day and Breakfast With Santa downtown every year. When we had Career Day, we would have Children's Medical Center, the Dayton Fire Department along with the EMS and the Dayton Police Department. They would actually bring all their vehicles and have the kids sit in them. They even had companies come in and give the boys haircuts, and also do the ladies' nails. It would last all day and everyone looked forward to that every year and having a day away from school work.

Breakfast with Santa.

Also every year, usually in December before Christmas break, they would close down the whole school for a day. They would get about 10 school buses and everyone would load up and head downtown for Breakfast with Santa. Sometimes some of the parents would come to school and ride with us on the buses. Everyone received one gift from Santa.

The school did these special events because most of the kids would never get to experience those things. The school tried to get everyone to experience real-life things. Have a great day!

Living with CP: the early years part 22.

2012-02-24T16:18:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. It's really windy here today and it's getting colder, too. I can't wait until spring.

The Dukes Of Hazard,

When I came home from the hospital after my surgery, my family had a hospital bed waiting for me right in the middle of the living room. I used to love The Dukes Of Hazard television show and I watched it everyday when I was little. When I was in the hospital my grandma told me that she wrote the television show a letter, explaining I just had an operation and what a big fan I was of the show. Then that day when I got home from the hospital, my grandma told me I received a letter from The Dukes Of Hazard television show. It thanked me for watching everyday and they hoped I got better soon. Here's the kicker. Grandma told me that Bo and Luke from the show brought the letter to the house in the General Lee car. I found out many years later that was not true and my grandma had written the letter!

In my next entry we will get back into some stories about my great school. I just remember so much and don't want to miss anything. Have a great day, everyone,

Living with CP: the early years part 21.

2012-02-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. Where I live, we have not really had a winter season this year and I'm loving it! Now let's get started on today's entry.

What I looked like.

When I was in Children's Medical Center for about a week after a operation, I had to lay flat on my back with my legs wide open in a full body cast. That was difficult for everyone, because if I wanted to turn over there was a bar between my legs and 3-4 other people had to hold other parts of my body and flip me like a pancake.

So I wouldn’t get bored laying there and not able to move, my dad went out and bought me two remote control cars. One was a Corvette and the other was a school bus. Everyone knows how short the cords are that come on them. My dad took those home and took the cord off and put a new 40-foot cord on both of them. After that I could go where ever I wanted with them.

After a week, it was time to come home where I would spend another 4-6 weeks in the cast. They had to figure out how to get me home because I was still laying flat on my back. They got a friend's van and unfolded the back seat so it was flat, and home I went.

In my next entry find out what happened after I got home and hear more about my great school. Have a great day everyone.

Living with CP: the early years part 20.

2012-02-21T12:38:00.000-05:00

Wheelchair Basketball.

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. I had to referee one of my group’s wheelchair basketball games. I’ll write more about this group in later entries. Now let's get started with today's entry.

Once my mother was able to get me on the school bus that day after I stopped crying and I got to school, it ended up being one of the best days of my early life. When we all got to school, there were people that came out to help everyone get off the buses and go inside the school. Let me give everyone a little background information first.

Gorman School. Dayton, Ohio.

As I previously said this was a special school just for handicapped kids. We had kids in manual wheelchairs like me at the time, walkers, electric wheelchairs, and kids that had to wear a helmet in case they fell. Because of all this, every classroom had an aide to help the kids and the teachers. We even had people that would help with personal needs like eating or even restroom help if needed

What I looked like.

I have one last story today. This is back when I was about 8 years. My mother along with the doctors at Children's Medical Center had decided to do an operation on me to stretch my heal-cords and hamstrings. When I was young this was a routine operation with kids with Cerebral Palsy. If I remember correctly, I was in the hospital about a week. I was in a full cast up to my waist for 4-6 weeks.

In my next entry, I’ll have more stories about school and I’ll tell you what happened when I came home from the hospital after surgery. Have a great day, everyone!