Tag Archives: spinal cord injury

Hawaii – Blast on the Big Island

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As colder weather invades the northern hemisphere, I’m drawn to thoughts of balmy beaches and caramel colored sunsets like the ones we relished on the Big Island of Hawaii a few years ago. Year-round the temperatures range from the 60’s at night to the 80’s during the day. Climate perfection! My disability and wheelchair are obstacles in travel situations, but thankfully with focused effort, they can usually be overcome. We’ve trekked across the Pacific several times for both business and pleasure. We were blessed with great situations that made the Hawaiian paradise an affordable excursion each time.

Transportation is an extra challenge with a heavy non-collapsible power wheelchair. When our plane arrives at most destinations, we wait for the chair to be brought to the gate, or I get off the plane and use an over-sized airline wheelchair while we wait for airport staffers to bring my chair. The airline’s ‘manual’ wheelchairs make my small frame feel like a floppy Raggedy Ann doll. Thankfully, I didn’t need to use the airline’s chair when we arrived in Kona. Other passengers disembarked via the stairs while I anxiously waited for a makeshift jet-way/lift-truck that raised my chair to the plane and lowered me to the tarmac. It was the first time I’d felt like merchandise in Home Depot. See the Orange and White on the lift-truck? Home Depot colors, too!

Our next challenge was a short wheelchair accessible ride to our condo on the Kohalo Coast. We splurged for the ramped van rental during our stay to make sight-seeing more convenient.

Pre-planning and research is definitely a must. There are merely a few rent-able wheelchair vans on the island!

We settled into the fully equipped timeshare unit that Brent’s sister and brother-in-law let us use…did I say blessed? Beaches are fabulous for relaxing, but we needed adventure.

We booked a wheelchair accessible snorkeling tour out of Kona. The boat had a ramp for my chair and extra men to help lift me in and out of the water for snorkeling.

I made a superb cart for snorkels, masks and fins, too.  And in case you are wondering, no…I don’t use fins, and Brent shouldn’t need any with his size 15 feet!

The snorkeling excursion was a little choppy, but I managed not to suck water in through my snorkel and afterwards we enjoyed the cruise back to Kona together.


When we took a gander above us, we only saw the feet of fellow snorkelers on the upper deck. Darn. It was not accessible!

We employed a not so accessible mode of transportation in a helicopter.

Only the brute force of several men could get me in the ‘Madge-sized’ seat!  ‘Blue Hawaiian Helicopter’ staff were exceptionally helpful and accommodating.

On our two hour tour we got a bird’s eye view of the lava fields. They were accessible by helicopter, but too dangerous for walking or four wheeling!

Hot lava flowing into the sea.

We headed up the coast toward the fertile Waipio Valley. Note the other helicopter in the distance for perspective of the valley’s enormity.

We marveled at the stunning waterfalls.

Hawaii is truly a paradise. Winter is a lovely time of year to visit not only for the perfect climate, but also for the peak whale watching. Whether you are walking or wheeling, Hawaii is a destination for a bucket list.

Waiting for warm weather,
Madge

 

I Love You Siri – Even with Your Problems

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Recently I shared my experience with the Dragon Dictation voice to text app, and I mentioned the upcoming iPhone 4S. Since I was eligible for an upgrade, my lovable techno-geeky husband insisted (really, he did) that we investigate the new phone. He’s so generous to give me the upgraded phone and inherit my older model. He’s just that kind of guy.

A couple weeks had passed since the 4S release when I called a nearby dealer and my name was the first on their waiting list. Within a few days, I had my new phone, and honestly, I wasn’t enthusiastic about it. I thought my iPhone 4 was just fine. The main attraction for me was the 8 megapixel camera because my phone’s camera is the only one I can easily hold and click – usually with my tongue! The 4S camera is much better than the iPhone 4’s.

Now that I have the 4S, I wouldn’t want to be without it! Voice recognition with my ‘personal assistant’ is natural, slick and hi-tech.

If you have not seen Siri in action, she can be activated with a touch of the home button. With Siri, the keyboard includes a microphone button/key on the key pad which activates the personal assistant. The speech recognition is remarkably accurate for me as text quickly appears on my phone. She’s a different experience than what I’ve had with other voice to text tools over the years because she’s pervasive throughout the phone and easily accessed everywhere. What a time-saver! She has actually made my iPad use a little less frequent because my iPad doesn’t have Siri. At least not yet. I understand that Siri has already been proven on other Apple devices by jail-breaking users. Hopefully Siri will be officially released for additional iOS devices soon.

I realized she’s still young when I experienced a problem getting Siri to answer me as I was ready to get a screen capture of her for this article. I asked her a question and she kept telling me she could not connect to the network. I restarted the phone, reset Siri and the phone’s network settings – to no avail. It turned out Apple had a Siri outage. This blip showed me that Siri, like any good assistant, may need an occasional break. I forgave her and trust that she’ll become more reliable.

My minor inconvenience does not put a damper on my opinion of Siri. I can’t believe how easy it is to work with her. She also has a delightful sense of humor. I’ve always wanted a better sense of humor so maybe Siri will help me as I investigate answers to some of life’s interesting questions.

Siri, how old are you? -I am not allowed to answer that question.

Open the pod bay doors. –That’s it. I’m reporting you to the Intelligent Agents’ Union for harassment.

Open the pod bay doors. -I’m sorry, Madge. I’m afraid I can’t do that, are you happy now?

Am I old? -I would prefer not to say.

Siri, you are nice. –Oh, go on.

Do you like me? –I really have no opinion.

Siri, do you know Jesus? -I suppose its possible.

Siri, I love you. –You can’t.

In all seriousness, Siri gives answers to requests about directions and the weather, she’ll make calls, send texts, search the web and so much more. This is ‘beta’ Siri? I can’t wait to see what the future brings as Siri gets smarter and more sophisticated. Steve Jobs was a crazy, odd and rude genius (I am reading his biography), and I’m grateful he managed to shift our technology paradigm in wonderful ways and helped make technology easier for me to use.

….Let me see, what shall I do now? I’ll ask Siri.

Siri, what should I do now? ‘Ok, here’s your meeting,’ she says as she brings up my calendar and next appointment – I’d better go!

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A New Normal

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Sometimes life’s circumstances call us to adjust to a ‘new normal’.  A baby, a career change, the loss of a loved one, chronic illness or disability, marriage or divorce – they are all life changes.  Changes in our ‘normal’ call for adjustment, and oddly enough, even the ‘good’ or ‘minor’ changes can require grieving, healing and ‘overt’ attention.

Recently, I felt a tug…a calling to step down as leader of a group I’ve been committed to for over six years.  I love my study group and this change brought a sense of sadness.

A grief.

A letting go.

A desire to take back.

A desire not to adjust to God’s current plan.

As I prayed and pondered this rather minor (in the grand scheme of life) situation, I was reminded of adjustments during the first couple of years after my accident and spinal cord injury.  When I interacted with people, I felt the need to share and explain that I used to be ‘normal’. Now, that statement is pretty funny since everyone has their own ‘normal’ and no two ‘normals’ are identical.  We all face challenges whether visible or invisible. I’d explain to people that I wasn’t always in a wheelchair, so they should continue to treat me the same as before my injury and by all means ‘see’ me as an ‘able’ person. No pity please!  It took time for me to adjust to the new normal. Disability education and advocacy were additions to my life and so was an awareness for people with varied challenges. My 18 years of living had not prepared me for this new journey. Nevertheless, through some rough times, including victories and defeats, I learned to let go, adjust some former dreams, and develop new dreams.

New normals.  A small grief now occurs as I let go of a piece of ‘normal’ with my precious group.  Oddly, grief knocks in a wide array of circumstances.  Time softens and heals as we adjust to the ‘different’.  But what do we do during the times of adjustment?  It seems the only constant that we face is change – and we have the important choice of gratitude or ‘bad-i-tude’ even during difficulties.

The book of Exodus describes the Israelites’ journey out of slavery in Egypt toward a land flowing with milk and honey. They wandered in a desert that became their normal for forty years before they finally entered their promised land.  They whined and complained about their situation all along the journey of change even though there was provision for every need they had. Their bad attitudes and actions were contagious. They sound a little like me when I have a bad attitude.  Our attitudes and actions during journeys of grief determine the living conditions for more than just ourselves in the desert.  When we faithfully embrace His provision in the scorching sand of our desert, He can cultivate the soil of our hearts and new dreams can take root.  Our appropriate attitudes prepare us to help others along their journeys and I’m convinced that we will be surprised as we impact lives in amazing and unexpected ways.

Lord, help us say goodbye to the ‘old’ even if it is pretty good.  Help us make room for the ‘new’ you have for our benefit and for the benefit of others – even when it’s hard to let go. 

How to adjust to new normal with life change....

 

I always pray with joy…..being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:4b,6

Oops! I Cut My Toe

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One of the best and worst things about my paralysis is that I cannot feel pain below my injury level the same way most people do.  Pain may not hit in time to prevent injury and when it does hit, it may not be obvious where and why I am uncomfortable. Strange, I know! This phenomena opens up possibilities for secondary injuries like burns, abrasions, pressure sores and other unwanted pesky and ugly, sometimes scarring events.

A recent clash with unknown pain came one night last summer when I was washing my face. I finished my face and brushed my teeth and was ready for help with the final bedtime routine.

As I backed away from the counter and looked down at the stone tiles, I saw a pool of blood. Alarming?  Yes, alarming, because I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.  In a panic, I called for my sweet hubby and we discovered it was my toe bleeding. Oh my, I had banged it against against the cabinet.  I usually don’t take my shoes off until the last minute, but for some reason this night I did. **Note to self – don’t take shoes off before finishing your face.

Anyway, we called our nurse practitioner neighbor, aka neighborhood 911, and she took no time to ascertain that we needed to go to the emergency room for stitches immediately.  I wanted to wait until the morning… So we went to the ER.

As an aside and perhaps the only value in this post: We have several good hospitals within 30 minutes of us, and because this was a minor injury we didn’t care which hospital we chose.  We wanted to get it done and get home.  As we pulled out of the driveway I called the ER  where we were headed and they reported ‘at least a three hour wait’.  I called another hospital’s ER and they said they had one person waiting but could not predict if someone else would come.  We changed directions and headed to that hospital where we were taken care of ‘right away’.

‘Right  away’, of course, still includes the obligatory half hour here and half hour there while the medical staff helps others and work on increasing your bill.

 

 

 

 

 

Brent tolerated the wait well with his iPad in ‘toe’.  Hope you don’t have a weak stomach for blood….Four stitches later we headed home.

…and the next morning Tahoe helped the healing along with kisses. The kisses made the boo boo all better.

Madge