As
Turns
Sheila and I are
celebrating another year of a very successful wedding anniversary. It is quite
unseasonably warm, on this September 28 anniversary day as we prepare our
entrance to a restaurant. This time I opened a car door for my wife, so we can
go eat and dine. We find a parking spot to let ourselves out eventually, joining
hands, we walk in the restaurant I picked to take advantage in a well worth
celebration day.
Our unconditional love is celebrated in a different perspective.
It is quite unseasonably warm, on this September 28 anniversary day as we prepare our entrance to a restaurant. The front door, of our home opens as I exit to our van because there is a button mounted on the tray of my specially equipped wheelchair. My wife straps me in our van, and drives me to one of the very few restaurants roomy enough to fit my chair. We hope to park the van at one of those reserved parking spots for the handicapped. I can feel the eyes upon us as we work our way into the restaurant in hopes some one offers to hold an extra door open.
It was around 7 1/2 years later and the marriage finally ended. I am still to this day disappointed how it ended but I'm still breathing the same air your enjoying.
Friday, March 05, 1999, was a day I went to school with a different morning bus driver (name unknown). Unloading me at the ramp provided for wheelchairs, with the ramp having a 90-degree turn on the way up, the driver asks me if I can make it up. I knew he was not going to here my voice so I nodded my head to signal yes. In a rush, he hopped in the bus and drove off leaving me stranded alone with me, myself, and I. I did not mind, but being very bone chilling cold out and no one around to open doors, with class being on the third floor of this building, so Thank God the doors were open because I made it to class on time.
This is an example to help you understand things that happen, because I do not verbalize quickly enough. Knowing I had to go to the third floor and open doors, I would of shook my head no. Because he addressed and detailed his question to me wrong, and I could not verbalize quickly "what do you mean"; I signaled wrong and almost suffered because of that misunderstanding.
When I am not out gallivanting, I sit at the computer and write. If I am not writing, there is e-mail to do or I read up on other Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) victims. This new established foundation I built enabled me to continue on The Stroke Network stroke survivor and their caregiver online support service to finish a never-ending job. During relaxation time I warm up to a good Clint Eastwood movie or if nothing good is showing The History channel keeps my world busy. It is the sounds of easy listening jazz, or I go country to make my writing much more enjoyable. The Internet keeps me updated on my interests, like fishing.
The laptop ale's me so I can type up ahead of time the symptoms of illness to a physician. The computers will reads back articles to me because I use the Read and Write program. The stroke left my eyes not able to follow words in a sentence. I can make out headings in a newspaper or an internet article, but the information under that title the Read and Write program reads out loud to me also when you e-mail me, I simply highlight the article of interest and it reads back to me. When writing is applied, my right arm is just good enough to type on a regular keyboard. My right arm has just enough required motion to type with my index finger also operates to work a Glide Point mouse with a big red arrow to focus on. My laptop computer runs the programs Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power point, Microsoft Photo Editor, Microsoft Front Page (HTML), Microsoft Publisher, and Windows Media Player which are among the several software's I learned to keep myself entertained and finance my monthly income. Now that I live alone in the house I remodeled and grew up in, my laptop not only communicates for me but runs all the necessary task in running a house like on-line banking.
Authors note- I am required to have 24 hour care, this means none of my accomplishments would of happen if it wasn't for the caregiver. They are responsible for getting me up every morning, making sure the food They drive me to get is properly prepared (same thing for my dog) and making sure I have clean cloths to wear. Also, doing my household chores inside and outside like dusting and lawn care.
Being a quadriplegic who does not talk, computers became a necessity. Today there are people who are afraid of a computer. I was like that until I found out it is easier than turning on a TV with a remote. I can say this because a computer had to be part and a way of life for me. It was very easy for me to understand the basics, just amuse it and do what it asks. I thank God everyday I live a life by a computer, and we live in a world full of electronic technology.