Ask Me!

Okay, so this is a different sort of post (and hopefully I'm not opening myself up for too much drama). This post is about having you guys ask me stuff. And when I don't have a video or story I will answer a few. You can ask me anything...and I mean anything. From what I like to do to how I drive my chair to whatever. I am not shy at all but if there's a question that makes me uncomfortable (highly unlikely) I just won't answer. So ask away.

P.S. If you don't want to post your question, you can email me at thirty2flavors01@gmail.com

"It"

So, me and my aide were at the park with one of my dog-walking clients. This lady and her dog come in (we are the only people there) and naturally we start chatting because her dog and my client are playing. She directs all of her conversation to my aide, who says "EVA'S a dog walker and SHE sometimes comes here" etc. Even after this, the woman still referred to me as a boy (to my aide not to me). No big deal. This happens all the time. But then when my aide corrected her on my pronoun, the woman replied (to my aide) "Ohhh, is that what IT is!" My aide looked at me like "oh god, we should have brought the camera." We left shortly after but not before the woman shouted "BYE SWEETIE EVA!!!!!" at me. Some people.

Hey you moved your cart!

So this is another story of people who get it right. Watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzUFOl2v7Ok

Obviously this is not huge but it was necessary for me to pass. She make no silly remarks about how I drive my chair or about how wonderful it was that I was out in public. She just treated me like anyone else trying to get by. She also noticed me very quickly unlike those girls from the coffee shop.

She didn't make a huge scene of it either. Too bad she's in the minority.

No I don't want to look at your *&%#^&* leaf.

Ok, here's a short one. So I was walking one of my dog walking clients (a kind of intimidating looking pit bull) and this woman yells out to me. This is someone I have never seen before on my walks through the area. I come closer thinking maybe she had some important information for me. But instead she exclaimed, "Look! I have a red leaf for you! Do you want to see it?" I just continued walking. My aide said with blatant sarcasm, "Oh great. That is wonderful." Oh boy. I just thought you'd enjoy what she said. Next time that happens I want to reverse roles and have my aide talk to her like she's 5. "Oh, great job on your leaf finding! You must be sooooo proud!"

"She drives her chair very well!"

I was interested in using the therapy pool at a nearby YMCA. On the phone they suggested that I should come in and have a tour with one of the specialists. I did just that. The specialist was a cheerful middle-aged woman who had one too many cups of coffee that morning. As usual, my aide did a two sentence explanation which goes something like, "She's got CP so she can't talk, but she can hear and knows what you're saying. I can decipher what she wants to say too so I'll speak for her but you can talk directly to her," etc. This sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. This was a case where it doesn't. So we three left for the tour and the woman kept commenting on how well I drove "just like a race car driver!" I looked at her like "thanks......". I wanted to talk to her about the logistics of going to the bathroom/changing/etc if I had male aide with me (I don't discriminate against gender when I hire). She acted pretty shocked that I would let a man see me naked. Although she talked to me, she directed all the important information to my aide even after my aide explained that I am a college graduate. Throughout the visit she was a little touchy feely, but right before I left I got the full experience. She grabbed me and hugged me and patted my head and was saying things like "It was sooo great to meet you!! You come back soon!" which looks nice on paper but sounded reaaally condescending at the time.

Oh YMCA, you are supposed to be cool about this stuff. Like everyone, she meant well but damn, it was annoying.

I'm baaack

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay but I was having health issues (I'm fine now though). But I did get some good stuff when I went to the emergency room which I plan to tell you about now (too bad I was so out of it or I would have video taped).

The first lovely thing was when the nurse tried to put an IV in my arm. She was very nice but didn't believe my mom that an IV in my arm was a bad idea (I tend to flex my arms and ball them up). She did manage to get it in and tape it down but as soon as she left it stopped working because I kinked it. She tried again and the same results. Its not like she was trying to torture me, but she didn't listen! Eventually she conceded to putting it into the back of my hand which worked well. Then I had to have an ultrasound. The technician came in and had a big badge with "Student" written on it. My mom and I looked at each other like "greeeat". So my mom played up my CP and said because of it, I'm really difficult to give an ultrasound (this is a slight exaggeration). But it did the trick so I had the senior technician. Meanwhile the student accidentally pulled my IV out. Then she was sitting unfortunately close to me when my body decided to barf all over her general direction. So that was lovely. The ER doctor was surprisingly cool. He talked to me directly and waited for me to respond. Too bad the other people weren't as cool.

I always interview doctors before I make an appointment to make sure that they communicate with me directly and not just to my parents/aides. Obviously in emergencies I can't interview the doctors. My general practitioner is great. She talks directly to me and allows me to email with her and doesn't defer to my parents. I have rolled out of some doctor interviews because they treated me like an infant. I can't stand that. But considering this was an ER visit, it went slightly better than expected.