This is a surprisingly (or not, depending on your perspective, I guess) common thing to hear in the life of an active wheelchair-user. It underlines the ignorance and, at times, sheer stupidity that we’re up against when seeking things that most people take for granted.
Yes, there’s a staircase. And our doors are pretty narrow. How wide is your wheel chair again? Oh… no, not good. And of course our bathroom stall is pretty small. No, we don’t have any disabled parking spots near our building, we’re in a shopping center after all.
I can only imagine the stupidity/ignorance you have to put up with… it must be heartbreaking at times.
I have a question about Push Girls. When I clicked on that link and saw the picture of the women, I was very surprised at how thin their upper body was. I thought that people who use manual wheelchairs tend to have impressive muscle development in their shoulders and arms. Am I wrong?
I imagine it’s because women don’t develop big obvious muscles the way men do, unless they go to some extreme in bodybuilding and/or steroid use.
umkay, hopefully you’re still reading this thread. Much as I would like to help you with other items on this list, I’ll stick to the triathlon. I’m just throwing this out there, since it made it so high on your list.
There was a moving video making the rounds amongst us triathletes and runners about a father whose son had cerebral palsy in a form that prevented him from using his limbs for much. The son wanted to do a marathon, so the dad pushed him in a special cart through a marathon. The son had a blast, so he and dad did many marathons, and even a few triathlons. No, I don’t remember how the swim worked; IIRC, they built a special boat.
If that is something that would appeal, I would think you could find volunteers easily enough. Your brother going through a nasty divorce might appreciate a chance to workout till he drops. Even if not, I’m sure I could find one, or perhaps a relay of three. (I’d volunteer myself, but I’m not sure how sweet, petite, blonde Mrs. Slow would react to me racing with young, adventurous, sweet, petite, blonde you about. She knows my weaknesses.)
Um…umkay? I hope you’re umkay, umkay?
She can’t have gone far.
… at least not on foot…
(duck & run)
Probably out on a date. Or jumping out of an airplane. Or jumping out of an airplane with her date.
Or jumping her date?
Regardless - she’s young, she has disposable income, and she’s a busy gal. I’m not going to worry if she doesn’t show up here for a few days.
(a month, that might have me worried…)
She’s been logging on everyday-just not posting anything.
I think a recent post may have turned her off to continuing to participate in the thread though I hope I am wrong.
I agree with your suspicion.
If so, that is regrettable, especially with the moderator smack-down of the culprit, but it is, of course, her choice.
It’s also possible she’s dealt with some PM issues. Just a guess.
All: I’m here! Sorry I’ve been MIA. I wasn’t hiding; I was just having the shttiest week of my life, medically-speaking (okay, second-shttiest…).
Saturday night I woke up in a panic, totally hyperreflexic. When an hour of trying to figure out what the f*ck my body was so pissed about turned up no clues, and my blood pressure made a valiant attempt to break the stratosphere, my PCA called an ambulance. I spent the night in the hospital, and went home the next day, only to get crushed by another unexplained wave of AD later that afternoon. So I spent Sunday and Monday night in the hospital, too. But again, after testing me for everything from kidney stones to bladder cancer–no diagnosis. I went home Tuesday and guess what happened? Yup, back to the flipping ER around dinnertime, for another go-round. They discharged me today, but everything is still a little touch-and-go.
I’m in the big house (that is, my parents’ house; not prison) until I’m more stable, since we’ve now handily discovered that my little house on the back of the property is a lot less accessible to an ambulance than theirs (on the street) is. Also, the more eyes and ears on me at this point, the better.
I didn’t have my computer with me in the hospital, but since apparently Ambivalid has been watching my comings and goings like he’s my 5th big brother, you all already know I’ve been reading the thread. 
My dad clamped the phone holder I use on my chair to my hospital bed so I could at least check work and personal emails while I was laid-up. But accessing an iPhone with a mouthstick while in a bed is incredibly difficult; reading is annoying enough, but typing anything is just entirely out of the question. So I’ve been incommunicado here, in my personal life, and at work. It’s been incredibly frustrating.
But anyway, I’m back now (and let’s hope it stays that way). I’ll try to get to the questions as quickly as I can, but it may take a few days to work through the backlog.
I totally understood what you were saying and was not offended. I just didn’t have any idea how I could implement that without being a total weird-o. 
Um, yeeeaaah. More like a split second click to your profile out of simple curiousity. We’re message board friends, remember? Sorry you’ve had such a shitty time though.
Having just been through AD Hell Week, I can tell you that constipation is a major danger. The most common cause of AD is an overfull bladder, but second to that is something, um, “off” with the bowels. So when you are a quad and you have 3 days of major, unexplained AD, you get to be the recipient of all sorts of super-fun procedures that, though you can’t feel them and that’s a small mercy, are exquisitely embarrassing and invasive. :rolleyes: :mad: