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4-11-09 A very relaxing day |
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Posted April 11, 2009 at 10:42 pm
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| Sometimes a person just needs to say, to heck with everything and just go where the Day takes you. Today was one of those days, I got up and checked my e-mail and looked out the window at a beautiful sunny day. I had lunch outside at the corner of 119th St. and Backbob Road. I saw so many people enjoying the day. That's when I decided, "I need to go somewhere relaxing." For some reason the city, downtown Kansas City usually is always relaxing to me. There is a park that overlooks the downtown airport. It is called the Lewis and Clark scenic overlook. I probably spent two hours or more looking around and just enjoying the weather. There are so many people that are unable to enjoy a day like today, going wherever they want. That's one reason why I'm selling my Camaro. The other is if I don't I won't be able to enjoy a day like today either, because I would be stuck in a nursing home somewhere with stupid rules and laws that prohibit it. The state does pay for some of my care that keeps me at home, but there's just one very large snag in their system. The state only pays enough to employ someone from eight o'clock in the morning to midnight. Do you see where I'm going with this? For someone like myself with a very busy schedule when I'm awake, a lot of my cares, have to be done at night, so I need someone at night that it is very trustworthy and reliable to be awake and hopefully doing their job every single night. Some of the things include range of motion for at least one hour twice a night. Then, skin checks, bed Bath, wound care that alone sometimes can take one person an hour or more on a good night. Sometimes the tape doesn't want to cooperate at all. I also have to be turned from side to side to keep fluid from building up in my lungs, that leads to a lot of suctioning. Then, making sure my bed bag does not over flow, also monitoring my temperature, because I can overheat or get very cold quickly, both can be life-threatening. One other very important body function that caused me to be hospitalized twice and a blood transfusion the second time. Your bowels have to empty somehow. Mine used to be the normal and most common way, with one difference, it had to be manually stimulated with a human finger. After 20 years of manipulation to that area the inner lining became very thin. Once that happens it can tear or be punctured very easily and in my case the second time it happened there wasn't any warning, because I will still in my chair from the prior 12 hours or more that day. My personal care attendant and I didn't notice or even realize that I was sitting in a pool of blood until I was going to bed. At that point all we could do was pray and call the ambulance. That night at 1 AM is when the emergency room started giving me IV fluid, including blood. That's twice in just a little over 2 1/2 months that I quite possibly could have bled to death. I couldn't let this happen anymore. I thought to myself, "I still have to much to do in my life", so that's when I decided a colostomy and small pouch to catch the fecal matter was a no-brainer to keep this situation from happening anymore. Now a little more about the attendance pay, from midnight to 8 AM the state only pays $25. It goes without saying, to have trustworthy and competent people that are not medical professionals, "I personally trained each one of them to take care of me." to perform the medical tasks that I have mentioned, money is basically what keeps me alive. I hope this scenario wasn't too graphic, but enough to grasp what I and many, many others go through on a day to day basis, with the hopes of being able to enjoy such a day. If have any questions or need more information about anything I mentioned, please ask. That's what I'm here for. I hope you all have a happy Easter. Rick |
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