Archive for June, 2010

Dealing with the Pain Issues

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Well, I’m on my way to dealing with the pain issues. I’ve been given a test injection of cordozone in my right shoulder and left knee. They worked for about 6 hours (they were supposed to work that long), and I am suddenly pain free, as I mentioned before.

It’s just such a shock to a body that is in constant pain… not high level pain, but constant pain, none-the-less.
My shoulder is much more noticeable to me… maybe because I haven’t been walking on it, for the past 10 years. The have the pain just GONE within 30 minutes of having an injection.

Today’s doctors are a lot more likely to work with patients who experience pain, and not tell the patient that the pain is all in their head.

One of the things that I am having problems with is that I am having trouble sleeping… I spent all of last night up on the computer, because of the pain of my shoulder. I am tired, but I don’t see me getting any sleep until I can slep a pain patch on, and I can’t really do that until after the radiology appointment, which is later today.


And that’s another thing… I need to get an ultrasound of my bowel, (that’s being done) and an MRI of my abdomen, but that’s not being done because of the intrathecal drug pump… however, I still have to drink a ton of water, and have a full bladder. Sometimes, having a disability really sucks.

Posted in Disability, Disability Issues, General, Personal, Real Life | 116 Comments »

Things…

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

Yeah, I know… a real descriptive title… well, it’s 9:45pm Pacific Time and I haven’t had an entry here in nearly a week. I’ve been meaning to but I kept forgetting. I know, I know, I need to train myself to write in my blog every day… and I’m trying. I should write up my quick update on Facebook, and then come over to DanaWheels.org and flesh it out, or write whatever is on my mind. It’s not like I don’t spend a lot of time on the computer, ’cause I do.

Lots of things happening (which isn’t surprising since I wrote this little bit around the 6th of June. I ordered a Microsoft Natural Keyboard at the beginning of June and it arrived today. So now I can actually use my desktop machine. It did have a keyboard, a Microsoft Natural, but I spilled some cheeze sauce on it, and in cleaning it, I popped off some keycaps and they went flying, and I couldn’t find them. Before you ask why, I have to tell you, my house is a DISASTER. Papers everywhere… as well as other stuff on the floor. It’s a pigsty.

I know that I don’t act like someone that would live like that, but I can’t pick up something if I drop it, so I don’t try… I should get out of the chair I’m sitting in, and pick up a little bit each day. I am planning on doing that this year, and hopefuly, in a few months the house will be clean enough that I can actually have friends over and I won’t be embarrassed.

Now, there isn’t rotting food on the floor… just paper and plastic (bags), and boxes that held things that I’ve bought. I’m laxy when I don’t throw something out, I just toss it on teh floor. Yes, I know, a bad habit… but something that I’ve done since I was a child. And before you think my parents are slobs. Far from it. My parent’s house is (or actually) WAS very clean. It did have a ‘lived-in’ look… but you could eat off the floor.

I don’t have a service dog anymore that picks things up off the floor, either… I haven’t had one since I retired Gillis. Chewie just never got the idea. And I haven’t heard back from the local breeder that I called and left a message with. She left me a message, and I left her a message, well, you get the idea. We’re playing phone tag. And i can’t actually bring a puppy in here until I clean the place up. I guess I’m going to have to recruit a group of friends to help me clean the place so I can get my service dog puppy. Chewie was a year old when I got him and while he’d put things in his mouth, he never just got the idea of picking up stuff for me… he’d do it for HIMSELF, but not for me. I know that I can train it in a dog, I”ve done it before, with Gillis, and he could pick up a dime off a linoleum floor. Pretty cool, huh?

I am considered one of the top service dog experts, and that’s not just me blowing my own horn. I don’t do that. That’s from a friend, Frederick A. Shotz. He told the Department of Justice this. The same DOJ that enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act. When Fred told me what he did, I nearly crawled through my computer, to grab Fred by the neck so I could strangle him. But Fred, very calmly, asked me if I knew the ADA. I said I did, and did I know it well, I had to concede that I did, and he continued, not been working for him for years, doing ADA compliance inspections on buildings so that they could be brought into compliance? That was a no brainer, I had indeed been doing such inspections. Didn’t I also run the #1 website on Service Dogs on the Internet? Yes, I had to concede that I did indeed. And the #1 service dog email list? I had to concede that one as well. And how often did I make mistakes in giving out advice? I hadn’t made a mistake in quite a long time, and if I didn’t know something I knew where to point a person and look it up.

So, he told me, didn’t that make me an expert? I still didn’t think so, but Fred thought so, and he told the DOJ so, and he challenged me to prove him wrong. I couldn’t think of an argument to say I wasn’t an expert, other than I hadn’t had any formal training, and there wasn’t any formal training for what I do in regards to Service Dogs, and the law, so I had to concede that yes, I am an expert… but only in regards to Service Animals.

Does that mean I don’t make mistakes? No! I still make mistakes. But I will admit to them… and correct them if possible. I will look up answers to any questions I receive AND the biggie of them all, I will give the fullest and most concise answer I can to any ADA or service dog question I am asked.

If you are disabled, and are partnered with a service dog, either program or owner-trained, please check out Owner Trained Assistance Dogs, otherwise known as OT-ADogs (OT-Adogs). You can find us at OT-Adogs.

Posted in Disability, Family, General, Personal, Real Life, Service Dogs | 63 Comments »

Dealing with Chronic Pain

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

I’ve never really mentioned this before… but due to being born with Cerebral Palsy, I’m in constant, high level pain- each and every day. I deal with the pain using oral medication, and most recently, after badly bruising, or tearing the right shoulder rotator cuff, Lidocaine pain patches.

I have been saying for years, that I am in constant pain, and I know people don’t know what that means, and even I didn’t know what that meant, until I got the patches. Recently, right after I got the patches, I put one on my shoulder and one knee, and was suddenly, inexplicably, toally pain-free.

The shock to my system was unforgettable. I was light-headed, and I nearly passed out from the lack of pain. I have been telling people for years that I am in constant pain and through no fault of their own, friends have been nodding their heads and making sympathetic noises like they understood. Hell, I didn’t understand until the day I put a pain patch on, and I was pain free. Having that experience was incredible. I never realized how much pain I was actually dealing with until it was gone!

So now, I’m real careful when I use the pain patches. I make sure I’m not anywhere in which I need my full concentration, because when I apply the patch, it gets rid of the pain so well, that I may feel lightheaded from the lack of pain. The human mind is a wonderful thing. It allowed me to cope with all the pain I was going through, but when that pain is taken away, my brain kinda went “Irk.” and that’s all she wrote. I have nearly passed out from the lack of pain, but not totally.

I need to replenish my supply of pain patches, but they are expensive. Not initially, but in the long run. They are only $56 out of pocket expenses for me, but they count as $700 toward my drug allowance deductable that I am allowed each year under Medicare. I have a limit of $2800, each year. Then after I spend that much, I am in the ‘donut hole’ where Medicare doesn’t cover much of anything, until you have made Out of Pocket expenses of over $4,000, and then Medicare will cover 95% of your medical bills for THAT year. Sound fun, huh?

So, the cost of the pain patches comes out of that allowable, although, the computations, are for the full $700, and not just the $56 copay that I have to pay.

Now, this is the DRUG allowance. This is not considering the durable medical equipment, or the hospitalization allowances. Those are different, and I’m actually pretty well covered there. I should be, as I opted to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, and I have heard that they are illegal under the new Health Care act that President Obama signed into law, which I think is stupid… it gives me extra things that I may or may not use… like no deductibles on durable medical equipment. Anyway, so my drug allowance is $2800, but everything else is pretty much ‘prove that you need it, and you can have it’.

Posted in Disability, General, Personal, Real Life | 116 Comments »

Going to the Movies

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Keith decided today that we were going to go see two movies…. so he gave me little warning and we spent the day in an air-conditioned movie theatre. I’m not complaining, really. I just wish I had more warning. I wanted to see the first movie, and sorta wanted to see the second movie… it sounded interesting from the commercials. The two movies being “The A-Team” and “Get Him To The Greek”.

Without giving too much away, "The A-Team" is faithful to the TV Show, being the backstory BEFORE the TV show... how the team had met and got together, BEFORE they were "sentenced by a military court for a crime they didn't commit" (quote from the opening credits). The movie goes into the robbery of teh Bank of Hanoi, and the aftermath of such. It was a good movie.

The reviewers, of course, hated it. Usually, when it’s panned as a bad movie, I’m going to like it… 99 times out of 100 that’s the way it goes. The reviewers hate it, and I like the movie. Don’t know why that is, but it’s been true for the last 40+ years that I can remember of attending movies. It was a fun movie, very much paying homage to the TV series. Mr. T did not make an appearance, siting, I believe, differences with the script, but it was a good story, and they did a great job of bringing the TV show to the big screen.

Steven J. Cannell, the Executive Producer and Creator of the TV series, was the Executive Producer of the movie, so I expected nothing less. It’s just too bad Mr. T decided not to participate. Dirk Benedict and Dwight Swartz decided to appear, although, I did not see them as themselves in the movie. It was probably a real fast scene they were in… not something really “in your face”. Liam Neeson did a GREAT job as Col. Hannibal Smith… I can’t believe this is the same actor that portrayed Qui-Gon Jinn in Episode 1 of Star Wars… Wow. He’s got a great range…

All in all, I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Posted in Fandom, General, Real Life | 108 Comments »

Starlite Parade

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Keith and I drove down to Portland, Oregon for the annual Starlite Parade… we were joining several dozen members of the local Star Wars groups, Imperial 501st (The Bad Guys) and the Rebel Legion (The Good guys). :D

I am a Jedi, with a Lightsabre, and full Jedi robes with a full backstory, even explaining the wheelchair. I have a blast… it’s even more fun when you realize that to be a member, you have to make your own costume. This a COSTUMING group. And you’re screened by a board, and you have to answer questions on how you made your costume, so you can’t just buy it off the Internet.

Yes, my lightsaber is machined and bought off the Internet, but it’s not a copy of one, it’s an original, cost about $100, and I can modify it with sound and different switches to activate it… as a matter of fact, it’s being used in a fan film my husband is involved in, “The Eye of Darkness”, and as such, when I met someone at the yearly science fiction convention, Norwescon, I couldn’t just hand my lightsaber to him to modify, it’ll have to wait until after the summer. Once that is done, then my saber will be mofified to replace the switch, the batteries and maybe even the blade.

Getting back to the parade, the only highlighting I did was my lightsaber, and luckily, my almost dead batteries lasted throughout the parade. I don’t get to dress up as a Jedi often enough (I dress up as a Starfleet Officer more often), and I was able to fit into my Jedi gear even with my weight gain.

I WILL post a picture of me as Jedi Tatiana here as soon as I can find one… the link for my admission picture for the Rebel Legion is bad so until I get that fixed, I don’t have a link to a picture.

Got home at 3:30am, and am still pretty tired, but all in all, a great day. I gotta be a fan, to drive from Bonney Lake, WA all the way down to Portland, and then back in the same day (about a 4 hour drive one way).

So, yes, I’m not just a Star Trek fan… I love Star Wars too.

Posted in Costumes, Fandom | 108 Comments »

Gotta love Scammers

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

They have the balls no other people have!

I received the following email in my webmaster account this AM:

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI).
WASHINGTON D.C ROOM, 7367
J. EDGAR HOOVER FBI BUILDING
935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE,
NW WASHINGTON, DC 20535.

ATTENTION:

RE: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION SEEKING TO WIRETAP THE INTERNET

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Washington, DC in conjunction with some other relevant Investigation Agencies in the United States of America have recently been informed through our global intelligence monitoring network that you presently have a transaction pending and you have been sending payments to Nigeria.

You are hereby ordered to stop every communication with this person(s) so we can help you process your funds and you can receive your money without any further delay. As from this moment, we are monitoring every mail you send. As time goes on we might need certain information from you regarding to this person(s) so we can track them down and put an end to their unholy acts.

Furthermore, you are required to forward to us your EMAIL ADDRESS/PASSWORD and your TELEPHONE so a Scam-Email Protector can be installed in your email box at no cost. To stop these unscrupulous elements from reaching you and many others.

You are strongly warned to desist from communicating with this person(s) henceforth. Do NOT comply with this person(s) in Nigeria to avoid losing your hard-earned money. Be WARNED. You are being tracked. As soon as we are convinced that you are dealing with these scammers, even after this email, you will be picked up for aiding and abetting scam.

Do not worry about your fund. In the next couple of days, we will reach you and guide you on how you can receive your fund through the Legitimate Offices and Procedures.

Send your EMAIL ADDRESS/PASSWORD to AGENT LARRY SIMMSONS now at: agtlarrysimmsons1@gmail.com

He will oversee the installation of the SCAM EMAIL PROTECTOR in your EMAIL BOX at NO COST. He will also advise/guide you on the legitimate procedures to get your fund.

DO NOT FORWARD OUR CORRESPONDENCE WITH YOU TO ANY FRAUDSTER, WE ARE MONITORING YOU, IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE DULY PROSECUTED AS THE LAW DEMANDS. DO NOT FEIGN IGNORANCE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

We earnestly await your urgent response to this matter.

Best Regards,
Mary Callaghan
Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The balls on this individual. To take on the FBI! They are well aware of it! They just told me to delete it, and not to act on it… yeah, well, I told the person on the phone, I’d been on the Internet for 20 years, I wasn’t going to act on it, and it looked official, until you got to the gmail address of the agent. THAT was the giveaway. THAT and the fact that I HAVE NOT been sending money to Nigeria… the absolute balls on these scammers. I don’t play those types of games, not at all.

I hope the REAL FBI finds them and locks them away for years and years.

Posted in General, Internet, Real Life | 194 Comments »

The word is No, However, I’ve decided…

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

We think the bank didn’t include Keith’s nearly perfect Credit history in the decision, so I called the Loan Officer to ask him about this, only to find that he is off having a baby (this was yesterday (Wednesday). How dare he have a baby when he has obligations!

However, the person that put down $500 for Aid 17 has until Friday (tomorrow), so we’ll see how it goes. We shall see.

You gotta love the Star Trek movie reference that I pulled for the title… and yes, I know, if you’re a fan of the “new” Star Trek, you have NO idea what I’m talking about… or you walked the Star Trek: TNG movies… well, check out Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Star Trek: The Voyager Home.

Posted in Disability, Family, General, Personal | 112 Comments »