Living with CP: the early years part 11.

A vacuum sweeper.

Hello everyone. I hope everyone is having a great day today. Before I move on to another stage of my development, I want to relate to you a story about my sensitive hearing. I would cry all day, everyday. No joke! If the phone would ring I would cry. If someone came over and would ring the door bell I would cry. If someone would talk too loud or laugh when they came to the house I would cry. It would get so bad that Grandma would have to call her neighbor and ask her to come over and watch me while she got of the house for a break, but it all changed one day. My Grandma had me laying on the floor and I was crying as usual. Grandma got her sweeper out to sweep and when she turned it on to start sweeping I stopped crying. To this day we don't know if it was the motor or the vibration, but whatever it was it stopped me from crying! Sometimes you just have to figure little tricks like that out. 
 As a little side note, when we had tickets to go to anything that Grandma thought would have any loud sounds in it like a bang, Grandma always went the night before me so she would know when to hold my ears. I’ll write more about this in my next post. 

Living with CP: the early years part 10.

 

A car window down. 

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. I also hope everyone is enjoying my posts so far. Feel free to leave me any comments you may have. I would love to hear from you. When I was born they told my Grandma and Mother that they wanted to start training me on one of those computerized voice box machines, where when I pushed a button it would talk for me. I fooled them, didn't I! Here is a little side note. When Grandma found out I had Cerebral Palsy, she actually went to Sinclair College and received a degree for taking care of handicapped children. Now that I was talking, my Grandma decided that if we didn't get me used to different sounds I could not do anything. She decided to take me a ride in the car everyday. In the beginning she rolled the widow down just a little and I would cry like crazy! I would say it took over a year where I could ride in the car with the widow down without crying. Everything they broke me of took time. See what's next!  

Living with CP: the early years part 9.

Speech Therapy.

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. I have a question for everyone. How do you think my Mother reacted when my Grandma called her at work that day and told her I said my first word? She thought my Grandma was hearing stuff, because when she held the phone to my ear I would not say anything. It was the same way with my family I did not talk around them, but when it was just me and Grandma I said that egg word with no problem. When Grandma called Children's and told them I was talking, they did not believe it either. So they setup another appointment one day, and It was me and Grandma in this room with one other person. Four hours later, not a word. Then they decided to try something. They put me and Grandma in the room alone with a tape recorder and an egg. After about 45 minutes I was saying that word like crazy! After that they decided to work on my speech hard at Children's Medical Center to get me talking. That tells you that if you have the right people behind you and you work hard enough, anything is possible! See where I go next.

Living with CP: the early years part 8.

My first word.

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a great day today. After my Mother and Grandma got home from the test that day, My Grandma told my Mother “don't believe anything that doctor said”. I want to backup a little. You see, my Mother worked and after they found out I had Cerebral Palsy, my Grandma told my Mother she would quit her job and take care of me because they didn't know how I would act in a daycare. After the doctor told them I probably would not ever talk, my Grandma did not like that. Everyday for about 6 months when we got up, Grandma would get an egg and put it on my table on my highchair and we would roll it around and everything else with that egg you can think of. Then one day before Grandma could get the egg out, I said “egg.” Do you think anyone believed my Grandma when she told them?

Living with CP: the early years part 7.

A Cerebral Palsy brain that has seizures.

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a wonderful day today,

Take a moment and think about this: How would you feel after being at the hospital with your child all day for a test and then the doctor announces that your son has Cerebral Palsy? I think I would be shocked. That is what this doctor told my mother and Grandma.  He then went on to tell them that I probably would not be able to walk, talk or anything like that. He also said I would probably have seizures. After hearing all this they had to go home and come up with a plan on what to do next. In my next entry find out how my Grandma started working with me to try to get me to start talking.

Living with CP: the early years part 6.

Children's Hospital in Dayton, Ohio.

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a wonderful day. When I last left you, my Grandma had talked my mother into taking me to the doctor since I was not developing like a normal baby.  Then, the real worry came when I was about two years old and I was not talking yet. Back to Children's Medical Center I went.  This time with an appointment with a specialist. My Grandma and mother explained to him what they were seeing with me, and after a full day of testing on me he came back in the room and the first words out of his mouth were “have you ever heard of Muscular Dystrophy?” They both replied “no”, so he explained what is was. He said “your son has something similar called Cerebral Palsy.” See how everyone reacts to the news next.

Living with CP: the early years part 5.

A Cerebral Palsy baby.

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a great day today. When I last left you, my blood count had dropped. When I returned back to Children's Hospital, they were able to get my count back up and I was able to get out of oxygen and breathe on my own. After a few days I was able to finally come home. In a few months, some of my family members realized I wasn't reaching milestones like a normal baby. It was taking me longer then normal to do certain basic things. For example, when I started walking instead of walking forward in my walker I walked backward. I crawled backward. I had real sensitive hearing. My Grandma talked my mother into taking me to the doctor. They said since I was born so early, it would take me longer to reach those milestones and not to worry. So was there a problem? You'll find out in my next entry.

Living with CP: the early years part 4.

 
 
Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a great day today. This time around I am going to go back to the post labor events and change gears a little bit.
It turns out that after a week of laying completely still in the hospital, the doctor announced that my lungs were developed enough and he said “now let's have a baby!” The labor went fine, but with me being so early I was very weak. Everything was fine. The only thing was I was in oxygen for 8 weeks because I was so early. All this happened at Children's Medical Center in Dayton. I weighed 2 pounds at birth.  One day the doctor came in and ask my mother if they could transfer me to Good Sam hospital  (home base) because they needed the bed space. She said that was fine. One hour after I got to Good Sam my blood count dropped drastically. Nobody could get a needle in me to give me blood. They finally called Children's and my nurse from there came to Good Sam and got the needle in the first time. We think at some point during that incident is when I got Cerebral Palsy.  See what's next!

 

Living with CP: the early years part 3.

palm reader .

Hello everyone. We hope everyone is having a great day today, now as I stated in my previous entry the wife didn't want to tell my Grandma what she saw when she read her palm. Grandma was upset cause all her friends was coming out happy, and she didn't want to tell her anything. She told my Grandma I can't go on, then she went to get her husband and told him what she saw. So then he sat down with my Grandma and red her palm, he said I can tell you what I see but it's not good! Grandma said “tell me”, he said “you are going to have a new baby in the family but be prepared because the baby probably won't make it, and even if he does he won't be able do anything. He will be handicapped!  You better start praying now.”   My Grandma didn't believe what he said.  So my question to you is are palm-readers real or fake? See what happens next.

Living with CP: the early years part 2.

Grandma Jean & me.

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a great day today. Before we move into my mother's labor and post labor story, I have decided to take a step back and tell a story about my Grandma before I was born.  One night after work my Grandma's co-workers and friends that she worked with wanted her to go out with them to a palm-reader just for fun.  Grandma said “sure I'll go” and they all went. Everyone came out happy, then it was Grandma's turn.  She went in the room and it was a husband and wife team. The wife read it first.  Everything started out good. She knew everything to a tee, and then she said you’re going to have a new baby in your family. Grandma said “that's right”, then she looked at Grandma funny and said I can't tell you anymore. My Grandma was getting scared now, and said “I paid money and now you can't tell me what you see?”  Keep checking back to see what happens next, have a great day.

Living with CP: the early years part 1.

Hello everyone my name is Brian Kendrick and I'm from Dayton Ohio, this is my first blog so bear with me. I'm 31 years old and as you might have figured out I have had Cerebral Palsy all my life, and I know there's a lot of people out there that grew up just like me. This blog is being created not only to tell you about me, but to let you know if you have Cerebral Palsy you can be productive with your life. Feel free to leave a comment anytime and I will get back with you ASAP.

Okay lets start. My first day of life was August 6, 1980. I was born at 6 months. My mother had somewhat of a difficult labor. At first the doctors did not think I would make it. What made it worse my mother smoked. Since she went into labor so early, my lungs were not fully developed yet. Only one doctor gave my mother hope. In order for it to work my mother had to do everything the doctor said. So he had her go into the hospital for a week and she had to lay completely still and not move along with not smoking. In my next post find out what happened next!