Living with CP: the early years part 26.

Hello everyone.  I hope everyone is having a great day. The weather is great here today.  I have a question for you.  Do you think my grandma and grandpa took me on vacation that year even after I got that sunburn?  You will find out in this entry. I'm also going to tell you about the time me and my family went on a vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  So let's get started. 

A Bad Sunburn.

The previous night before I was scheduled to leave town with my grandma and grandpa on vacation, my mother called my grandma and told her what had happened that day with me getting sunburn.  My grandma knew I would be upset if we canceled the vacation, so she told my mother we would go ahead and go.  I could not even sleep because I hurt so bad. The next day came and I could not wear anything but a T-shirt.  When my mother took me out to the car and my grandma saw what I was wearing, that is when they realized how bad I was.  My grandpa even had a hard time putting me in the car. 

Aloe Vera. 

We went to Brown County State Park that year in Indiana and stayed at the Abe Martin Lodge, but before we left town we stopped at Meijers.  Meijers is a one-stop department store.  My grandma went in and got one of those big bottles of pure aloe vera gel, and before we even left the parking lot my grandma put that all over my body.  The first two days of that vacation we did not do anything but watch movies in the room.  After that, I was at least able to go do some stuff and it ended up being another nice vacation. 

My upcoming story also happened when I was about 11 years old my family decided to go to the Outer Banks of NC.  Have a great day everyone.

Brown County State Park Sign.

Living with CP: the early years part 25.

Hello everyone.  I hope you all are having a wonderful day today.  Before I get started on today's entry I want to tell everyone why I did not have an entry last Friday. We had some threatening weather as all of those tornados passed through the Midwest and my grandma did not feel comfortable staying here so we spent the day at a local shopping center where we thought it might be safer for us since we don’t have a basement. 

Good Samaritan Hospital. Dayton, Ohio.

Today, I have two stories for everyone today, and for the first one we have to go back when I was born.  Back then, my uncle owned a boat on Lake Erie and my grandma and grandpa were vacationing on his boat.  When they were gone, my mother went into early labor and they were up on the boat with no phone.  Someone from the place the boat was docked at was called and he was able to go to the boat to tell them that my mother was in labor. Lake Erie is about 3 hours from here.  My grandma and grandpa drove as fast as they could that night to get home. 

My mother was not living with my father at this time, and she did not have enough time to let him know that she was in labor.  Instead, she called my Uncle Tom who lived next door and he took her to the hospital and he had to act like he was her husband in order for him to go in with her but the hospital finally caught on. 

A Pool.

My next story happened when I was about 11 years old.  Every year my grandma and grandpa took me on a vacation somewhere.  It was that time of year again but this time it would be a little different.  The day before we left, I went swimming with my mother and my grandpa's brother and spent all day in the pool.  As you might have guessed, I got sunburned.  That night my mother put lotion all over my body.  I could not stand anything touching my body at all! 

In my next entry you will find out what happened next.  Have a great day, everyone!  

A Bad Sunburn.

Living with CP: the early years part 24.

Hello everyone.  I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. I don't know about the weather everywhere else today but it's going to be about 68 degrees here.  Down south last night they had some bad weather so please pray for everyone.  Let's get started with today's entry. 

A power wheelchair.

In today's entry I'm going to talk about one year when we had the Christmas play at school. I'm also going to tell you a story about when the school talked my mother into letting me try an electric wheelchair.  In the beginning the occupational therapist (OT) and physical therapist (PT) at school just wanted me to use it at school and not take it home so I could get use to everything.  From the very first day I sat in that chair, I did not have any problem maneuvering that chair. I did not hit anyone or anything and they could not believe it.  After that, they let me take the chair home and try it there for a week.  It was no problem for me at home either.  Soon thereafter, they helped me get an electric chair of my own so there was no more having to push me everywhere. 

A Christmas Play.

Every year at school we would put on a Christmas play and we would have all the parents and grandparents come.  Every grade would do something different.  The week before, every grade would practice in music class. All that week, everything went great and then the night of the play came.  Everyone in my grade had to wear Santa hats, so my grade got on stage and everything started.  My hat was too big for my head so it started to go over my eyes and I could not see.  Since I have mobility limitations, I could not fix it myself so I started crying.  They had to stop everything and get me fixed up again.  After that everything went great! 

I really do hope this blog is helping someone out there. I'm trying not to forget anything so see what happens next.  Have a great day.

Living with CP: the early years part 23.

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day today, and had a great weekend. I went to a Dayton Gems hockey game this weekend with some of my friends.

A Dayton Police Car.

I'm going to talk about some of the very special events they would plan for us at Gorman School, like Career Day and Breakfast With Santa downtown every year. When we had Career Day, we would have Children's Medical Center, the Dayton Fire Department along with the EMS and the Dayton Police Department. They would actually bring all their vehicles and have the kids sit in them. They even had companies come in and give the boys haircuts, and also do the ladies' nails. It would last all day and everyone looked forward to that every year and having a day away from school work.

Breakfast with Santa.

Also every year, usually in December before Christmas break, they would close down the whole school for a day. They would get about 10 school buses and everyone would load up and head downtown for Breakfast with Santa. Sometimes some of the parents would come to school and ride with us on the buses. Everyone received one gift from Santa.

The school did these special events because most of the kids would never get to experience those things. The school tried to get everyone to experience real-life things.  Have a great day!

Living with CP: the early years part 22.

Hello everyone.  I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. It's really windy here today and it's getting colder, too.  I can't wait until spring. 

The Dukes Of Hazard,

When I came home from the hospital after my surgery, my family had a hospital bed waiting for me right in the middle of the living room.  I used to love The Dukes Of Hazard television show and I watched it everyday when I was little.  When I was in the hospital my grandma told me that she wrote the television show a letter, explaining I just had an operation and what a big fan I was of the show.  Then that day when I got home from the hospital, my grandma told me I received a letter from The Dukes Of Hazard television show.  It thanked me for watching everyday and they hoped I got better soon. Here's the kicker.  Grandma told me that Bo and Luke from the show brought the letter to the house in the General Lee car.  I found out many years later that was not true and my grandma had written the letter!

In my next entry we will get back into some stories about my great school. I just remember so much and don't want to miss anything.  Have a great day, everyone,

Living with CP: the early years part 21.

Hello everyone.  I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. Where I live, we have not really had a winter season this year and I'm loving it!  Now let's get started on today's entry. 

What I looked like.

When I was in Children's Medical Center for about a week after a operation, I had to lay flat on my back with my legs wide open in a full body cast.  That was difficult for everyone, because if I wanted to turn over there was a bar between my legs and 3-4 other people had to hold other parts of my body and flip me like a pancake. 

So I wouldn’t get bored laying there and not able to move, my dad went out and bought me two remote control cars.  One was a Corvette and the other was a school bus. Everyone knows how short the cords are that come on them.  My dad took those home and took the cord off and put a new 40-foot cord on both of them.  After that I could go where ever I wanted with them. 

After a week, it was time to come home where I would spend another 4-6 weeks in the cast.  They had to figure out how to get me home because I was still laying flat on my back.  They got a friend's van and unfolded the back seat so it was flat, and home I went. 

In my next entry find out what happened after I got home and hear more about my great school.  Have a great day everyone.