Falling On My Head Gets Us New Furniture!

Merry Christmas to all! Here's a  recap of my life the past few days.

First and foremost: I have made a page dedicated to my little cousin. Payton who has cancer. It's a page of information where you can find all the ways to help him and his family. There are T-shirts, bracelets and ornaments for sale where the proceeds go to help the family with expenses. I am sure they would appreciate a simple card letting them know you are praying for them if you can't spare money. There are many pictures and updates on his Facebook page. This week, the little guy has been getting his chemo. It is so heartbreaking to see pics showing the effects.

My life has been crazy as usual. Of course, I had to catch a bug everyone has and it takes forever to get rid of. Mine is in form of bronchitis. I am doing better. 

Then night before last I was in Hubby's Papasan chair watching TV. I was in his chair because it is the only chair besides an office chair in that room. The office chair hurts my butt and back. I was moving up from a slouch and flipped out of the chair with the chair landing on top of me. It was like a backwards somersault with my head hitting the desk. Needless to say I saw stars. I think I actually had a slight concussion. A big bump formed on my head. I  felt like a Big Mac truck hit me. I strained my neck, my arms and legs.  Ahh, my life!

Needless to say yesterday we went buy furniture for that room. We bought a reclining loves eat with an end table and a new entertainment center as well as a dresser for me. 

Lately, I've been telling Hubby I was so tired of that entertainment center. Some knobs fell off. There are dents and some of the paneling were falling off. My folks bought it for me and my ex when we bought our first home way in 1990. That entertainment center went everywhere with me and I loved it but it is time to get rid of it. The dresser was actually BabyGirl's but when she moved out she left it so I just used it. But the track is off and there is wear and tear. I'm sure someone could fix it but I think it is time to just replace it. 

We will be putting the Papasan Chair in the living room with my lovely chairs my friend Peggy have given me a while back. The living room is sorta our WII Room and my "women's cave" sorta and the media room is my Hubby's sorta "man cave".

I feel bad putting Hubby's chair out of his man's cave but the room is too small for both the love seat and the chair. After that fall, which was the second in recent months, we had to do something. I was either going to kill myself or give Hubby a heart attack. Besides I have trouble getting in and out of it all the time.  All of our furniture will be delivered Friday!

I want to do a shout out to Kelly Womack at Home Furniture who helped us tremendously.

Even with sickness etc I was finally able to send out Christmas cards the way I wanted to this year! Yippee!!

Cerebral Palsy

I just thought I'd explain it for some of you who don't know what Cerebral Palsy (CP) is I’ve met so many people with misconceptions. The first they think is POLIO. I

I'll start telling you what it is not: 

1. It is not terminal.
2. It is not progressive.
3. It is not hereditary.
4. It is not a disease.

CP is caused my injury or abnormalities to the brain due to lack of oxygen or other factors such as infection. When I was growing up, experts stated that was the cause. However, I’ve noticed they change slightly and now they say only a minority of child cases with CP are caused by lack of oxygen. Go figure. 

Some known causes of CP:
1. Infections during pregnancy. (That is why prenatal care is a necessity)
2. A lack of oxygen reaching the fetus (There’s that lack of oxygen LOL).
3. Premature birth (Lungs are not developed so oxygen is not going to brain as it should.)
4. Birth asphyxia (Lack of oxygen again! Is there a pattern here?)
5. Blood disease or severe jaundice.
6. Acquired

(In my case, I had pneumonia and quit breathing at age of 6 months at a hospital. When my mom pressed the button and no one came, she grabbed me from the oxygen tent and started running down the hall. Fortunately, my pediatrician was walking to the room and got me going again LOL)

It affects movement mostly but it also can affect hearing, seeing and thinking. (See! my excuses were legit as far as thinking goes LOL).

Common symptoms are spasticity, dysarthria and unsteady balance or movement. (My mom said after the incident with the hospital she started noticing little things like my feet turned in and I couldn’t walk when I should have been.). Mental retardation, seizures and paralysis may accompany CP.

There are 4 main types of CP. Ataxia, Athetoid, spastic and mixed.
Ataxia: Disturbed sense of balance and perception. (That’s where my weeble wobble don’t fall down, most of the time comes fromJ.)
Spastic: Stiffness and movement disorders. (Yep me again!).
Athetoid: Involuntary and uncontrolled movement.
Mixed: Combo of 2 or more.

Treatment: There is NO cure for CP. An average CP child goes through surgeries, physical therapy, speech therapy and many others I probably can write but I’m trying to write this from my standpointJ).

I went through Speech therapy all through elementary and I think before.  I had 5 surgeries. They were to rotate my femurs and lengthen tendons. At age 18, the Children’s Clinic was discharging me. The doc (I loved him so much. He had polio and came down from N.O.every month to see 100s of handicapped children. He called me Sunshine) said there was this one more surgery but it was elective as it was cosmetic. My mom gave the decision to me. She said they decided on the others but it was my choice. It was a greater risk as well. I had a 50/50 chance of walking like “normal” people or I could end up in the wheelchair.

I hated wheelchairs. I still do when I have to be in one like hospitals etc. It is too confining. Every time I see someone in a wheelchair my heart goes out for them.

So obviously after about 2 weeks of thinking it over I decided to not do it. I analyzed my life to that point and figured I can walk, talk and do what most of what I want to do. Why ask God for more?

People with CP, whether mild or severe are usually intelligent. (I know, questionable on my part HA!). Just because sometimes they may not be able to verbalize does not mean they are hearing everything you say and understand it.

Most can grow up and be productive citizens.  We can conceive, deliver and take care of children.  We are just like anyone else except for some limitations. The limitations are usually not deal breakers, you learn to accept and cope.

I was fortunate to have a mild case and have a family as I did. I know I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for mom and dad pushing through systems!

The few times I said, “I Can’t” Mom said, “There is no such thing as can’t!” I know that is false now because some things you just CAN’T do. But she taught me what she wanted me to learn.

I know there are many CP cases that are severe, time consuming, hard work but one must remember God put every one of us on this earth for a reason and loves each and every one of us.

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