Cerebral Palsy Alliance

Archive for May, 2009

Detox and Disability

Ok, so I’m detoxing myself. Boring, huh? Yeah, well not really. When you can’t move around easily, such adventures take planning.

I’m drinking about 1.5 litres of water a day. That’s a lot for me. I used to drink two glasses a day, if that. Initially, I was running to the loo every 5 seconds … now it’s about every hour or so. I’ll have to drink less on the days that I’m out and about – when toilets aren’t so readily available or accessible. I have also been drinking it all before 3 pm so I’m not busting in the middle of the night – when I can’t get myself out of bed. Busting all night does not make for comfy sleep, trust me.

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(Part 3) Survival strategies – missing people and your own things

When you are away from home – unable to do very much for yourself, because the environment isn’t equipped for you, and also fearing that something is very wrong with your health – minutes equate to hours and you begin to miss your own things and your own people faster than you might ever have imagined.

Being in one room for a few days, the little things really start to matter. Your mind goes into overdrive and you begin to think too much about, well, everything. You dwell on the grey areas because you have the time.

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(Part 2) A day in a ward: drugs, why anyone hospitalised needs them

For my first night in hospital, I was placed in the men’s spinal unit. They all snored in unison. All night! The next morning, I was moved into a room with three other women. I think I was the youngest by at least thirty years. It was like the ‘ghosts of Christmases to come’. And these futures made me shudder.

The woman to my right was easily 80 and did not eat solids – not that chocolate custard for lunch would bother me. She had fallen and broken her hip. Ouch! I am not a fan of potential hip problems, but the most confronting part was that she would often have quite lucid moments where she’d converse with a gentleman who wasn’t actually there. She used to be a nurse apparently. Time can be cruel.

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Art imitating life… Is this really happening? Part 1… of many

I’ve just returned from a brief, but seemingly unending and impromptu, stay in hospital. I’m not dead and have regaining feeling in each of my extremities, so it’s all good.

I have so much to write about but, to make it easy, let’s do this in tiny chapters.

First up: medical professionals

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