Not Again! Injuries and Disabilities

 

 "Not Again!"   I bet this is one of the most common phrases that parents say to their kids all over the world. I bet your parents probably even said it to you as a kid. Injuries are going to happen no matter what at one point or another in your child's life. Its part of being a kid; they go outside to play, get hurt to some degree whether it be small cut or something more serious like a broken arm, they take time to heal, and repeat the same process again. The thing is though, how does a parent handle the situation when it is their disabled child that gets hurt?

In this blog, I am going to share my experience, the importantance of pushing through the pain, and different equipment I have used to get around during the healing process.

My Experience

 Being outdoors is the biggest thing that powers my life; without it I am like a wild horse that is locked up in a stall with no where to go. When I look around at the majority of the generation of kids that are being raised in this day and age I see more of them staying inside as their parents place them in front of a TV , tablet, or their cellphone to keep them entertained or act as a babysitter so their parents can do what they want without being interrupted. Then on top of that, my family recently descovered a program that you can send your child to and pay other people to teach your kid how to ride a bike.This just breaks my heart because not only are kids not playing outside, but they don't know how to interact with other kids in person, they don't get to make memories with their parents, they don't know what the feeling of being bored feels like, or what it is like to truly be a kid. 

As a kid I couldn't seem to stay out of the hospital or doctors offices. During my early years I  couldn't really help it with the several surgeries I had to straighten my eyes out; which only lasted a month after surgery then it would go back to the way it was before, a few surgeries to try and stop my seizures, a surgery to take the right side of my brain out, a surgery to replace my shunt that was due to an injury after I was hit in the head with a basketball at recess and didn't realize I broke it until my doctor told us during one of my check ups, a foot surgery to reconstuct my foot by moving the tendians around so that my foot was more straight instead of shaped like a J, a hand surgery to move the tendians around to allow my hand to not be stuck with my fingers touching the under side of my wrist, and a knee surgery in which was do to another injury when I rolled over on the trampoline and dislocated it. It originally took the doctors three attempts to put it back in as it kept popping out and finally had to have my dad help by holding it in place while they put a brace on it;  but ended up having surgery on it a few months later after it kept dislococating and relocating to the point that it just fell apart as soon as the doctor started working on it. The only way to keep my knee in place was to put screws, so they didn't have to do a knee replacement at 15. With all these surgeries  I have lost count, but I believe it equaled up to somewhere around a total of 16 surgeries.

If that wasn't enough of a struggle for my parents, I was and still am extremely outdoorsy, adventurous, and curious; which in itself was an injury waiting to happen. Just about anything you can imagine doing outside I have either done or tried at least once. With this I sprained my left wrist 3 times and sprained my right hand ( the only one I use) once that I can remember. My wrists must be made out of glass because each time was just a simple fall either due to me tripping over something, falling off of park equipment, or being the rule follower as I walked on the concrete and got nocked into by another kids who wasn't following the rules which caused me to fall onto my right hand and injure it. Clumsy me.😉

Today, I still very much enjoy being outdoors in the great world God created more than I will being inside. One thing I have come to realize about the world we live in is that parents with raise their kids how they choose to, kids will grow up in their own way, and the only thing you can control is how you choose to live your life. I will put it out there that over the last few years that when my family goes for hikes, bike rides, and weekend drives that I love seeing more and more people getting outside.

What is the best part of wearing a cast?

Through all of this though, there was only two good things that come out of getting injured and being stuck in a cast for several weeks. One, you get to choose the color(s) you want your cast to be and two, you get to come up with different stories to make it more interesting when telling other people.

Choosing the Color(s)

They didn't always have as many options for what color you could choose for your cast. Usually it was just the solid colors  of the rainbow in which I would choose purple since it is my favorite color when I would either sprain one of my hands or had a surgery that required a cast to keep a limb in place. 

It wasn't really until after I had my foot surgery when they took me out of my big bulky purple cast that they had me where for six weeks right after surgery when they started adding different colors and designs when the put me in a smaller cast they brought into the room so many colors, designs, and patterns that it was hard to choose. Spending some time to look at all my options I made the decision to go with little teddy bears holding a balloon for the three extra weeks in which I spent a total of nine weeks from the time I got out of surgery to the time I got out of my small cast without putting any weight on it. That was super hard sitting still for that long without getting up for more than a few minutes at a time. Although it was tough on me, my parents, and my sister ; at least I got to come up with fun stories as to how I got in a cast.

Story Time; How did you get in that cast?

When you get an injury it's never fun to just say what truly happened because it is normally something very small you did which is not very interesting to tell other people. Instead, it is more fun to make up an epic story that goes along with your injury that is way more interesting to tell other people when they ask. For example whenever I was in a cast I usually make up stories like I was was fighting ninjas instead of saying I tripped and fell on my wristi n a weird way or I will say I made a bear mad in which a got tossed around many times like a rag doll instead of my foot developed in a weird way that was shaped like the letter J which made it hard for me to walk long distances in a certain length of time.  In my opinion, I think by making up stories allows kids to use their imagination to make the best out of an unfortunate situation. Don't you think?

How to deal with an injury when your disabled child gets hurt

 What is living life to the fullest if you don't get dirty or injured once in a while. When my sister and I where younger we where the type of kids that would spend all day outside playing make- believe games, jumping on the trampoline before my accident, riding our bikes or scooters, and sometimes got some injuries. I don't know how many times my mom and dad would kiss our bruised knees or elbows better when we fell outside. In my opinion, I don't think a  parent handling a situation when their disabled child gets injured is very different than a parent handling a situation when their kid get injured that don't have disabilities. When I got hurt my mom treated it as she would with any other kid that came over for play dates. The only time I recall that my mom keep a close eye on me, not including my surgeries, but after getting injured while playing outside was when we were going on a family bike ride and we were speeding our way through the forest when we rode down a hill that was followed by a steep uphill climb. I was towards the front with my dad while my mom said back a little to help my sister get over the bumps as they came down the hills. Before I knew it I was squeezing on my breaks as hard as I would but they didn't stop my bike in time before I went up the steep hill that my dad had climbed to see what was on the other side. With no other choice since I was already about a third up the hill with my breaks not helping me very much; I contenued peddling not really hoping to go anywhere, but to at least keep me in place where I was at until mom or dad could get to me. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long as I lost the strength to continue to peddling at the speed that I was and started rolling backwards down the steep hill at high speeds towards my mom and sister who just got down the first hill. As fast as I was going the only thing they could do was get out of the way as fast as they could to not get hit by my bike I continued speeding backwards down the hill and ended up rolling backwards off a steep revean that was covered with rocks on the side of the trail we were riding on. I am not really sure what happened from the point I went off the side and landed at the bottomof the revean. I only recall opening my eyes a little as I tried to move, but couldn't with my bike laying on it's side and then when I sat on the ground after my parents somehow got me and my bike out of the revean. Thank goodness for helmet and that I was wearing one because from the fall my helmet had some cracks from hitting the rock that could have made the situation a lot worse if I wasn't wearing my helmet. Luckily with this incident, I only got a few bruises which hurt the rest of the day, but where healed the next day.

How to get around with during the healing process when you have disabilities

Normally when people get an  injury to their leg, they get around with crutches or a scooter type thing; but getting around isn't that easy when you have physical disabilities. Instead, we get around by sitting in a wheelchair while we are in a no weight baring  cast and then move into a walker when your allowed to apply pressure. How do you use a wheelchair or a walker with one hand? You may be asking yourself and that is a really good question. During the nine weeks I was in two non weight baring casts I spent a majority of my time being pushed around in my wheelchair by my parents when we went out into public and would sit in bed or on the couch when I was at home to prop my leg up. These nine weeks felt like it was never going to end with constantly sitting down, not really getting to play with my sister the way we liked to play, and having to be dependent on other people to get me things, help me get up to go to the restroom, or help me reposition myself and my pillow when I was uncomfortable. I am super greatful that I have such a loving family to support me, but with this surgery I wanted my independence back to do things on my own again and I have never wanted to get up to do something; really anything more in my life. It becomes really challenging when you are naturally independent, then something happens whether it be a surgery or an injury, and you have to become dependent on other until you heal. Do you agree? 

The day I moved from my wheelchair to a walker was probably one of the best days of my life. It felt nice to finally stand up, start putting pressure on my foot, and gaining back some of my independence. One of the nice things about living in a society that is becoming more and more advanced is that they started making medical equipment with features that make it easy for disabled people to use. My walker was one of those neat invention. Since I only use one hand, I would hold onto the walker with that hand and I would place the hand I don't use onto a rubber platform with a handle and strap it in to hold it in place. This allowed me to easily move the walker as I walked, was comforable and easy to use, and provided me with my independence to walk again. 

It wasn't as simple as just getting up and walking though; it took a lot of baby steps, determination, and most of all working through the painful moments.

The importance of pushing through the pain 

One of the most painful moments I can remember was first applying pressure to my foot nine weeks after surgery. My family and I just got home from running some errands and my mom was helping me walk into the house. As I walked up the driveway I went to take a step with my left foot in wich I stepped down harder than I had in the previous days. That hurt more than anything else I have experienced before that point in time. I lifted my foot up with tears in my eyes as I hop a few feet, but didn't fully cry. Although that was a painful, I considered it a blessing in a way because I got the first big painful step out of the way and from that point I was able to continue working on my big steps to in prove my walking. With pushing through the initial pain of putting all of my pressure on my foot or the first bend after spending a few weeks in a straight leg cast allowed me to excersise my injury and helped me heal faster than doctors expected.

Conclusion

Injuries will happen to your child at some point in their life; but that shouldn't stop kids from being who they are in life. The important part is to be brave, tough, and not giving up when things get hard. With all of my surgeries and injuries I have experienced in life I neve gave up, but instead put on a brave face and kept working towards my healing. This has comtributed to the strengths of my personality and I wouldn't change anything about how I live my life.