Loooong Day, but productive

Well the day started out at 8:30 am and it was off to the eye doctors for an 11:15 appointment. I got there and the doctor came in and gave me part of the exam and proceeded to dilate my eyes for part II, at which time he left the room for the drops to take effect... which they did very effectively. He finished the exam gave me a prescription for eyeglasses and I left. My next stop was spur of the moment. Mom and I decided to pay a visit to the place that originally installed my hand controls on my Accord 22 years ago. We had the hand controls that Joe took off my car the night before ;( It wasn't an easy job but he figured he'd save them) The guy at the shop took one look at them and said they were dinosaurs and couldn't reuse them, but the Mobility Rebate that I am getting from Honda should cover new ones and part of the car topper, so it wasn't a total loss. Then it was off to the bank for a bank check so I can purchase my new car. (EXCITING) Well, I got to the bank and all went well until I had to 'sign here' - Help my eyes are still dilated!!- that was an interesting experience. we got the check and it was off to my Grandmother's house to pickup my aunt then to the dealer to get the car. - Let me backtrack, I called the dealer to verify the check amount and newsflash she gave me an amount LARGER than what we had discussed, she tried to cook up a story that the former quote didn't include all the fees. so I did what any 43-year old mature woman would do....handed my mother the phone... LOL!! after a few words with her, things were ironed out. we proceeded to pick up my Aunt to help us get the car since the hand controls were not installed yet. ( the dealer put the controls on my last two cars but this time said they couldn't do it for 'LIABILITY' let me throw up!!) . I signed the papers ( with my eyes still not recovered) and Mom got in the driver's seat (HEY! What's wrong with this picture???!!). Let me tell you about Nerves! every time she had to brake, my heart stopped and when I'd see an 18-wheeler LOOKOUT!! We got home put my new car in the garage and had a snack and it was off to the optometrist in the van to get my new glasses, ( and not a day too soon since mine broke 2 days ago!!) Got the glasses then Mom and Joe wanted to take me to dinner at my favorite restauraunt, but I was sooooo *%^& !!EXHAUSTED that I settled for a tuna sandwich and a cup of tea. got in the house, sat in the recliner, put my legs up right away and AAAAHHHHH! Home at last!!Boy my car looks terrific in the driveway!!

Snooping around

Just had a thought. Doesn't everyone like to go over other peoople's houses and when they use the bathroom they just can't help themselves but snoop in the medicine cabinet. OOOH look at what we have here: Tums, Ben-Gay and massage lotions, Senokot-S, Dulcolax, eye wash, Efferdent Plus.Oh i can't stop there let's look under the sink: Depends, plastic bags,...By now you may be saying to yourself 'Hey Lisa stop snooping in your Grandmother's bathroom, you may get caught' . Well, that's highly unlikely since the bathroom cabinets I'm talking about are..... MINE!!! Yes all those wonderful items belong to me; a healthy, attractive ( if I do say so myself) 43 -year old!! You may ask be asking yourself 'What's a healthy, attractive 43 year old doing with a medicine cabinet full of those items?? well these items help me stay that way.
These are some of the items , Let's go over them one-by-one, shall we:
TUMS: Or as I sometimes like to refer to them - my'after dinner mint' ... and breakfast and lunch....since I do not move around often, My metabolism is kinda sluggish so after almost every meal I let out one heckuva 'BBBBEEEEELLLCCCHHH!' Now when I am in a public place I try to stiffle it as much as I can but it just makes the indigestion worse, so I make up the difference when I am in the comforts of my own home. As one member of my family says: ' there goes the teapot again'
Ben-Gay and Massage lotions: Walking around for almost 40 years on crutches, my arms are a Bursitic mess, from my shoulders to the tips of my fingers. My hips ache a lot too since i don't use my knees or thighs I just pivot from my hips to walk. I always joke when I am out and do a lot of walking that I am going to ; go home take off my shoes and braces, but my feet up and soak my HANDS in a tub of water!! LOL. also every month my trusty nurse Carolyn gets out the massage table that my former massage left for me and gives me a massage from head to toe. the Massage is great, and the rates are even BETTER!!
Senokot-S and dulcolax. Or as I lovingly refer to it... 'MY BOMB' If you follow my blog, you know I partake in this ritual at least once a week. Some days it's uneventful and I am good to go out by 2:00pm other days well, I'm up around 1 am sometimes I get a gagging reflex, sometimes I start flashing and mom has to use a cool cloth to relax me, sometimes the pain feels like I am about to give birth to a prehistoric animal...OUCH! but it's absolutely worth it since I know I can go the week to work without an incident ( remember the story of me in High School in the girl's bathroom?)
Eye-wash- nothing majorly medically wrong, it's just that my eyes get tired alot and I like the soothing of the eye wash. That reminds me of a story.. I was 15 years old and I had to get a new pair of glases since mine broke. when i went to the place they said they wouldn't give me glasses without an eye exam. I always go to an Opthamologist since I have a shunt and he checks for pressure behind the eyes and gives me a full work-up but since I needed the glasses ASAP (20/200 vision) I let her do it. Well she very nicely informed me that i had the eyes of a 50 Year-old MAN!! let's just squash a teenager's self-elstem shall we??
Okay, back to the contents of my bathroom shall we:
Depends: I dont FULLY Depend on them (pun intended) but I have the occassional oops with the bladder ( and sometimes bowel) and i don't know when it's going to happen so I stay prepared.
and last, but certainly not least, I have a package of .
Efferdent handy for the times I need to soak my...... Retainer, come on you didn't think I was going to say dentures did you??
Anyway that is the infamous tour of my bathroom. Hope you enjoyed it as much as i did snooping around. Till next time.....

My New Car!!

Well, I did it. Yesterday I went to Babylon Honda and bought a new car!! I thought i was going to buy my car at another location; One which i have been back and forth to a couple of times, I actually picked out a specific car,( color and all It was right in the showroom) and said I'd be back when i found out a few things. WhenI went BACK to the location to pick up the car and sign papers, I found out that MY car was sold!! he said that he didn't have a car that color on the lot and that 'No other dealer on Long Island' had one!!and tried to sell me a different color 'DA NOYV OF HIM!!' So I nicely stood up and went to another dealer, which i called from my car. and Lo and Behold he had the car I wanted right in the showroom!!! So I signed the papers and gave the down payment right there on the spot. Then I called the mechanic that was going to install the chair- topper for me. ( A device that lifts your wheelchair onto the roof of the car!!... COOL!!) I asked him if he could switch my hand- controls from my old car to the new car and he said sure .............are you ready..... For $400!!!! Well I kindly said I'd get back to him ( probably not) so now I think I have to find a different place to put in my hand controls AND the car topper!!

Oh, Crappy Day--or educating the educators

Well, It's Tuesday at 2:25 in the afternoon, I just had breakfast (Brunch) and am starting my day. Actually, my day started at 3:00 a.m. this morning!! You see last night I took a few pills, as I do once a week, every week, and have been doing for the past 23 years (AT LEAST). NO I'm NOT a junkie, I take these pills to help me with a certain bodily function that most people with Spina Bifida have issues with, and that is... Drum roll please... GOING TO THE BATHROOM!!


I've always been incontinent with my bowels ( and at the time also bladder), but it started becoming a real issue in High School. Let me start from the beginning .I was always in public school since the 3rd grade... (1972 - I think i was part of a pilot program for the Education of All Children Act of 1975 but, I'm not sure.) I went to an elementary school that was in my town but out of my school district, because the school in district was 3 levels and this was only 1 level. I was teamed with the school psychologist whose only concern was to 'TIME' me with a stop watch to see how long it took me to walk from the class to the cafeteria and other points in the school!! ( OOOOH your tax dollars at work!) I also needed some help with my personal needs so I'd go into the nurse's office and use her bathroom. It would work out great until I'd actually need a little assistance and she'd call home to have someone come up and assist me in changing my clothes. They didn't have to bring the clothes up you see, because I always kept a change of clothes right IN the Nurse's office!! (imagine that!). Well, you want to hear something ironic??? (Of course, you do you're reading my blog aren't you?); well, the nurse would talk to my grandmother and they built up a friendship and one day when we were eating dinner the phone rang... It was the school nurse she called ot tell us that her daughter-in-law just had a baby girl ....WITH SPINA BIFIDA... (Who says the man upstairs doesn't have a sense of humor)... Then I went to my Home district for Junior High, This was great because some of my teachers were also my mother's and aunts' and uncles' teachers, so they were willing to work with me. The school was 2 levels and the Science labs were upstairs so what they did, since I was capable of climbing stairs with assistance, was to schedule my first 5 periods downstairs, then I would leave 5 minutes early- as i did with ALL my classes, and a classmate would assist me by carrying my books while I went up the stairs. luckily for her it was just notebooks because I was permitted to keep a textbook in each classroom to lighten my load. ( actually the load of my classmate since SHE was the one carrying both our books) I'd have 6th, 7th & 8th upstairs and again would leave 5 minutes early to go back downstairs and board the bus. 1/2 way through 8th grade it was becoming a struggle to do the stairs so they arranged to have me take the science class in an ALC -now I didn't need an ALC for academics, but it was a better alternative than the daily climb up to the 2nd floor and the risk of being in the stairwell when the bell rang!! I even went on a school overnight trip with the Chorus to Pennsylvania and New Jersey's Great Adventure where my chorus teacher organized a 'Lisa committee' comprised of my classmates to help me from 'point A' to 'point B' they were scheduled to meet me at several points in the park. It was a terrific trip!!Even the competition in Pennsylvania where i was in the bottom row 'cause i couldn't climb the steps, and my Mom was in the FRONT ROW I became a deer in headlights and Mom didn't make matters any better when she so nicely pointed out to me that she got that special seat and all I could do was lip-sync!! well in 1980 it was off to High School. NOW , again, I didn't want to go to the High School in my district because the darn building was so big that I'd need a taxi to get from class-to-class. and I knew 5 minutes wasn't enough to leave a class early and since the school had double the student body (maybe triple) If I was ever stuck in the hall when the bell rang.... UGH!! not a pretty picture!! So Mom asked if I'd want to go to an all girl's Catholic school 2 towns over and I said 'what the heck.' WELL PEOPLE...... it was the LONGEST year and a half of my life. I didn't have assistance I just had to ask another student if they'd mind carrying my books to class!! I always got help but sometimes they'd run ahead for fear of being late and just drop my books next to me!!! ( what wonderful Christian behavior!) One day it just caught up to me and well my 'Innerds' just let loose, I managed to make it into the girls room I was actually saying the'Hail Mary' over and over but not before, well let's just say the custodian had to be summoned with a mop and mom needed to come up with a change of clothes... Speaking about Christian behavior get a load of this; Each year the school would take an overnight retreat to Shelter Island in October, well since I was only in school a couple of weeks at that time, when they told my mother and me that it was best if I didn't go my sophomore year ( 10th grade) we were a little disappointed but understood, I had a whole year to prove myself and 11 grade was just around the corner..... Well, as luck would have it when I applied for the trip according to them I missed the deadline and the bus was full!-- bum luck,-- but mom wasn't discouraged she actually called Shelter Island and asked them if it would be alright if she drove me to the retreat since there was no room on the bus. well there was silence on the other end of the phone ( actually I don't know this because it was my mom on the phone but it's great effect isn't it??) and the person apparently said something in the line of 'what do you mean there's no room on the bus, there's PLENTY of room on the bus.' Well, Hell hath no fury like the single mother of a disabled child scorned. Mom went right up to school demanding to talk to the principal and when they started pleading their case. Mom asked the principal when was the last time she took a retreat , because she really should think about the vows she took before God!!! YIKES!! go MOM !! I'm just glad wasn't in the room at the time. Mom sat me down again and asked if I would mind going to Human Resources a school for the disabled, I was hesitant but i did, and althoug I didn't realize it at the time, it was the BEST move I ever made. I was on the swim team going to competitions out of state and it was an even playing field. finally fit in!! (although again I didn't realize it at the time) this was also around the time since that wonderful incident in the bathroom that I started taking laxatives over the weekend to 'clean me out' so if I ever had another nervous episode It wouldn't be such a fiasco. well I graduated school went to college and now I am working full time since 1987. and I am able to hold down the job because of the bowel routine I got into: I take a laxative the night before, go throught the night (I usually wake up about 1:00 stay up for 2 hours going and then go to bed. sometimes I get up more than once in a night) sometimes the next day until about dinner time. Yes, it kinda kills one day out of my weekend since I can't make any plans since I don't know exactly WHEN the laxative is going to work, but it's worth hanging out one day so I can enjoy life without worrying about if my 'innerds' are going to release at an inappropriate time!! anyway I'll leave you on that note today happens to be one of those 'hang around the house' days and it's off to Atlantic City tomorrow!! tata

Car shopping (part II)

First of all you'r probably wondering why i titled this with a 'Part II' Well!!! I just got finished writing todays blog and... well.... the joy of computers,... didn't press the 'SAVE' button. OK. Here it goes again...
Went car shopping with my trusty assistant 'MOM' today. First we went to the Toyota dealer, we waited for a dealer and finally said the heck with it and left... Let me backtrack....Mom and I went to Toyota last week but all the dealers were so bogged down with the 'cash for clunker' promotion that we left without seeing anyone. Then we went to the Honda Dealer ('Those Honda's are very good cars!' to quote an old '80's honda commercial) and talked to someone, told them we'd be back , and we were. This time around I spent time getting in cars... IN the driver's seat and OUT of the driver's seat.... Can I maneuver easily? can I see over the steering wheel? ( I'm a little old Italian lady that is a VERY important feature.) and Mom was like ' OK, get out this man wants to see the car' HEY MOM! I'm here buying a car too, can't he wait his turn!.....)(obviously I just thought this and didn't verbalize it for fear of getting the 'WRATH OF MOM!! lol) Then we went out into the lot, my arms are exhausted pushing through gravel... in the HEAT no less, and trying to keep up with Mom who walks soooooo quickly!! Well in the end I'll probably be heading back there Tuesday ( to Honda to buy the car.) Then it's of to the Mechanic to get the 'car-topper ' installed.....

daily chores.

Well just got finished snacking on a tuna sandwich and extra tuna in a bowl. when i was doneI put the dirty dishes in the sink then said 'what the heck' and went to put them in the dishwasher. Darn the dishwasher is full of clean dishes, can't put them in there!! So again my thought was to leave them in the sink. Well, living with 2 neat freaks, that wouldn't go over very well, so I emptied the dishwasher --one plate, one utensil and one glass at a time.-- it took me 15 minutes. Now that may not seem like a long time ( Actually THIS time wasn't so long for me!) but if you actually time how long ONE minute is, and what you can do in that minute, you will see that it was kinda long. It's not like we have 10 people living in the house( only 3 ) but 3 people can use a lot of dishes in one day so the dishwasher fills up fast. You know it is great excercise since, as I said ,I could only pick up one thing at a time, put it away and then bend down and get another piece. GREAT Excercise!! ( I can feel the fat burning already). Till the next time

well here goes nothing

Well I just got up and went straight for the computer. I figure if I don't get at this blogging thing right away I'll never write on it, So here it goes...When I got out of bed I realized an old blister I had got it in Florida (while on Vacation! FUN ) and have been taking care of since I came home, ( well actually my Mom has, but I ask her to help, so in a sense 'I' am taking care of it) had reopened--YUCK!! Blood on the bed sheet and a trail while i drag my self and my wounded foot into the bathroom! -"HEY MOOOOOMMMMM!! She came in and 'nurse Carol' got it all fixed with Neosporin and a sterile gauze pad. Now I'm all ready to start the day. May head down to the beach to check out the waves from Yesterdays wicked rains, I love doing that!!

Hello there

Well I decided to start a blog, You may think It's because of a certain movie in theaters now, but that was just the light up my 'youknowwhat' the real inspiration is my friend Scott who I went to High School with. He has a blog and it's Terrific!! I hope I can be as interesting as him. Well that's all for now. stay tuned for the first installment (or actually 2nd if you count this one) of 'Bifida Babe'!