Mad Geek
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Hooray for handicap parking!
Well, not much has changed since last post. I was able to get a handicap parking pass for when I return to work tomorrow. Our parking lot there is huge, and since I come in at 9'am every morning, I'm usually parked somewhere in the back. Not any more!
After getting the doctor's 'OK' to get one of those passes, you have to go to the DMV to get the actual hang-tag. It's ironic that the worst driving in the world happens in the DMV parking lot. I didn't have to wait long, since I got to go to the disability window and there was only one person ahead of me. The lady who helped me was very nice too. Our conversation went something like this:
"Hi, how are you?"
Me: "Good, thanks! Are you aware that the person here ahead of me hit your handicap parking sign and pulled it from the pavement? It's now resting next to the door."
"Doesn't surprise me; he has polio and can't really control his legs. He also has no depth perception."
So, with maybe a few exceptions (such as myself) when you see a handicap sticker or hang tag or license plate on a car near you, get away! It is more than possible the person is not fit to operate a motor vehicle, and so gets extra parking privileges. Go fig.
After getting the doctor's 'OK' to get one of those passes, you have to go to the DMV to get the actual hang-tag. It's ironic that the worst driving in the world happens in the DMV parking lot. I didn't have to wait long, since I got to go to the disability window and there was only one person ahead of me. The lady who helped me was very nice too. Our conversation went something like this:
"Hi, how are you?"
Me: "Good, thanks! Are you aware that the person here ahead of me hit your handicap parking sign and pulled it from the pavement? It's now resting next to the door."
"Doesn't surprise me; he has polio and can't really control his legs. He also has no depth perception."
So, with maybe a few exceptions (such as myself) when you see a handicap sticker or hang tag or license plate on a car near you, get away! It is more than possible the person is not fit to operate a motor vehicle, and so gets extra parking privileges. Go fig.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
And I'm back!
Hello everyone! Not much has happened lately, so I figured there wasn't much of a reason to update this blog . . . HA!
About 2 weeks ago (February 7th)I was admitted into St Mark's Hospital for a small stroke in my left vertebral artery which ended up blocking blood to a small area in my spine around the C4-C5 junction and knocking my legs to jelly! I was in the hospital for about 3 days and was released home on a walker. True to form, I denied the walker and found myself a very respectable cane instead. Actually, the cane doesn't look much better, but I couldn't justify spending alot of money on something I hoped not to use for more than a month.
So, I'm now on blood thinners for about 3 months. They'r still tweaking the amount I'm going to be taking as they were hoping to get to me about a 2.5 INR (blood thickness level, the lower the number, the thicker it is). After the first week of medication, I was a 4.4. So they had me alter my schedule with it. Next week; 5.3. Loads of fun! It's especially funny to be told to avoid being cut or anything because I could potentially bleed to death AS THEY ARE DRAWING MY BLOOD!
Fast forward to yesterday. Tine and I have moved into her parents basement in West Valley. The hopes are that we will be able to save up for a house of our own. The good thing about this is that her parents currently live in Tucson where her dad is working. Not that her parents are bad by any means, but it's so much easier to share a house when the other people aren't there!
I was actually pretty worried about us moving since I can't lift anything, but our ward showed up in the form of a small army. Add to the mix our friends and family with a convoy of trucks and we were out of our old place in 30 minutes. It was like watching a small contingent of the Borg come in and clean us out!
Now I'm sitting here in the office enjoying my new 4Mb/s connection to the internet. (BTW, Andrew, to get your connection to upgrade to the new 4Mb standard, simply power cycle the modem and it will download its new configuration when it reconnects to the server). Between the xBox (Jeff, I beat Crimson Skies), cable, and internet . . . now is a good time to be 'crippled'. Well, except that the bathroom is upstairs!
About 2 weeks ago (February 7th)I was admitted into St Mark's Hospital for a small stroke in my left vertebral artery which ended up blocking blood to a small area in my spine around the C4-C5 junction and knocking my legs to jelly! I was in the hospital for about 3 days and was released home on a walker. True to form, I denied the walker and found myself a very respectable cane instead. Actually, the cane doesn't look much better, but I couldn't justify spending alot of money on something I hoped not to use for more than a month.
So, I'm now on blood thinners for about 3 months. They'r still tweaking the amount I'm going to be taking as they were hoping to get to me about a 2.5 INR (blood thickness level, the lower the number, the thicker it is). After the first week of medication, I was a 4.4. So they had me alter my schedule with it. Next week; 5.3. Loads of fun! It's especially funny to be told to avoid being cut or anything because I could potentially bleed to death AS THEY ARE DRAWING MY BLOOD!
Fast forward to yesterday. Tine and I have moved into her parents basement in West Valley. The hopes are that we will be able to save up for a house of our own. The good thing about this is that her parents currently live in Tucson where her dad is working. Not that her parents are bad by any means, but it's so much easier to share a house when the other people aren't there!
I was actually pretty worried about us moving since I can't lift anything, but our ward showed up in the form of a small army. Add to the mix our friends and family with a convoy of trucks and we were out of our old place in 30 minutes. It was like watching a small contingent of the Borg come in and clean us out!
Now I'm sitting here in the office enjoying my new 4Mb/s connection to the internet. (BTW, Andrew, to get your connection to upgrade to the new 4Mb standard, simply power cycle the modem and it will download its new configuration when it reconnects to the server). Between the xBox (Jeff, I beat Crimson Skies), cable, and internet . . . now is a good time to be 'crippled'. Well, except that the bathroom is upstairs!
