What seems like 400 years ago, I broke my fucking neck… Hell
I don’t even remember the actual count after all these years (Dec 18, 1968… YOU
figure it out). Now wait right there,
I’m saying this for perspective, not pity (something I ALWAYS hated). As I always say, “What A L-O-N-G Strange Trip
It’s Been!” And after 400 years, I guess
I can say I out lived what most people (including myself) figured that I would…
I told my wife when she first moved in with me that I probably wouldn’t live
past 50.
I have come to wonder why I’ve been so damned healthy all these years. I recently had to change my “family doctor”... I had my other doc trained very well; she KNEW that I knew my body. My new doc’s a dude, & sometimes they don’t listen. But he did! I told him even after 400 years I have never had a major pressure sore on my ass from sitting on it all day. He asked how where you able to do that? And I said what I always say, “I did it on purpose.”
When I first broke my fucking neck, I didn’t know ANYTHING about this thing called disability. I knew that I needed to change some of my priorities in life. I knew that I wasn’t going to whine & cry. I knew I didn’t want ANYONE to pity me. I knew that WHATEVER needed to be done, I needed to learn what that was & do it myself or make sure it got done by SOMEONE.
Which brings us back to my lack pressure sores… I owe lifelong awesomely tough skin to my parents, who for years woke EVERY night to turn my ass in bed, so I wouldn’t develop any pressure sores. Now, many years after I have left home, I sleep all night on my back (on an awesome mattress)… with no ill effects. Maybe all those years of taking care of my skin toughened my ass… or maybe it’s true what one rehab doc told me, “Steve, you’re just too ‘hard-assed’ to develop pressure sores!” Which confused me because I’d always been told all my life that I had an intellectually superior ass (or something like that).
At any rate when I first broke my broke my fucking neck, I was told that most quadriplegics lived only 1 or 2 years, then 5 years, then 10 years. Even though medical science has certainly changed over the years, I’ve never been the kind of person who needs a lot of medical care. NOW, I go in to see the doc every 3 months, but only to check on my type 2 diabetes… which of course runs in the family, NOT because I broke my fucking neck!
When I think of medical advancements, I often think of a very beautiful young classmate who wasn’t as lucky as I. Jeri Kerns was a VERY energetic girl… kind of a Tom-boy, but definitely a gorgeous young lady. Was the difference because of medical science or maybe she had some other medical complications? I don’t know. She broke her back & I broke my fucking neck… we both messed up our spinal cords. I was just luckier. All I can figure is that God wanted her with Him, and I was left here another 400 years.
POST SCRIPT
My reference to: “I broke my fucking neck”, comes from the fact that when I meet people & they ask me how I came to be a person with a disability, I’ve ALWAYS wanted to say “because I broke my fucking neck!” Not to be rude… just to see their reaction. I would never do that, because I’d rather have a person engage me in that type of discussion, than to just sit & stare.
BUT, I have a very sick sense of humor, so I’m ALWAYS tempted.
I have come to wonder why I’ve been so damned healthy all these years. I recently had to change my “family doctor”... I had my other doc trained very well; she KNEW that I knew my body. My new doc’s a dude, & sometimes they don’t listen. But he did! I told him even after 400 years I have never had a major pressure sore on my ass from sitting on it all day. He asked how where you able to do that? And I said what I always say, “I did it on purpose.”
When I first broke my fucking neck, I didn’t know ANYTHING about this thing called disability. I knew that I needed to change some of my priorities in life. I knew that I wasn’t going to whine & cry. I knew I didn’t want ANYONE to pity me. I knew that WHATEVER needed to be done, I needed to learn what that was & do it myself or make sure it got done by SOMEONE.
Which brings us back to my lack pressure sores… I owe lifelong awesomely tough skin to my parents, who for years woke EVERY night to turn my ass in bed, so I wouldn’t develop any pressure sores. Now, many years after I have left home, I sleep all night on my back (on an awesome mattress)… with no ill effects. Maybe all those years of taking care of my skin toughened my ass… or maybe it’s true what one rehab doc told me, “Steve, you’re just too ‘hard-assed’ to develop pressure sores!” Which confused me because I’d always been told all my life that I had an intellectually superior ass (or something like that).
At any rate when I first broke my broke my fucking neck, I was told that most quadriplegics lived only 1 or 2 years, then 5 years, then 10 years. Even though medical science has certainly changed over the years, I’ve never been the kind of person who needs a lot of medical care. NOW, I go in to see the doc every 3 months, but only to check on my type 2 diabetes… which of course runs in the family, NOT because I broke my fucking neck!
When I think of medical advancements, I often think of a very beautiful young classmate who wasn’t as lucky as I. Jeri Kerns was a VERY energetic girl… kind of a Tom-boy, but definitely a gorgeous young lady. Was the difference because of medical science or maybe she had some other medical complications? I don’t know. She broke her back & I broke my fucking neck… we both messed up our spinal cords. I was just luckier. All I can figure is that God wanted her with Him, and I was left here another 400 years.
POST SCRIPT
My reference to: “I broke my fucking neck”, comes from the fact that when I meet people & they ask me how I came to be a person with a disability, I’ve ALWAYS wanted to say “because I broke my fucking neck!” Not to be rude… just to see their reaction. I would never do that, because I’d rather have a person engage me in that type of discussion, than to just sit & stare.
BUT, I have a very sick sense of humor, so I’m ALWAYS tempted.
