All of us have a different story. I just seem to call agencies and try to be nice. It seems like I pay people to be around me and I haven't enough money for anyone to get fanatical about it. I don't under estimate the fact that I take drugs. I think I've been lucky because I've never had much trouble with women chasing me. Most leave skid marks if I even joke about such things. The really difficult people I meet are trying to get me healed at their church. They get so upset when I don't get up and dance. I tried to tell them that faith shouldn't require proof. I'm being shunned by two entire cults. I'd complain but I am still enjoying the telephone silence. john -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:05 AM Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] How You Do It
Hi Merrill, It sounds like you had the perfect set-up 3 times in a row! And your asking us how you should do it?!? I should be so lucky. Why did you leave what sounds like such perfect set-ups? Dan On 2/20/07, Merrill Burghardt < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: HOW DO YOU DO IT? If you do not care to read this in complete, can you share how as a fellow quadriplegic you live? To learn what is possible for myself, I watch and speak to as many quadriplegics how they live, particularly on a low budget paying to get in and out of bed at that. After rehab when I was first injured, the hospital nor I knew what to do with me. My family lived 2,000 miles away in Milwaukee. Moving from California was not at present an option, nor did I want at that time be the prodigal son I was, to move in this way. Fortunate for me, the SCI psychologist refused to allow me be discharged to a nursing home. I am forever thankful to this woman to have given me a standard and the guts to be creative in how I live. I know nursing facilities are necessary to perhaps most people at one time or another, so any person at home in such a facility I mean no disrespect. Contrary, what you have to do, or found, ya have to do it. My solution was to run an ad in the domestic colomn in a newspaper in an area I desired to live. The ad read something like, " 38 year old quadriplegic looking to live with caregiver. Offering (at that time $1,300.)" A woman with two old enough to work daughters, CNAs themselves were my best choice. As a new C/5 injury I pretty much broke myself in with my new found injury survival ways here. This was working out pretty well. A cousin I had never met started calling me insisting for me to move in with her in a house she recently bought. After two months of persuasiveness, I felt if she wanted me bad enough she could have me. So not involving her in my care outside of meals, could you, would yours, and the sort, I pretty well cut my teeth on hiring, working with, training, and firing attendants. After ten years it was time to move on. Again I ran my ad for someone to adopt me so to speak. Luck again, I moved in with a woman who recently gave birth, and not wanting to return to work was looking for someone just like me. Now after seven years I need to move on again. Long story short, how are other's living? Please share your stories with me direct, or to the list. I am so interested how others have met the challenge, particularly those on their own without money. I guess I am looking for encouragement and creativity. Thank you. Merrill [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.
