Don,
I'm so glad to hear that you too used a hair dryer to get warm. I thought
I was tho only one. I went to college at Ramapo at the bordered of New Jersey
and New York. Sunday night I got stuck in the snow and ice until a fellow
student cam by about 45 minutes later. I had a 1976 model with belt drive crap.
Bobbie
Smile Everyday
> On Dec 18, 2014, at 5:11 PM, Don Price <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> A year after my injury, in Wisconsin, I went off to college at the University
> of WI - Stevens Point, which is about dead center of the state. I knew
> nothing about my spinal cord injury except that I was cold all the time and
> missed a lot of classes because I didn't want to leave my hot chocolate and
> warm dorm room. I, too, fired up my blow dryer quite often and it makes me
> happy to know I'm not the only one who did that.
>
> It was the end of December and I had one of the latest final exams of anyone
> I knew. The campus was deserted because everybody was done with exams and had
> headed home for Christmas break. The sky was crystal clear and sunny, but
> that didn't reflect the bone-chilling, -15 degree windchill that blasted my
> face as I rolled about a half mile from Steiner Hall to the classroom
> building where the exam was administered.
>
> I could hear the crunch of snow as I rolled over a few areas that hadn't been
> shoveled too well. The rubber of my tires made strange creaking sounds as if
> they were about to crack in their brittle condition and I had a difficult
> time rolling in a straight line because of the bulkiness of my mittens around
> the wooden dowel joystick I used back then. My trek was a bit longer than the
> other students as the only accessible entrance to the building was in the
> rear, behind the dumpsters and next to the delivery ramp.
>
> As I neared the back entrance my chair began to slow noticeably and respond
> in a sluggish manner. I immediately glanced at my battery level. Had my
> caregiver forgotten to plug in the charger last night?! Nope; the battery
> level looked fine. Then I realized it --the water in my batteries (liquid
> batteries back then) must be freezing up! I looked around me--no one in
> sight; campus was a ghost town. Luckily, I was nearing the back door and knew
> that warmth was only a minute or two away. My chair was creeping now, barely
> able to climb the last bit of ramp that led behind the dumpsters and to the
> door. Almost there now... whew, made it!
>
> I hit the electric door opener button, as I'd done so many times that
> semester, only this time nothing happened. I pushed it again. Nothing. Again
> and again I pressed the door opener, but no telltale click or whirring sound
> answered my frantic stabs. I inched forward, tried to slip my mittened hand
> into the door handle--no go, too bulky and slippery. With my teeth I pulled
> the mitten from my hand and looped my curved fingers through the icy-cold
> handle. Pull!..... Oh damn,.... it's locked! Are you f%$#ing kidding me?! I'm
> cold to the bone, my chair is crapping out, nobody is around and I'm about to
> freeze to death trying to go to a goddamn final exam?! This is not how I
> wanted my life to end!
>
> Keep in mind, this was before cell phones. I had no way to call for help
> except for my yells, and so that's what I did--HELP! HELP! HELLLLPPP! I
> screamed. I pounded on the door, yelled for help and started to think about
> my family learning that I had frozen to death because somebody had locked a
> back door. At 15 below zero I knew I wouldn't last too long.
>
> I was getting seriously panicked and bordering hypothermic when a student
> heard my pounding and came to see what the noise was. I was so thankful to
> see her that I think I cried a bit. I don't remember anything about that exam
> or how long it took me to warm up in front of the register, but I do remember
> that lightbulb going on in my head: "I have to get out of this cold climate!"
>
> A year and a half later it was 112 degrees when I moved into the dorm at
> Arizona State University. And, I loved every single one of those degrees.
>
> Don.
>
>
