Hi Brent,

  Welcome to the group.

  The over 40 crowd hanging about here can no doubt teach you a lot :) Did
you have any sort of therapy as a child? How was your school life, etc. You
must reveal all :)

  The medical community seems not to really know what to do with us so by
trial and error we often find it necessary to make our own way. Some of us
tend to feel more comfortable going with the traditional "doctor drug"
regimen of management when it comes to coping with age-related symptoms.
I've opted for the alternative approaches - vitamins and herbs,
aromatherapy, massage therapy, and even pet therapy. You'll meet Mr. Jake
later - he's resting up for his grooming session tomorrow :)

  The aches and pains associated with aging with cerebral palsy are
certainly irksome, but with planning (modifying routines, etc), proper
nutrition, lots of rest, many of us do very well (Bobby, get your head out
of that damned refrigerator!)

  Accepting that we are no longer 18 or even 28 and may not be able to
function as we did then will do much to improve our lot - learning that we
may need to rest more frequently is necessary.

  At almost 48, I'm still able to manage my housework, viewing it as a form
of exercise. I'm also great advocate of proper nutrition, mindful of the
fact that we are what we eat. Speaking of food, do you have any good
recipes? I have a great one for chicken manicotti, peoples! :)

  Again, welcome to the group, Brent. We look forward to much more from you.

Regards,

Carla
http://www.brunnet.net/terrier

----- Original Message -----
From: Brent Edwards <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 1:39 PM
Subject: Introduction


> Hello, my name is Brent Edwards.
>
> I've been lurking here for about three weeks now, trying to get a feel for
> the nature and "tone" of this list. I still have some questions about
that,
> but I felt I should introduce myself before posing them.
>
> (Actually, I posted a somewhat snarky reply a few days ago to the person
who
> sent two unreadably html-formatted messages. Sorry if that was a violation
> of this list's "culture", but html-tagged e-mail is a major pet peeve of
> mine.)
>
> I'm 41 years old, and have right-side hemiplegic cp. It is - from
everything
> I've been able to determine via net research - an extremely mild case. I
> have sharply degraded fine motor control of my right hand. I am unable to
> rotate my right wrist past about 85 degrees. I have slightly degraded fine
> motor control of my right foot, yielding a very slight limp. I have some
> extremely minor spasticity of my right hand, usually manifesting itself
only
> when I'm tired or stressed.
>
> And that is just about it, at least as of right now. In other words, I can
> "pass" as able-bodied in many circumstances.
>
> Because of this, I have resisted self-identifying as "disabled" at all. I
> felt for many years that I had no right to the label. My cp has never
> stopped me from doing anything I really wanted to do (except perhaps play
> the piano in real time, but that is trivial at best). I have no problems
> getting around. ADA non-compliant facilities present no barrier to me. I
was
> simply too "lucky" to have anything to complain about. (Something my
mother
> used to tell me constantly.)
>
> I'm married, have kids, a good job, house in the 'burbs, the whole bit.
And
> yet...
>
> And yet, I don't know. I've started noticing over the past half-decade or
so
> slight creeping increases in the degradation of my motor skills. I wonder
> how the damage to my left cerebellum is going to affect my cardiovascular
> system as I age further. How will my condition affect my lifespan? *Will*
it
> affect my lifespan? Blah blah blah.
>
> The answers that I've gotten from the few doctors I've seen can pretty
much
> be summed up as "No one knows."
>
> So lately I've started to seek out other adults with mild-to-moderate cp,
as
> it seems we are going to have to figure out these things for ourselves.
This
> search has brought me into contact - for really the first time in my
life -
> with the disabled community and disabled culture.
>
> So my question to you all is simple, really. Do I belong here? Someone
> commented a few days ago that this list is populated mostly with disabled
> adults, but I've seen several parents of disabled kids posting. Is there
> anyone else here in similar circumstances to my own?
>
> I welcome any and all comments.
>
> Brent Edwards