We teach a unit on disability history that pretty much states that advances
technologically for people with disabilities are pushed by wars, and are
then followed by social advances.  Wonder what advances we'll see ten years
into (or after) the current war?  There are already advances in prosthetic
limbs resulting, and advances in treatment for brain injury.  I'm dead set
against the war, but am excited to see the advances society as a whole, and
people with disabilities in particular, may make from it.

As for me, I've been taking baclofen again for about 9 months, after taking
no spasticity meds for about ten years.  I went back to baclofen after being
unceremoniously dumped on the floor during transfers due to tone and clonus
too many times.  Unfortunately, with the spasticity better controlled, it
revealed a lot of dystonia in my neck, and I started having pain, numbness
and tingling in my right arm (the only limb I've got worth the powder to
blow it to He_ _).  I'm scheduled for my first botox treatment on Friday.  I
also had an MRI to see if there were any underlying problems in the neck
causing the arm and neck pain.  There were: arthritis in 3 vertebra, two
disks bulging, one disk flattened, and a partridge in a pear tree.  So we'll
see if the botox and PT and OT can delay surgery a little bit.  I was
talking to my boss last week, and said I'd eventually make some orthopedic
surgeon very happy and pay for a new Lexus, or his kid's college
education. Glad to hear the botox is working well for you for similar
problems Ken.  No such thing as a movement disorders clinic in Wyoming, and
the "adult" CP Clinic in Denver will only see patients between 18 an 30.

Great thing is that the senior partner in the neurology practice Janet and I
see did his fellowship in movement disorders, and the junior partner is
really up on neuro-anatomy and nerve pain.  We've actually been able to put
together a virtual multi-disciplinary team, with docs and therapists from
within about a 200 mile radius.


On 9/29/07, Michael H. Collis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> You got that right Kyle.  I can't imagine what life would be like without
> powerchairs, hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other techie
> wonders.  Heck, most of us would probably be institutionalized if we made it
> out of childhood, or worse.
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 08:58:06 -0400
> >From: "Cleveland, Kyle E." <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Re: Hello again
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >
> >Yeah, but Dylan's songwriting...WOW!  I just heard a CD of a band called
> "Opie Gone Bad" that covered some Dylan tunes.  Smashing!
> >
> >Wonderful to 'hear' about your implant Kat.  Ain't technology
> wonderful?  Can you imagine what life would be like for us gimps a hundred
> years back?  Most of us probably wouldn't live until adulthood--if we nade
> it past birth!
> >How has the implant affected your balance?
> >
> >Kyle
>
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-- 


Kendall

An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

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