Dina,

It's a shame that your relatives are behaving so invasively.  I wonder how
they would feel if you countered their unwelcome suggestions by offering your
own advice on how they might better accomplish toileting needs, or how to
properly wash their private regions while bathing.  Do they wash their hands
after they use the toilet?  You might want to ask.  Perhaps you should
suggest to any such female in your family that a particular brassiere -- the
Eighteen Hour bra -- might support her sagging breasts better than the one
she is currently wearing.

I'm sorry, perhaps I should not be so sarcastic.  I just detest it when
people are audacious enough to presume that they know our needs better than
do we.

I was a little distressed, however, to read what I read between the lines.
Naturally, if using a wheelchair would lead to a worsening of your condition,
that is not the mode of transportation for you.

It is for me though, and I love my chair.  I absolutely love it.  The world
is open to me again Dina, thanks to this fantastic piece of machinery.  For
me, walking distances is a useless enterprise.  I know that using a chair as
much as I do is contributing to an earlier atrophy of my leg muscles, but I
was going to land in a chair sooner or later with what I have anyway.  I just
decided that if I could enjoy my life more using it, then I would get more of
what I want out of life.

We are all different, of course, but it sounded as though you are a little
down on wheelchairs generally, and I wanted to make a statement about how
great they are for those of us who need them.  My chair is a beautiful thing
Dina, and I am not ashamed of it in any way at all.

I do hope you can get your tricycle though.  I looked into that myself once,
but now I would not be able to use such a thing.  Can I be nosey enough to
ask what the hold up is?  If I am being too nosey, just tell me and I'll mind
my own beeswax.

Betty
I used to be able bodied, but I got better.

In a message dated 10/14/2001 9:11:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Hi,
>
>  I am around sporadically. I am back in school and doing a research project
>  this week. :-)) I am trying my darnest to get the tricycle so I can get
>  around the campus more easily right now. I don't find it fun having to park
>  my car in two or three different places just so I can get from one building
>  to the other more easily.
>
>  When I have to do that, it makes me feel so frustrated. I don't know why my
>  family doesn't "get it." Then again, they don't realize what CP is like. It
>  takes me at least 10-15 minutes to get from the parking lot to class and I
> do
>  have to stop a few times for a moment or two along the way. My family would
>  rather see me use a scooter, but I already told them that would be a GREAT
>  way to end up in a wheelchair permanently, G-d forbid. I am a LONG way away
>  from needing one and want to keep it that way. :-))
>
>  Have fun,
>
>  Dina
>


Betty
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
"I will either find a way or make one."