Joanne,

        Not to be too gross, my co-author who was a woman in a WC used to
say that the two most pleasurable things in life, you do lying down: sleep
and I forget the other. LOL

Bobby


>We who are ambulatory are so insistent
>>that others not be "wheelchair bound". >
>
>Bobby, this is an excellent point.  I have a 4.5 yr old son with spastic
>quad CP.  He was a preemie and we were told not to expect him to reach
>milestones on time.  CP was heavily hinted at although not "officially" dx
>until he was 22 mo.  During Early Intervention classes and therapy the big
>question I always had was would Alex walk.  Took comfort in the adages like
>sit by 2 and walk by 4, etc.  Never thought to ask if Alex would have a
>functioning brain and the capacity to do things for himself, just if he
>would walk.  As if that would make all things ok.  Well Alex does have a
>functioning brain, the little devil,  thank goodness.  This past July he had
>SDR surgery.  I took a year pondering the question how important was walking
>to me.  I was wrong right there.  I wasn't the one with CP, Alex was.  I
>came to realize that walking only gets you from point A to point B.  A
>mobile stander or WC accomplishes the same.  We went ahead with the surgery
>with the idea that if he was able to walk because of it  would be the big
>perk and not the goal.  The goal was to reduce spasticity in his legs so his
>over all balance would improve.  The surgery did accomplish this.  The big
>benefits is without him fighting for balance as much he can now sit and
>listen and learn. If he walks hip hip hooray but I don't want him walking
>and expanding so much effort in doing it that there is no energy left over
>for any thing else.  Thanks for bring up this very important point.
>Joanne