My Nuts and Bolts

Two weeks ago I had a busy week, with two very looong doctor's appointments at the hospital. My mom and I were gone for 5 hours for the first appointment, and 6½ hours for the second one, just two days later. (I was originally supposed to have a third appointment that week with the optometrist, too, but my mom and I knew that we would be pooped from the first two appointments, so we rescheduled the optometrist for the following Friday for our sanity's sake!) With the exception of these two appointments being long, both went really well.

I had to get some x-rays of my neck after the appointment with my physiatrist, which is a doctor of physical medicine. I spent an hour getting all of these x-rays done, and my neck was so sore afterwards from getting stretched and turned every which way so that it could be in the right position for each x-ray. (I can't hold my head up, especially when I have to sit up at a 90° angle, so one of the guys in the x-ray department had to stretch/hold my head in the right position.) I couldn't wait to get home!

I had to get my neck stabilized after my accident, so this is what I was left with: lots of little pins and screws inserted to hold things together to give me the best chance of having as much movement as possible. These diagrams should give you an idea of where the C2 vertebra is, which is where my neck was broken in my car accident. (It's right at the base of the skull, where the skull and spine meet.)

Then at my appointment on Thursday, I had a renal ultrasound on my kidneys to check for stones. I met with my urologist afterwards, and she said that everything looked good; no new stones, and the one that I'd had two months previously was no longer visible. I don't know if it passed, or what, but it wasn't there anymore. I won't complain! I met with a nephrologist (kidney specialist) after seeing my urologist, and he said that my kidneys looked great and were functioning well. Woo-hoo! I don't have to go back to these doctors until January 2016.

The Itch You Can't Scratch

Spring is here and it's BEAUTIFUL in Missouri right now, but there is a lot of pollen flying around in the air. Those microscopic particles from the flowers and trees coat everything in a yellow film and make allergy sufferers miserable! I've never really had bad allergies or been especially sensitive to pollen, but I DO seem to be itching more lately. Spring = pollen = more itches, and saying that itches are a nuisance for someone who can't move is a major understatement!

Having an itch you can't scratch is actually pretty cruel. Pure torture! I distinctly remember lying in bed once when I was still able-bodied, thinking of poor Christopher Reeve and what it would be like to be unable to scratch an itch. I lay there with a fierce itch in my nose, and I held off scratching it until I thought I would go mad. When I couldn't take it any more, I scratched and scratched until I completely relieved myself of the itch. It is SO ironic thinking of that incident now! (This really did happen, by the way.)

There is really an art and technique to scratching an itch, and it's a lot more involved than you might think. If your nose itches, for example, you can't just have someone timidly scratch the end of your nose and have that satisfy your itch. The exact location they scratch matters, as well as HOW they scratch and the amount of pressure they use. All of this can be difficult to explain to someone, especially when you can't gesture or point to indicate how/what you want. For this reason, I ask very few people to help me scratch my itches (basically only my mom and my youngest sister, Chandra). I'm not sure what would be worse: the agony of the itch, or the frustration of trying to teach someone how to scratch the itch in a satisfying way. I choose to just suffer with the itch in order to spare myself–and others–the frustration and awkwardness of the whole thing! [I've found that making up code names/phrases for the particular areas of your face that itch frequently help give your caregivers a point of reference to know where to scratch.]

Thankfully, I only experience the sensation of itching on my face, eyes, scalp and ears, and not anywhere from the neck down. I'm not sure why I don't itch on the rest of my body since I DO feel other sensations below my neck. I won't complain, though, and neither will my caregivers. ; ) I can only take so much, after all! 

People Helping People

Arnold Harvey has been working for Waste Management as a waste collection driver for the past 25 years. He drives a night route and services different areas of Washington, D.C. In 2007, Arnold started noticing a growing number of people––particularly families––sleeping on the streets. Arnold organized a collection among his waste management coworkers to gather food and clothing for the homeless. As customers on his route began to hear about his efforts, they began donating items to the cause, too. Arnold began arming himself with "love bags" filled with homemade sandwiches, food, toiletries and blankets to give to the homeless. 

Arnold, along with his wife Theresa, decided to start a small, nonprofit organization called God's Connection Transition (GCT). The Harveys partner with several grocery stores and local shops and they've convinced them to donate their surplus supplies to their organization. During the week Arnold and his wife distribute items to local churches, homeless shelters and community centers. They also rent a warehouse that they've turned into a small grocery store where people who need assistance can come and "shop" and get groceries free of charge. Through these efforts, the Harveys provide donated food and supplies to roughly 5000 families each month. 

Imagine what the world would be like if people acted a little more like Arnold Harvey! If we all do a little, we accomplish A LOT!

A Different Kind of Canvas

I saw something amazing online a few days ago that I just had to share. I'm not sure who the artist is or where they got the idea since there weren't any details listed, but someone is doing something pretty amazing with their hands ON their hands (or possibly somebody else's hands).

Take a look at these incredible animals paintings painted on hands held in different positions. The details are phenomenal and they really do look like the animal they're supposed to be.

I would definitely have a hard time washing this hard work off of my hands!

Lost and Found

This camera (that was lost in a shipwreck off the coast of Vancouver Island) was recently found by two students conducting research dives. The students were diving for starfish near Bamfield, British Columbia on May 13 when they came across the camera.

After the divers surfaced they opened the camera and were surprised to find the camera's memory card still intact. They extracted it from the camera with a pair of tweezers, cleaned it off and inserted it into a computer. Amazingly, it still worked which was pretty shocking considering the fact that the camera had been underwater for so long.

The memory card was full of photographs and a few videos. There were lots of photographs of large groups of people, like a family reunion. Isabelle Cote, professor of Marine Ecology tweeted out this picture and her co-professor had the photo printed and she hung it up around town hoping one of the locals would recognize someone in the picture.

A member of the local Coast Guard station recognized one of the men in the picture as someone they had rescued from a shipwreck nearly two years ago, on July 30, 2012.

Paul Burgoyne, an artist from Vancouver and the man in the center of the photograph in the light gray T-shirt, was attempting to sail when he got a little lost in rough waters. He thought his boat was set on auto-pilot, but it wasn't. He crashed and scrambled to swim to the shore, but couldn't make it. He reached some rocks and was stranded for about six hours and had hypothermia when he was finally rescued by the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard contacted Burgoyne to tell him that his camera had been found. He said that he and his wife "laughed and laughed and laughed" that of all of his possessions that had been lost, it was his small digital camera that had been found. The photo of Burgoyne was taken with his family members when he and his relatives were burying his mother's ashes. Burgoyne said he was surprised and very appreciate for all the work people went through to reunite him with his photos.

Cote mailed the memory card back to Burgoyne, but not before backing up the photographs on the computer first. I know how priceless family photographs are to me, so I'd say that those students uncovered buried treasure!

Dangerdust

I saw an interesting article on Viralnova's website yesterday that I wanted to share. Two amazingly talented artists known only as "dangerdust" at Columbia College of Art and Design have been creating some beautiful works of art, all with a simple piece of chalk. These mysterious works of art show up in vacant classrooms around the campus to the amazement of everyone who sees them. These creative chalk scenes feature unique images and quotes by well-known people. Each work of art can take up to 11 hours to complete. I would hate to be the one that had to take an eraser to these chalkboards! Take a look: