Re: incontinence
AZMAINIAC (AZMAINIAC(AT)prodigy.net)
Sun, 7 Mar 1999 08:35:55 -0800
Christi,
No, one should ever say, "I can't" unless they have tried. Five years ago my
daughter and I went back home to Maine for a vacation. One of the things
that I wanted to do was climb up Mt. Katahdin(end of the Appalachian trail)
to the falls which my family had done many times when I was young. It was a
1.2 mile hike up on a rocky path. I did not know if I would be able, but I
tried. I used a big stick as a cane and I did it.
we with some friends who had kids along with my mother(65), sister and
brother-in-law.
The others went ahead and my sister, mother and I were the last of the pack.
Ads we were hiking my sister looked back and said, "Well, here come the
elderly and the handicapped." She got my mother to laughing my mother wasn't
paying attention and she caught her foot and fell. She didn't hurt herself.
I can still see my mother laying flat on her back laughing.
On the way down, my sister was way ahead of the "elderly and handicapped".
When we caught up to her she was sitting on the path laughing. She had
joined the ranks of the "handicapped". She had slipped and broke a bone in
her foot!
She wouldn't go to the hospital then. She wanted to go watch the kids at
"slide rock"--a big rock on a stream with about 6 inches to a foot of water
on it. She found a place in the shade and soaked her foot in the water.
Running water in Maine in the summer is still cold!
I still wonder if my sister was "punished" for making a joke about the
"elderly and the handicapped".
John
-----Original Message-----
From: WREZN8R(AT)aol.com <WREZN8R(AT)aol.com>
To: AZMAINIAC(AT)prodigy.net <AZMAINIAC(AT)prodigy.net>; SDaggett(AT)aol.com
<SDaggett(AT)aol.com>; tmic-list(AT)eskimo.com <tmic-list(AT)eskimo.com>
Date: Saturday, March 06, 1999 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: incontinence
>Hi everyone, I'm glad the subject of "trying to achieve" has come up. It
>finally hit my sister & I right between the eyes, that we have enabled my
>brother, Greg to be a helpless, handicapped person. When we are with him,
he
>doesn't try to do anything for himself...for instance, he is perfectly
happy
>to let everyone else go into his purse that he carries on his wheelchair
>instead of figuring out a way to open the zipper himself. When we
confronted
>him with this, he says he "can't" and only wants to walk. I finally had to
>come down hard on him last week & told him that even if he gets to walking,
he
>won't even be able to figure out a way to grip his car keys, much less
drive a
>car. I had to tell him if it was OK for him to have that attitude then why
>should we bother. We told him to practice a task a week...such as pulling
off
>his sweat pants by himself. This way, when he would complain that he wasn't
>getting any better, we could point out that he was indeed learning new
skills
>every week. Mind you, Greg wouldn't do OT in the hospital such as making
>brownies, cooking, playing board games, because he wanted to practice
getting
>his legs going.
>We know his healing has to come from within, but we are not going to enable
>him to be helpless anymore. Tough love. He just doesn't get it. He thinks
>we're so mean. Since I have 4 teenagers, I've had enough practice at this.
I
>gave him back his checkbook & bills this week also. He can write with a
hook.
>He says he'll find someone else to do it. I told him that it would be
someone
>that wouldn't care if he was independent. Now remember, my son has been
taking
>Greg into work every day & he has plenty of money.
>I'm curious what you guys think. Christi