Vacation

Most people look forward to family vacation during the summer or with many jobs, expect to travel on occasion. I like getting away from the normal routine and seeing the sites just like everyone else. Long trips requiring hotel stays are not very pleasant though. Hotel beds are not very accommodating for me and it's usually a night of little to no sleep. Therefore, I normally only take one vacation a year, and it's a working vacation no less.

Since the year 2000, I have volunteered one week every summer to CHAMP Camp. It is a camp for children that require respiratory assistance from a mechanical device such as a ventilator, like me, or something similar. Some kids are fellow quadriplegics and require a vent 24/7 and others are completely ambulatory and just need assistance at night. Other than two years during college, this has been my annual vacation, where I work harder than the rest of the year combined, and wouldn't miss it.

Through the years, I've become friends with several of the counselors and look forward to seeing how the kids' year has gone. For the majority of the campers, this is the one time of year they get to truly be children and not be "special" because of their extra medical needs. They get to do things they normally would not and have a rare moment to be free of their parents. This year's camp has six first-time campers coming and counselors arrived two days ago, except for one of the regulars, the one writing this post.

In December and especially February through April, my body had more trouble with digestion, including the hospital stay I posted on. These problems made me question if I could go, but I went ahead and signed up anyway. Then, six weeks ago, was my leg break. That was the final straw that made resign this year, there was no way I could put my body through the stress of being up so much doing my duties.

Hopefully next year I will be able to return to my regular role, but I have a lot of healing and improvement to do first.