I never know what to expect in a week's time. Work has been slow, but Wednesday I learned some unexpected news.
Back in October, my Medicaid said they didn't get paperwork showing my income and I would be taken off the program. Unfortunately, I hadn't received a request for the documentation so I worked with my case manager and got it all straightened out. A couple weeks later I finally received the letter to request my originally paperwork. After checking again with my manager, everything was good to go for another year. At least that's what we thought.
On Wednesday, I received a call that my Medicaid had actually been terminated in November, but nobody bothered to tell us. So now, I've sent out more documentation again to get back on what I never knew was off. I find it somewhat funny that politicians constantly talk about green technology, but it takes piles of printed paper to stay on government programs.
Thankfully, everything has stayed the same so far for nursing and covering medical expenses. I know that God has a plan for everything and knows the funding I need, so I will see what He has in store. My private insurance through my dad's employer will also be changing in April.
In 2014 insurance changed and caused a lot of headaches in trying to keep my medical needs covered. With the political environment continuing to adjust healthcare, I'm afraid funding changes will become a reoccurring theme every few years. I know that I have been extremely blessed during my life to have the resources I rely upon for daily needs. I'm thankful for all these years I have been allowed to live at home and have so much nursing coverage.
Hopefully it will continue, but I'll see what's in store for this quad life. Another week may have everything back to normal again, but until then I'll continue to be thankful for what I've been given.
Monday, January 30, 2017
Monday, January 23, 2017
Dull January
Most mornings I have the blanket battle as I call it. My day caregiver is ready to get started and I don't want to get out from the covers. I always come up and around, but the last few days have seemed harder than usual.
The first part of my morning routine is stretching, or exercising, my arms and legs. My head doesn't get involved, so I can either slowly wake up or keep snoring with a pillow over my eyes. Depending on who I have that day, I can sometimes keep the sheet over me as well and really snooze. Everything else involves my head, shaving, hair washing, etc., so like it or not I have to wake up.
A lot of people struggle with depression during the winter months. The sun doesn't come out very much, it's cold, and most people stay mainly inside. I can't say I have trouble with any of it, but I'm wondering if a week with all clouds has had more of an affect than I thought.
Every day is a gift, and one that will not always be given. I know this well and along with having very little time while sitting, I try to remain productive. At the end of the day, I think back on what I should have been doing instead of whatever I did do.
In my morning Bible reading, I'm about halfway through Exodus and the Israelites are starting to learn God's laws for being His holy people. I sometimes wonder what a typical day was like during this time. They collected manna in the morning and cooked and ate it, but then what?
On days of travel, I'm sure it was walking and transporting your household's tent and other items. When they stayed in one place, I imagine it was studying God's commands, maybe fixing, building, and learning. No matter what it was, it ultimately served God's plan.
If the gift of tomorrow comes, I'm hoping to be able to get up easier and go about whatever I'm given for the day. The quad life can be quite productive, as long as I allow it.
The first part of my morning routine is stretching, or exercising, my arms and legs. My head doesn't get involved, so I can either slowly wake up or keep snoring with a pillow over my eyes. Depending on who I have that day, I can sometimes keep the sheet over me as well and really snooze. Everything else involves my head, shaving, hair washing, etc., so like it or not I have to wake up.
A lot of people struggle with depression during the winter months. The sun doesn't come out very much, it's cold, and most people stay mainly inside. I can't say I have trouble with any of it, but I'm wondering if a week with all clouds has had more of an affect than I thought.
Every day is a gift, and one that will not always be given. I know this well and along with having very little time while sitting, I try to remain productive. At the end of the day, I think back on what I should have been doing instead of whatever I did do.
In my morning Bible reading, I'm about halfway through Exodus and the Israelites are starting to learn God's laws for being His holy people. I sometimes wonder what a typical day was like during this time. They collected manna in the morning and cooked and ate it, but then what?
On days of travel, I'm sure it was walking and transporting your household's tent and other items. When they stayed in one place, I imagine it was studying God's commands, maybe fixing, building, and learning. No matter what it was, it ultimately served God's plan.
If the gift of tomorrow comes, I'm hoping to be able to get up easier and go about whatever I'm given for the day. The quad life can be quite productive, as long as I allow it.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Most winters, I try to become a hermit and stay in as much as possible. January hasn't been too bad so far, but I'm still minimizing my time out in the cold. Since I wasn't going to be seeing a lot of people or have any school talks, I decided to try an experiment.
Ever since my teen years, I have always shaved my facial hair and not let it grow. I've been hearing a lot about beards lately for some reason and wondered how mine would grow. Starting on January 2, I stopped shaving and just let the hair grow. A few people said it would start to itch, but it never came up. I attended a visitation on the fifth, so I shaved off what grew for a beard and tried again after the eighth. This time, I was able to go the full week without shaving, and I started to notice some
changes.
If I have an itch by my eyes or nose, I usually blow at it to see if I can get rid of an offending hair or skin flake. On Thursday, I did my regular routine, but not much breeze got to my target. I tried holding my stick differently, different angles of attack, but nothing helped. After too long of a time period, I figured out my mustache had grown out enough to block my hot air.
For the beard, my caregivers first noticed a bald spot under my chin. After them touching it, the area feels like where I used to rub my chin on my vent tubes. Driving my chin control chair with the extra hair also started tricky with my controls sliding off my skin.
After nearly two weeks of growth, I went ahead and shaved it off again and went back to my normal look. Feeling a smooth chin again and having a clear path to puff is a nice feeling. It was starting to feel warmer, which I liked, but I don't think I'll try it again any time soon.
Having fun experiments in the quad life helps to break up the regularity from day to day. I don't have anything else in mind, but I'll see what is in store for another week.
Ever since my teen years, I have always shaved my facial hair and not let it grow. I've been hearing a lot about beards lately for some reason and wondered how mine would grow. Starting on January 2, I stopped shaving and just let the hair grow. A few people said it would start to itch, but it never came up. I attended a visitation on the fifth, so I shaved off what grew for a beard and tried again after the eighth. This time, I was able to go the full week without shaving, and I started to notice some
If I have an itch by my eyes or nose, I usually blow at it to see if I can get rid of an offending hair or skin flake. On Thursday, I did my regular routine, but not much breeze got to my target. I tried holding my stick differently, different angles of attack, but nothing helped. After too long of a time period, I figured out my mustache had grown out enough to block my hot air.
For the beard, my caregivers first noticed a bald spot under my chin. After them touching it, the area feels like where I used to rub my chin on my vent tubes. Driving my chin control chair with the extra hair also started tricky with my controls sliding off my skin.
After nearly two weeks of growth, I went ahead and shaved it off again and went back to my normal look. Feeling a smooth chin again and having a clear path to puff is a nice feeling. It was starting to feel warmer, which I liked, but I don't think I'll try it again any time soon.
Having fun experiments in the quad life helps to break up the regularity from day to day. I don't have anything else in mind, but I'll see what is in store for another week.
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Life Lessons
I read a blog entry last week called 7 Life Lessons from a Guy Who Can't Move Anything but His Face. It was written by Jon Morrow, a writer with muscular dystrophy that has done very well through his writing.
According to the article, Jon moved to Mexico and was able to cover his own care and now has made millions through his writing. I don't agree with some of his language choices, but I'm glad that everything has worked well for him. From the picture and writing, it doesn't look like he uses a vent to breathe, so that does ease care needs a little.
Writing is something I enjoy, but I need to be in the right frame of mind to produce anything that's halfway decent. If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, I'm sure you can tell the difference from one week to the next. Earning some income from my writing would be great, but I don't see it happening, at least at this point.
At one time, I had hoped to be able to do enough web development to become independent, but that wasn't in God's plans. The last year especially has been extremely slow with web work and I averaged less than eight hours of work per month in 2016. As I've said on here before, I've learned to be content with what I have.
It isn't easy by any means, and I'm not always successful in being happy with what I have, but it's a major life lesson I've learned. It would be great to be independent of my dad's insurance and Medicaid and able to cover my own needs, but they are covered. A time may come that major changes will happen because of my funding, but I've been given a great 35 years so far and don't expect it to end.
You don't need to risk everything and move to Mexico to learn life lessons. Pay attention to the life God has placed you in now and take time to listen to His teaching. It may lead to a life of financial independence, but we'll always be totally dependent on Him for forgiveness of sin and the life to come.
According to the article, Jon moved to Mexico and was able to cover his own care and now has made millions through his writing. I don't agree with some of his language choices, but I'm glad that everything has worked well for him. From the picture and writing, it doesn't look like he uses a vent to breathe, so that does ease care needs a little.
Writing is something I enjoy, but I need to be in the right frame of mind to produce anything that's halfway decent. If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, I'm sure you can tell the difference from one week to the next. Earning some income from my writing would be great, but I don't see it happening, at least at this point.
At one time, I had hoped to be able to do enough web development to become independent, but that wasn't in God's plans. The last year especially has been extremely slow with web work and I averaged less than eight hours of work per month in 2016. As I've said on here before, I've learned to be content with what I have.
It isn't easy by any means, and I'm not always successful in being happy with what I have, but it's a major life lesson I've learned. It would be great to be independent of my dad's insurance and Medicaid and able to cover my own needs, but they are covered. A time may come that major changes will happen because of my funding, but I've been given a great 35 years so far and don't expect it to end.
You don't need to risk everything and move to Mexico to learn life lessons. Pay attention to the life God has placed you in now and take time to listen to His teaching. It may lead to a life of financial independence, but we'll always be totally dependent on Him for forgiveness of sin and the life to come.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
2016 Numbers
The time has ended for 2016 and another year has begun. Looking back at last year's blog numbers, I did manage to get in one entry every week. However, I was a little surprised when I looked a little closer at my totals for the year.
Every week after I finish a post, I click on publish and I'm redirected to a page that lists my previous entries. To the right of every post are two numbers showing the number of comments and how many people viewed a post. December's numbers are shown here. With only six subscribers, I average about 18-20 views per post. Since I just post once a week and just about my musings, I think that's pretty good.
In 2016, my most viewed posts were:
As a web developer, I know Google (the parent company of Blogger) keeps detailed records of visits, so I looked further. I found out I have a few more readers than I thought. This screen shot is total visitors over the last 30 days. It's a few more than the one above.
I'm not sure what everyone finds interesting, but I'm glad you have stopped to read. I don't know what 2017 will bring in the quad life, but I hope to be able to keep coming here every week. May God be with you this year and let Him work in the life you've been given. I will see what this first week brings and report back to you my readers.
Every week after I finish a post, I click on publish and I'm redirected to a page that lists my previous entries. To the right of every post are two numbers showing the number of comments and how many people viewed a post. December's numbers are shown here. With only six subscribers, I average about 18-20 views per post. Since I just post once a week and just about my musings, I think that's pretty good.
In 2016, my most viewed posts were:
As a web developer, I know Google (the parent company of Blogger) keeps detailed records of visits, so I looked further. I found out I have a few more readers than I thought. This screen shot is total visitors over the last 30 days. It's a few more than the one above.
I'm not sure what everyone finds interesting, but I'm glad you have stopped to read. I don't know what 2017 will bring in the quad life, but I hope to be able to keep coming here every week. May God be with you this year and let Him work in the life you've been given. I will see what this first week brings and report back to you my readers.
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