Record to Nothing

At every job, certain people tend to always do particularly tasks. This generally works well and results in a good work environment. In the same sense, my caregivers follow the same pattern. Depending on who I have during the day, it will determine that day's activities. It all works out, until someone is gone for an extended period.

My primary day assistant, Joy, works 3-4 days a week. She is comfortable with getting me on the FES bike, driving the van, and helping with videos. Her counterpart prefers to stay around the house and do other tasks, so I generally stay in bed and do computer related activities.

On January 23, Joy worked her regular day and I did a session on my bike. I set a new record of my legs peddling without motorized assistance for one minute and 38 seconds. I also burned 0.2 calories per hour instead of my frequent 0.1. At that rate, I could eat one bite of ice cream once a week!

Unfortunately, Joy wasn't feeling well the next day, and I opted to skip biking to give her a calmer shift. The illness continued though and she wasn't able to work all last week. That meant other than church on Sunday, I stayed in bed every day. Joy called Friday that she is starting to feel better, but her mother is very ill and possibly near the end of her time on earth. Joy understandably wants to be with her mom, so will be gone at least this week as well. That means another week of trying to reschedule any planned outings and seeing if my other day assistant can take extra time.

Living the quad life means I am completely dependent on others for help. When someone is missing, regular activities get missed and everyone feels the change. I've noticed an increase in my muscle spasms with not getting to bike, but hope I won't need to increase meds again. Times like this make me wish I had another backup person that could help me and allow my parents to do there regular routine.

For this coming week, I pray that everything will work out well with schedule changes. Hopefully everything will return to normal soon, but I will keep seeing what God has planned for the near future.