Month: June 2021

New Compression Socks

The woman who sized me for new compression socks last Thursday, called my Mom yesterday. We ordered one pair to see how they work out and then we will order others if they do work out. I used to have multiple pair but overtime, they would snag and just wear out. I have had just one pair of socks for a number of years! They are pretty pricey and you need a prescription. I was able to get a prescription for them from my neurologist even though it was my knee surgeon who prescribed them originally but the fact that they work so well for me, my neurologist prescribed them.

They arrived today! My Mom washed my legs today and I have my new socks on right now. My Mom took pictures of my old socks and seeing them compared to my new sucks look it’s quite shocking! When I first started using a wheelchair, I just used the generic orthopedic wheelchair that you were given when you have a cast.

I would use the chair until the brakes were out or the armrest fell off. I just ordered a generic one online. It wasn’t until I finally caved and was sized and ordered a custom manual chair that made me think that I had been missing out for about a decade before I got one! I guess I have done the same thing with my compression socks.

First of all, they are not cheap by any means and with the pandemic, I wasn’t seeing doctors in person so my Mom and I just made do with what we had! She would see the holes in my socks while I was still wearing the sock and they would work for a while more. She took pictures of how my socks look now and I am so grateful that the new socks arrived today judging by the size of one of the holes!:


When I first started going to Barwis Methods, Mike Barwis told me that my leg hair would start growing again because of all the blood flow I would receive. I had noticed that my leg hair was not going in as much but then, it started to grow again and I had to shave more often than I had in years! Well, I’m back to not shaving my legs anymore because hair does not grow but I say this because these new compression socks feel like I have just gotten under clean sheets right after I have shaved my legs! Those of you who know, no how GREAT that feels! I STILL remember how that feels even though I haven’t felt my legs for 20 years!

Grief

My Mom’s basement flooded Saturday morning. I am lucky so far that my basement has not flooded. She has gone to her house every day to clean up the enormous mess after we complete our routine. I told her when she left on Saturday that anything that is mine, she can just throw out! I haven’t lived there for 16 years so I can do without anything that is there.

She came to my house last night with the bag and went straight to the bathroom after she took Leia out to go potty. She told me that she has bad news and even worse news. In that bag she had a wet wedding album of hers. I felt badly for her as she took the album apart and separated and cleaned each picture. Yes she was doing this, it took a while and then I asked her “What’s the even worse news?

She brought a wet picture to me that I remember taking and I was grateful that it was saved from the flood:

I stared at this picture for a long time and continued to cry. I think it was a couple years after my Dad died when my Mom got these pictures developed. I’m not even sure why we had a camera there and it probably was just a roll of film and my mom‘s refrigerator. I remember when it was first developed and the first time I saw it I looked at our faces and I remember not being able to smile when the person taking the picture (and I don’t even remember who took the picture) said, “Ready?”

My world was so cracked at that point in my life! Our faces struck me and my Mom told me that this picture shows our grief. Seeing it last night tall really got to me! It REALLY shows our grief but seeing it yesterday, I noticed so much more! I was still walking with crutches back then and it shocked me to see myself standing! I was standing tall and I haven’t stood so effortlessly since then!

I texted this picture to two of my friends last night. I wrote that it’s, “Me and my Parents” I’m still super affected by seeing this picture. I am so grateful that it is not lost forever but I had not thought about this picture since we took it and seeing it a couple years later. I think my grief is apparent today as well even though it’s so many years later. I think the tears coming out of my eyes is my REAL tell though.

My Heart is Squeezed

I was having difficulty falling to sleep last night. At about 3:30 in the morning, I pulled my phone off of the charging pad and decided to scroll throughput Facebook. I came across this post which made me stop at the same time it’s squeezed my heart! I shares it:

There were five pictures that accompanied this post and I spent four years there from the summer of 2013 to the fall of 2016. I was there Three days a week got 3 years and twice a week for a year. These pictures squeezed my heart definitely because I have been everywhere that the pictures show but it looks so different from the fall of 2016! I think that I will only post the pictures and not expound on them because it will make me cry again!!! I thought this was not the gym in Plymouth Michigan until I saw that American flag! It all looks so different!:

“Jen-ergy!”

I actually saw this commercial in my YouTube feed at 2:33 a.m. I laughed so write that it took me until 2:37 a.m. to write the post! I found it so funny because first of all, I take Goli every day! For me, it helps with the energy because I was constantly falling asleep during the day in my wheelchair and taking this daily helps me to stay awake during the day.

My friend from the credit union, Matt Davis, whom I called, ”Matty” used to call me, “J.Ro” and then when the, “Jenny from the Block” song came out, he used to sing that to me in the morning when we were walking into the branch. So I laughed thinking about Matty and taking Goli every day. But I have been teased before for my name. When Forrest Gump came out, I was constantly called, “Jen-nay!” so it is not new to me. But the, “Jen-ergy” REALLY amusements me!

I will definitely have to work on the, “Jen-ergy” part but I think MS has something to say about that! I take it just so I don’t pass out in my chair during the day. It seems to work for me in this regard and eit is part of my daily vitamin routine. This commercial really made me laugh though!

Thanking about it, maybe it was Craig who called me, “J. Ro” and I called him, “Craigy.” Both of these guys did not have a problem with that and they are younger than me anyway so I would have called them that even if they didn’t like it. I think.

My Island Persists 7 Years Later But…

I got a notice on my phone regarding flash floods being possible as I was going to sleep. Once I awakened, my Mom let me know that my basement did NOT flood. Our houses are 10 minutes apart and hers did! My friend lives even closer to me than my Mom and hers flooded as well!

She lives north of me a few minutes and my Mom is south of me 10 minutes. It seems that my island persists seven years later because that was the last time that there was major flooding everywhere but my house! Seven years ago, the flooding took place on the weekend as well. I was going to go shopping that Saturday before we went to church so my refrigerator was empty! I remember telling Sean that the only options we had to eat were tubby‘s and Tim Hortons because their parking lots did not flood like the grocery store!

I called him and reminded him of going to eat at those two places for about a week. The memory was kind of fun for me but then I opened Facebook!

My neighbor growing up posted these pictures and a video of her house and I was completely speechless! She lives in the house that her parents lived in and I remember walking to her house. She is just up the street! When I saw these pictures, I realized the gravity of the situation!:


This was the intersection that I walked to McDonald’s and Arbor Drugs with my friend growing up! Seeing these pictures, kind of startled me! My nephew sent my mom a video of the basement. There’s about 3 feet of water there! I told her not to worry about anything I have left at her house and getting rid of it all because the water smells really bad!

It is supposed to rain all weekend and next week so I’m not out of the woods yet but this is a really big mess! My Mom is at her house right now cleaning up from all the water!

Goosebumps and Tears

I went down one of my YouTube rabbit holes and discovered this song. Come on now?! First of all, it’s Santana so I knew I would get goosebumps hearing him play. I didn’t expect to cry though! The tears came when she started to effortlessly sing. I remember singing that song in high school just as effortlessly! The tears came because I KNOW that I cannot sing like that anymore! #MSsucks!!!

My Angel in the Amazon Shirt

Yesterday, my Mom and I had to do some errands. We went to two places and it proved to be quite stressful for me to be out and about. I wanted to write a blog post about my experiences yesterday but I was too tired to do so once I got home. I wanted to give my story the attention it deserves so I waited until today.

I needed to go to the Secretary of State to get a license plate for an accessible van that was given to me. After I did that, I needed to go to the medical supply store to get new compression socks. My Mom had gone to the Secretary of State during Covid and explained how things would move very quickly based on the appointments. I made this appointment to get a license plate three months ago. I did not receive the title in time so I had to reschedule and my appointment. It was yesterday at 2:40 in the afternoon.

I made my appointment for the Livonia Super Secretary of State. We showed up a little earlier then my appointment and I only saw a couple people go into the office. There is a Baskin Robbins in the strip mall where the Secretary of State is and my Mom went and got us some ice cream to eat in the van before my appointment. We finished in time to go in to the office for my appointment.

There was a little bit of a problem getting into the door and that was a reminder that the world-at-large does not really make concessions for people in wheelchairs. They don’t mind cutting people in motorized chairs off when they are trying to enter a doorway and all! I always seem to learn that too late! My Mom explained to me how appointments work at the Secretary of State, how it worked for her. I understood what was going to happen and she told me there was six people in the office when she went.

This is what I saw once I entered the Secretary of State’s office:


I didn’t take this picture once we entered the building, I took it after I met my angel in the Amazon shirt! Once my Mom and I entered the office, I was shocked at all of the people in there and there was a guy walking toward us. He had just talked to the guard there and he told us that they were running 45 minutes behind. My Mom looked at me and told me that we wouldn’t get compression socks because we would be waiting for a long time until our appointment. He told my Mom to talk to the guard and tell him that I have a medical condition and I need to stick to my appointment time.

She walked over to the guard who was about 30 feet away. She came back to me and said the guard was polite but there was nothing he could do. He said that yesterday was the first day the office was open to the public. The disabled station was closed. That fact kind of upset me! Apparently, disabled people do NOT need to go to the Secretary of State during a pandemic! My Mom told me that we just needed to wait, have patience, and that we should pray.

Then my angel in the Amazon shirt asked my Mom what he said and then asked me my name. He then addressed the room. He called for their attention and told them in a loud voice that, “My friend, Jennifer, has a medical condition and needs to be seen immediately. Her appointment time was four minutes ago. Would anyone have a problem if she goes to the front of the line?” The room remained silent and then he beckoned for me and my Mom come to the front of the line. We both cried as we went to the front of the line.

We needed to step out of line so I could talk to my insurance company before I got the plate from the woman. She told us just to stand aside and get the information she needed and then come back to her window. We actually went and used the disabled station to make the call. It was here where I took the picture because I could not believe that I was just about finished with my transaction and all of these people were still waiting!

I didn’t get that angel’s name and he reminded me of my friend, Joe, in stature and he had brown eyes. Once we were finished with our business, my Mom found that angel and slipped him $20 which I he tried to refuse but she just told him to get coffee, turned around, and we left.

We were able to make it to the medical supply store that was in West Bloomfield in time to order compression socks. They will be delivered to my house. It floored me that this man took it upon himself to make it easier for me. It really is reassuring to know that there STILL are good people in the world! I wonder if I will ever see my angel in the Amazon shirt again but I know that I will NEVER forget him!

A YouTube Alert

Okay, so while I was writing my last blog post, I received a YouTube alert on my phone. It interrupted me editing my blog post but I had to click on it because it was for this song

I finished my blog post before watching the video but after I finished, I listened to the song and it was immediately taken back to still being in college and working at the credit union. I have two different college experiences. The first one was at WMU when I didn’t have a child and the second experience is living back at my Parents’ house and commuting to U of M Dearborn with an infant and later a toddler once I graduated and Sean and I moved out on our own.

Underestimated my Influence

Yesterday, I was talking to Sean on the phone and he asked me what song this was and he started to kind of sung this tune to me:

I is mmediately recognize this song and knew that it was a song that I listened to often when Sean was growing up. I really didn’t think about it! I have always underestimated my influence on Sean’s musical tastes but I guess I DID influence him!

Between Me and My Dad

I’ve written about this movie a few times. my Dad took me to see, Fly Away Home when I was a kid. I clearly remember this and my Dad told me that he had read about it in the newspaper so he wanted to take me to see it. I clearly remember watching this movie with my dad sitting on my right with his arms folded across his chest as he usually sat.

Since my Mom moved in with me at the onset of Covid, I have been purchasing movies that just stay in my TV. That is better for me because I do not possess enough hand strength and control to mess with Blu-rays. We will decide on a movie together and will go halfsies when it comes to payment.

We have ordered a lot of movies in the past year! One movie that I recently have been thinking about is Fly Away Home. We searched Netflix and couldn’t find the movie and then my Mom went into Xfinity. Still not being able to make a decision, she searched for Xfinity to see if Fly Away Home was there. She spoke it into the remote and it was only available to rent or buy. I told her to buy it!

As she pressed the button, she told me, “Oh I’m not helping you pay for it!” I told her that that was OK because, “It’s between me and my Dad!” She chuckled a little bit as we started to watch the movie:

This song by Mary Chapin makes me cry EVERY SINGLE TIME that I hear it because I think of this movie and sitting in the movie theater next to my Dad!

This song plays in the beginning and the end of the movie and I cried both times and my Mom laughed at me both times! She said that I have seen this movie so many times and asked why I am still crying! Through my tears, I simply told her, “It’s between me and my Dad! You wouldn’t understand!” Her look of disbelief made me chuckle through my tears as well but she REALLY doesn’t get it because it’s between me and my Dad!