emilysart

My Second Race

emilysart — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:46:00 GMT

I am so excited! I did my second 5k this morning and it went really well. My last race I came in just under 32 minutes. This time it was 29 minutes! A couple factors played into the improved time:

A little more training under my belt
Smooth, even road
Great gloves ("Para Push" Full Thumb by Hatch Gloves) See my blog on racing gloves for more info.

I am still training and racing in an every day chair. I haven't put myself out there for sponsorship yet - but I will. I will get a racing chair some day.

It was just so exciting to start at the back of the group and pass tons of joggers. And not just on the downhills. It was a great feeling and I came in 8th in the 25-29 female division. They didn't have a wheelchair division probably because I was the only one in a chair.

My plan for the next couple months is to pick up one more 5k in August and hopefully participate in the Macinac Bridge Run on Labor Day. I am registered but they only choose 300 people at random to participate. Thats a 5 mile race so I will keep my momentum going strong through the summer and increase my endurance with more strength training in my program.

Do we walk or roll?

emilysart — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:40:00 GMT

When I go from one place to another in my wheelchair am I walking or rolling? True, I am not literally walking but I am still "taking a walk". When I think of rolling, I think of rolling down a grassy hill as a child or doing a series of somersaults. For some reason I cannot say "See ya honey, I'm going for a roll!"

It may be that I am in disabilty denial. As I push my chair in my mind I am still walking. It's crazy to admit that, but it's true. So when I meet my friends at a restaurant that is 2 miles from my home and they wonder how I got there, I say I walked there ... they say I rolled there. Who is right?

What do you call it?

Wheelchair Gloves

emilysart — Sat, 24 May 2008 15:04:00 GMT

I have been pushing a chair for 8 years and I am finally convinced that I should wear gloves. I didn't like them very much at first because I always felt they were an easy target for acquaintances to say cheesy (and often demeaning) comments like "you've got your racing gloves on... ready to race me?" Plus, I also thought they weren’t very feminine.

I realize now they are good for me and I don’t care as much about the comments. I found there were several types and I don’t know yet which one will suit my lifestyle. What I need in a glove- Padded palm, full thumb, no mesh on back, cool and breathable.

Types I found:

Standard Half Finger -

Wrap -

Cuff -

Gel Insert and Synthetic Palm -

The Hatch PWC200 caught my eye because it had the gel palm, full thumb, and spandex back. I have no experience with a synthetic palm because most wheelchair gloves are leather. It seems like a great option. Does any one have any experience with this glove or one with a synthetic palm?

From the Floor to My Chair

emilysart — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:59:00 GMT

About a year after my accident I fell off my bed in the middle of the night. My only experience getting back into my chair from the floor was in rehab and it was a total failure. The PT had told me to face my chair, take off the cushion, try to get on my knees, push up with my arms, then do a 180 to sit. I couldn't even get enough leverage to push up. I felt totally defeated so I didn't try again until this incident in the middle of the night.

I got in the position I was taught and pushed with all my strength only to get my knees stuck under my chair in the area just behind the footrest. That meant I was sitting on my feet and the footrest was digging into my ankles. Not only was I stuck, I thought I might be breaking my legs. I called out for other people in the house but nobody heard so I knew it was up to me and God to figure this one out.

After much struggle, God gave me a burst of strength, I un-wedged my legs, and pushed up enough to get into sitting position. I felt total relief and had a good story for my family in the morning.

What I realize now, 7 years after that incident, is I can get on and off the floor whenever I want. I just make sure I am next to a couch, chair, cushion, stool, pretty much anything that is about a foot tall and use it to my advantage. I actually started out by using a bunch of cushions, stair stepping my way up the couch. Now the faster way is to position the my wheelchair next to the couch, put one hand on each, push up and swing to the couch (with the cushion removed) then transfer to my chair.

I love the freedom it gives me with my kids. I can stretch, do pushups, I can even do a somersault off the couch. http://picasaweb.google.com/emcqueen/Disaboom?authkey=WMWT4n3bev0

Floor time makes me feel like a whole person and my sons get to see me out of my chair.

My 3 year old

emilysart — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:40:00 GMT

My 3 year old is becoming more aware of my disability and how I am different from other moms. Now everywhere we go he notices where there are stairs and reminds me that I can’t do those. Or at the playground he tells the other moms “my mom can’t come up here with us”.

The other day we were watching the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin. In the movie Martin pretends to be paralyzed as part of an elaborate con. As part of the con, he pretends to be healed. There is a scene where the “doctor” tells him to just try to get out of his wheelchair. Steve Martin tries and tries and stands up and walks; and everyone is thrilled. We were watching it as a family and Alex runs over to me and says with light in his eyes “Mom, he just TRIED to get out of his chair and he did it. All he did was TRY!”

I accepted being disabled 8 years ago after my accident but now I feel like I have to go through that process all over again as my 3 year old comes to accept it.

My First Race

emilysart — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:25:00 GMT

My first 5K was last Saturday. I had many concerns before the race but my main one was "Can I maintain jogging speed for the whole thing?" It was very exciting to fly pass walkers and near the end of the race pass some joggers. I was actually surprised at my endurance. I did get blisters on my hands! Which has never happened the whole 8 years I have been in a chair. My gloves don't fit as well as I'd like and there was some rubbing.

My finishing time, though not impressive (just under 32 minutes) was ranked 3rd in the female 25-29 year old division. I was the only wheelchair racer there.

I am taking some ideas from fellow Disaboomers and creating a sponsorship proposal for some local businesses. I need a racing chair. I hope someone will catch my vision and see benefit in sponsoring me.

Racing Chair Questions

emilysart — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:48:00 GMT

I am doing my first 5K on Saturday. I am really excited but I am struggling because I feel like racing in my regular chair is more difficult than it should be.

For the average runner, the right equiptment to start running competetively is about $100. For a wheelchair racer it is so much more. Here are my big questions:

How do you start racing competitively if you don't have a couple thousand dollars?
Which chair is a good one to start on?
What can be done to reduce wrist, hand, and shoulder injury?
What are some good resources online for training help?

Indwelling vs. Intermittent

emilysart — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:44:00 GMT

Synonyms for the word Intermittent – Irregular, broken, alternating, sporadic, discontinuous. These are not words I want describing my bladder management program. For three years after my accident these words and many others, namely disappointing, heartbreaking, frustrating, anxious, exhausting, described my emotional state. I was told in my rehab program that I was to learn how to intermittent cath and I had to do it every 4 hours FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

I clearly remember the moment the nurse broke the news. I thought to myself, “So I never get to sleep 8 hours in a row again? And I have to wake up enough to do THAT?” I couldn’t believe they were serious. Then I was told that I had to take a pill that would supposedly keep me from leaking but actually just turned my mouth into a cotton ball. And the leaking continued.

The leaking was a problem on so many levels I won’t go into detail, but the most destructive part about it was I could never relax. No matter where I was, in bed, in my chair, on a friends couch, in a car, kayak, on a horse or ATV, I was always formulating a plan for what I was going to do if I leaked. The anxiety changed my social life. It turned me in to someone else. And as that person, I had a very hard time even enjoying my own company.

But I trusted my doctors. They said Intermittent was best and I tried everything to make it work. Then I had the opportunity for a job as a camp counselor. I knew I wouldn’t always be by a bathroom and I knew my job couldn’t conform around my bladder schedule. I remembered hearing somewhere about Indwelling Catheters and I thought I would just try it for the couple weeks I was on the job.

During those few weeks, I was being worked to the bone, in 90 degree weather, sleeping only 4 hours a night in non air conditioned dormitories. Conditions were terrible, but it was life changing because I was finally anxiety-free. I slept a night with peace. I did my work during the day with confidence. Peace and confidence were two things I really missed. I found what worked best for me and I haven’t gone back since.

Tips for SCI Pregnancy

emilysart — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:23:00 GMT

First thing you do now that you found out your pregnant is - Don't worry. Everything will be just fine. I am not a perinatolotigist (high-risk OB/GYN), but everything I will tell you is from my own experience. So I can give you a lot of ideas and tell you things that happened to me, but as for specific questions you have about your pregnancy, asking your doctor is the best bet.

Obviously you will be sitting for the whole pregnancy. A couple of things to keep in mind are:

Pressure sores - Get a good cushion and remember to always keep your body moving. Picking stuff up off the floor is great for preventing pressure sores.
Fitness - Keeping active and building strength in your arms will help you be ready to care for a new born. Think of pregnancy as a training period.
Bladder needs - They will change as the baby grows. If you don't have a Urologist, get one. I saw my urologist as often as my OB in the last 4 months of my pregnancy.
Circulation - As the baby grows he will tend to put pressure on the two main blood vessles and arteries that run down near your hip and the front of your leg. Getting out of your chair and laying on your side will help the discomfort that comes with this. Plus getting your feet up will reduce the swelling in your legs and feet.
Lots of Fiber - It will keep your bowel program predictable and easy on your body. The baby growing and your personal weight gain will make your body different and so adaptations may be necessary.

Most of all: Enjoy being a pregnant woman with an SCI because when it comes to delivery its kind of nice to not feel a thing.

Shoulder and Wrist Pain

emilysart — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:41:00 GMT

What is happening to my body? I am 8 years post accident and now my right shoulder and my left wrist are freaking out. They hurt, pop, bulge, and .... ouch!

After my accident I had 5 years in college on a campus that was one big hill. And the last 3 years I have been at home with my two toddlers. I have always picked up my boys with my right arm and grabbed my wheel with my left. For the first 6 months of my boys life, I put their infant car seat in the car with my right arm and it always hurt, I just didn't realize I would pay for it later.

I have a friend who is a Quad who is 20 years post accident and she has three kids. She told me to protect my shoulders and said she wouldn't always be able to push a manual chair. I didn't believe her. Plus I had to live independently and take care of my kids. She told me to take it easy and do less physical stuff. But how can I? I can't I live with the looming cloud of "protect my shoulders" and not live my life to the fullest every day.

Praying for a good cart

emilysart — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:36:00 GMT

I have to go get groceries and I don't want to. I shop once a week to feed our little family of four. This means I will have a very full cart. It is essential that I have a cart that wants to go in a straight line. I am a paraplegic so I push the cart from my chair. Its kind of like one arm pushes the cart, one arm pushes a wheel. And I switch arms every couple seconds. Its actually not that hard if my cart isn't possessed by the devil. Last time I went shopping I got a cart that was good (first time in two months) and when it came time for us to part, I wanted to put my name on it or something.

What an idea; have your own personal cart at the grocery store. Its guaranteed to be germ free and go in a straight line. I'd pay for that.

Having a Baby

emilysart — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:38:00 GMT

About a year after getting married I found out I was pregnant. It was so excited because I felt that motherhood is my primary role as a woman.

As I went to schedule my first OB appointment, I was surprised to hear hesitation in the nurse's voice about the doctors decision to take me on as a patient. She said "The Doctor has thought it over and decided that he will take you on as a patient. We lived in a small town and to find a perinatologist who had experience delivering a baby from a paraplegic required a four hour drive. A small part of me thought "What have I done? I went and got myself pregnant and there is no one here who knows knows how to get this baby out!"

The question everyone had for me was "Well, can you push?" My answer was "I don't know. I don't think so." My pregnancy was uneventful and quite pleasant. Other than the fact that the doctor thought I had an extreme bladder infection every time I had my monthly urine test. So he would put me on high dosage antibiotics to try to get it to go away. And it would for a week, then come back. I never had symptoms but with an indwelling catheter I always have a bladder infection. Week 37 came and I had an amniocentesis which showed that the baby's lungs were developed and I could be induced. I was put on pitocin and 10 hours later it was time to push. So I did. And I pushed and pushed and pushed. For 3 hours. I didn't know if I was even doing anything, but the doctor said it was progressing slowly each time. The baby came out bright and beautiful, with the help of forceps, and no problems for either of us.

My second pregnancy was also very uneventful. This time I had a perinatologist who I met with all the time. Just for him to tell me that everything look great and it was a completely normal pregnancy. He wasn't worried about the bladder infection evidence as long as I didn't have symptoms. I had to meet with the urologist monthly because he has to change out my indwelling catheters. As a precaution, I had weekly ultrasounds and monitoring the baby's vitals. I was induced at 38 weeks with a foam vaginal insert rather than the pitocin IV and it made the contractions slower to start but faster at the actual delivery time. This form of induction, and my OB's skills with the forceps, made it so I only had to push for 10 minutes. And we had another successful delivery.

The good news was I didn't really feel a thing. Contractions felt like pressure and pulling of the skin. After it all, I felt great and my recovery was fast. The bad news was a couple months later, I had to have surgery on my bladder because of the serious misshaping that took place as the baby was sitting on it for a month.Having a baby was great.

A woman’s body is meant to deliver a baby and being paralyzed doesn't change that.

You choose : feeling or movement

emilysart — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:55:00 GMT

In 1999, I broke my back when I fell from a tree. I fell about 30 feet and hit a branch on the way down that severed my spinal cord at T11. My 2 weeks of ICU were terrifying, not particularly memorable, and painful like no one knows. The 2 months of inpatient rehab that followed were very important and shaping.

It was called RIO. The Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon. It felt like the weirdest, most awkward place on the planet. I remember the first time I entered the work room There were tables, chairs, platforms with mats on them. People hunched over dominos trying to stack them. A man making a slow transfer to a platform as his sweat pants practically fall off. People in chairs staring out the window at the city street below. I was 18 and felt like this wasn't my image, this wasn't where I belonged.

Then I met a guy. Jeremy. He was a quad an had only been there a week or so. But he had a friendly smile and started talking to me. We had a comfortable conversation about very uncomfortable topics. Our frienship grew over the next 2 months and we were the constant for eachother. One day he said, "I would rather have feeling and no movement than movement and no feeling." I was shocked. All I wanted at that point was to run around, dance, see people at eye level, climb a couple steps into a friends home. Being able to feel was secondary.

But now, I think I have switched over. I see now that mobility issues can be solved with a few resources and social issues can be solved by putting things in proper perspective. If I had to cast my vote for which is better - feeling or moving? Its definitely feeling. Sex, bowel, bladder, are all very important reasons why, but mostly its to make the unsettled tingling go away. The sensation that nags at you because you are supposed to feel everything in this life. Good and bad. Remove the feeling and you remove the life.