CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: Airplane Aisle Chair Basics 101-The Fundamentals Of Disabled Air Travel

The aisles of an airplane are very narrow.  Watch out for the safety of your arms and legs!

As many of you who follow this blog know, my family and I have a passion for traveling.  Ever since I was born, we've traveled to numerous places around the world.  Sometimes these traveling adventures are road trips.  Other times they involve using air travel to get to our final destination for whatever trip we are on at a certain time.

If you've been following our latest traveling adventure, then you know that we just went on another European excursion for the 10th time to Berlin and and Munich in Germany as well as Prague in the Czech Republic.  What you may not know too much about is the process involved in getting someone with a physical disability or impairment on an airplane.

Your basic Airplane Aisle Chair.  

These chairs are small in size because they have to to be wheeled down the narrow aisles of an airplane.

One of the most common tools that airlines use when helping someone who has a physical disability onto an airplane and into their seat is what is known as an aisle chair.  Now if your assigned seat is close to the the front of the plane, then it would probably be best to let the airline employees know that you can manage to board without the use of an aisle chair if you are able to do so with assistance from your caregivers.  I should also mention for those who might be wondering just when a person with a disability or any other special needs boards an airplane, we usually are the first ones to get on the plane in the boarding process and the last ones to get off.  

If you are not assigned a seat towards the front of the plane and are given a seat in row 29 for example, then the use of an aisle chair is probably required unless an airline is nice enough to upgrade your seats closer to the front of the airplane.  It's during those times when all options for potential seat upgrades have been exhausted that people with disabilities and those they are traveling with (family members or otherwise), need to know what to expect and do while using an aisle chair when traveling by air.

To begin with one of the first things to take into account about an airplane aisle chair is just how narrow, skinny and cramped they are compared to a regular manual or power wheelchair.  The reason for this is because the aisles in an airplane are pretty narrow and cramped to begin with, so it wouldn't make sense to design any aisle chair using the specifications for a regular manual or power wheelchair.

From my own personal experience of using aisle chairs, I can tell you that it does get easier to use one the more you practice with it and the more you travel and see the world.  As an example, one of things that I started doing to practice and prepare myself for this latest trip to Europe and even as far back as our trip to Costa Rica last year was seeing how well I could fold my arms in for those tight spaces on an airplane between the arm rests of the seats and the aisle.  Based on this latest traveling adventure, I feel that I've got the arm-folding move down pat.

Another thing to consider about airplane aisle chairs is the kind of straps they use to secure you in place when boarding for your flight and where they are located on the chair itself.  Usually there are two sets of strap restraints that go across both the chest and arm area of your body and another set of restraints that go across your legs and feet.  Most aisle chairs even come equipped with arm rests on each side to give you even more of a secure feeling when heading to your seat on the plane.

Even with all the security the aisle chair restraints helps provide, it is very important that you practice with the arm folding movements I mentioned above and see how well you can do with it if your are considering traveling somewhere on an airplane because it is only going to help you in the long run when traveling by air.  Not to mention the fact that that is one of the questions the airport employees who are responsible for getting you on the airplane and to your seat will ask you before or even when boarding the plane.  Another thing that is important to keep in mind while on an aisle chair is that once you are strapped in and secured as best as possible is to stay as still as you can, keep calm and not panic if anything goes wrong because any movement you might make while on the chair will have an impact on how fast you are able to be transported off the plane.

One particular aisle chair adventure that didn't go quite as planned on our latest trip was when we had to get off our flight from Philadelphia to Dallas while heading home from Munich Germany.  Let's just say that the two gentlemen who were in charge of getting me off the plane did not know what they were doing at all.  By the time I was off the plane my body had slid almost entirely off the aisle chair.  It also didn't help that the two guys who helped me off the plane with very limited English speaking skills didn't do a good job of listening to the instructions given by my Dad who was also trying to help with the deplaning process.

It's nice to know that even with that little deplaning obstacle, my family and I made it home safe and sound once again from another successful vacation adventure.  In terms of your future travels whether you are disabled or not, I hope this post give you a little insight into another aspect of traveling with a disability that not too many people think about and may take for granted.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2016
All Rights Reserved.  

  

Tim's Views - Living The Dream On MLB Network

Image courtesy of Wikimedia - public domain

As many of you who follow us and our traveling adventures here on The World on Wheels may know, I consider myself a pretty big sports fan. So much so that I have another blog of my own called Tim's Sports World dedicated to all things sports from my own unique perspective.

When it comes to watching and writing about my views on sports, there is no doubt that the sport I love watching the most is Major League Baseball (MLB). Those of you who know me very well will also know that one of my lifelong goals and dreams as a fan of baseball and as a sports fan in general  has been to see all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and or ballpark throughout my life.

Before the start of the 2017 MLB Season, my parents and I had started discussing potential family vacation plans for the coming year. If I remember correctly, those vacation plan discussions took place during baseball's off season Hot Stove period and during Spring Training 2017 as well. At first, my dad Darryl wanted to go back to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands but then I countered with the suggestion that we should look into doing another MLB ballpark trip so that I could get one or two steps closer to completing and meeting my lifelong goal of seeing all 30 stadiums that Major League Baseball (MLB) has to offer.

To make a long story short, during the course of those early 2017 vacation planning discussions, I came out on top on the winning side and we had settled on a plan to go on a  late April/early May springtime vacation in Texas to both the Dallas/Arlington and Houston areas to go see two more games and ballparks featuring both of the hometown Texas teams in the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros. There was also the added excitement for both games that we would end going to because the Rangers would be playing against the Angels which is my favorite team and the Astros game that we went to would be the first game of the 2017 Silver Boot Series between the aforementioned Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros!

Another important part of this story for me that is worth mentioning is that in addition to being a huge fan of Major League Baseball (MLB) and wanting to achieve my lifelong goal of seeing every major league ballpark, I am also a huge fan and have been for the last several years and counting of the Major League Baseball Network (MLBN).

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia

Eric Drost under CC BY 2.0 license

Fast forwarding the story of my own personal major league ballpark quest a little bit, towards the beginning of the 2017 MLB regular season if my memory is correct, one day while tuning in, I noticed that there was a season long MLB Network promotion going while watching the nightly highlights show called Quick Pitch hosted by Heidi Watney. on that was geared towards fans like me of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Network (MLBN) TV channel.  It just so happened that the main purpose of this fan promotion for the Quick Pitch show was that if you tweeted in a picture of yourself from any ballpark or baseball game that you went to during the 2017 MLB regular season with the #quickpitch hashtag on Twitter, then that picture could up end being put on the air for the show for you and all your friends and family's viewing pleasure!

Once I saw that MLB Network and Quick Pitch was doing this kind of promotion for their TV viewing fans on one of their signature daily shows, I knew that I wanted to do everything I could to be a part of it while my family and I were on vacation in Texas and Florida. A few days before we left for our trip, I became even more focused and determined to make a possible appearance on Quick Pitch more of a reality while watching a Facebook Live video that Heidi Watney and the rest of the Quick Pitch production crew did.

In this video, which also gave a little of a behind-the-scenes look at the show, Watney once again reminded the show's fans that they could send in their photos to the network's Twitter page with the required #quickpitch hashtag from any ballpark they went to throughout the 2017 regular season and that those pictures could possibly be shown during the show as a result of sending them in on Twitter. Now armed with more than enough focus and determination to make this possible dream appearance on my favorite baseball TV channel come true, my parents and I set out for a fun Spring baseball games and stadiums vacation of epic proportions deep in the heart of Texas and Florida.

To make sure everything went off relatively smooth and without too many technological hitches and or obstacles, I enlisted the help of my dad Darryl to be my designated official ballpark Twitter picture sender. For the most part, we were very successful in completing my Quick Pitch ballpark photo mission on Twitter. If my memory of what transpired is correct though, I believe that when we sent in my picture from Globe Life Park in Arlington with the #quickpitch hashtag, I think we forgot to also tag Heidi Watney on her Twitter page so that she could see the picture of me from Globe Life Park as well. The good news is is that as far as I know, that picture of me from Globe Life Park was still included on MLB Network's Twitter page as part of the collection of ballpark photos from other fans but I don't know for certain if my picture from Globe Life Park was put on the show or not.

The good news however is that my Quick Pitch ballpark photo story does not end there. While it is still true that I don't really know if my picture from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was ever shown on Quick Pitch, I know for a fact that after tagging Heidi Watney on her Twitter page for my photo from Minute Maid Park in Houston for another installment of the Quick Pitch show, my dream of appearing on an MLB Network TV show would soon become a reality! As the saying goes, if at first you don't succeed, try and try again!

Having now made all the necessary corrections in putting my second ballpark picture in the proper way, the momentous day of my eventual MLB Network TV appearance came and went during the late night/early morning hours of May 1-2, my picture from Minute Maid Park would be shown to a national viewing audience for all to see! For my family and I, it was very exciting for us to say the least when lo and behold while tuning into Quick Pitch myself from our downtown Houston hotel room I was able to catch the tail end of the final Quick Pitch show from the previous evening on a laptop on the morning of Monday, May 2, 2017!  It was during this time that I saw that my picture from Minute Maid Park had been included as part of that night's episode of Quick Pitch complete with an on-air shout out my tweet from the show's host Heidi Watney!

Heidi Watney-Host of MLB Network's Quick Pitch show!

Photo Courtesy Of:Wikimedia And Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA Under CC BY-SA 2.0 License

At that point, once I saw that my picture was indeed being included as part of that night's/morning's episode of Quick Pitch, my parents and I stopped what we were doing at that time (which included brushing our teeth after having breakfast and getting ready for our next adventure on the trip to go see the Johnson Space Center) to focus our attention and listen with great anticipation for what was about to be said by Ms. Watney about my picture from Minute Maid Park that was now plastered in full view on my laptop and the big TV screen video monitor inside the network's very own Studio 21 for everyone who was tuned in to see in all of it's beautiful glory!

While my family and I were watching Heidi Watney talk about my picture from Minute Maid Park that was now being shown for all to see, it quickly became clear to me that all the hard work I had done and put in an effort to make a dream appearance on an MLB Network show come to fruition had finally paid off and was actually really happening!

I should also mention that while mostly everything about my appearance on Quick Pitch that day had gone smoothly and was very exciting up to that point, my growing excitement while watching my appearance that morning was diminished a little when it came time for Heidi Watney to give me and my family credit for sending the picture in to the show by saying the name of our Twitter Handle username When it was time for Watney to say the name of our @musickchannel Twitter Handle username, she had mistakenly through no fault of her own referred to it on-air while speaking as "At Music 'K' Channel!" At that moment for me, I knew that she had not something was wrong and that she had not said our family's last name correctly. The good news was that she did pronounce the first part of the name correctly by saying "Music."  Where she made the made the mistake however was when she actually pronounced The letter 'K' that appears at the end of the "@Musick" portion of my family's Twitter Handle username. What most people don't know about the proper pronunciation of my family's last name is that the 'K' is actually silent. When you take all those things into consideration, the proper way to say our Twitter Handle username is "at music channel."

As I just mentioned above though, the slight error in mispronunciation that was committed by Watney was done through no fault of her own at that time during the show and I'm not going to be too hard on her for it even though she did make a little mistake at that time in saying our family's last name. At least she gave it the "good college try" and actually came closer to the proper pronunciation of my last name that I have heard in previous attempts from other people I have come across such as "Moosik" or "Musik." In the future, for anybody who has difficulties with how our last name is pronounced or is just curious in general about it, a very easy way to remember how our last name is said is to just remember what is the most common thing that we all hear when we are tuned into a certain radio station? That would be music of course!

My apologies for digressing a little bit and getting a little off topic up above, but I should also mention that as far as having to watch Quick Pitch that day on a laptop instead of the TV in our hotel is concerned, I would have preferred to have seen the show on the TV in our room, but sadly MLB Network was not included as one of the channels that the hotel offered as part of their TV channel lineup viewing package. As a result, I had to settle for the next best thing which was the laptop.

All things considered however, it was definitely a thrill for me to have made an appearance on MLB Network in one form or another and make a dream of mine come true. It is something that I will most likely always remember and never forget that happened. The only other thing or experience that could top it is if MLB Network were to someday offer  tours that could be open to the general public of their studio facilities in New Jersey so that baseball fans like me could get an up close look at where all the magic happens as well as getting the chance to meet some of our favorite personalities from the network. As of right now however, as far as I know, the network does not offer any tours to the general public at this time. For the time being, while I can still dream that that may someday change or not, I can find comfort and peace in knowing that I have already done something that not too many too many before me have done. Many thanks to both MLB Network and Heidi Watney for their hard work in making my appearance from earlier this season on the show Quick Pitch possible! It was very much appreciated!

Tim Musick (Pronounced MYOO-zik. For more information on name pronunciation, you can check my Facebook page in the "Details About You" section.)
Copyright 2017
All Rights Reserved.          

CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: Adventures Of A New Power Traveling Wheelchair - UPDATE

UPDATE ON THE POWER CHAIR FROM DARRYL - NOVEMBER 2017:

Well, it's no secret that the power chair from GeoCruiser came out of the gate underwhelmingly. As you can see from the story below, the chair actually started falling apart while we were in Germany (necessitating a visit to the Berlin version of Home Depot to find wrenches and parts for an 'on the fly' repair) and went so frustratingly slow that I ended up pushing it in manual mode for most of the trip.

While that was good for exercise and weight loss on the trip, it was also very frustrating and was making me rethink what I thought was a good idea to buy this light-weight fold-able power chair for traveling.

The chair comes with a one-year warranty so off to San Jose it went, via UPS, for the company to make it right.  It came back within a month.

Fast forward to May when we went to Texas and the Florida Keys. While at first the chair seemed a bit better, as the time went on, it went right back to just crawling after about five minutes of operation.

At least this time, it wasn't falling to pieces on us.

Phone calls for help were made to GeoCruiser's dealer in San Jose, who walked me through various tips to try to improve the speed of the chair. Among the advice was to turn the batteries over and, when I told them one of the batteries wouldn't lock into place, to push it in very forcefully.

Nothing worked so off the chair went to San Jose (this is where I found out that the one year warranty only covered shipping back for the first two months - I had to pay shipping back this time since it was the 11th month).

I got an e-mail saying that they might not cover it since one of the battery connectors was smashed, the same one they told me to push in "forcefully." Several e-mails, with increasing anger, back and forth convinced them that it was their tech support that told me to mash in the battery as hard as I could.

When the manager sent back an e-mail complaining that they had to spend over $1,000 for parts to fix the chair, I basically lost it with them and reminded them that I had paid far more than that for a chair that was basically useless and that their contract with me gave me 12 months to force them to make it right...I really didn't care if they were losing money on this since the chair was a lemon from the get-go.

A week later the chair returned. Tim and I took it out for a long walk.  It worked and went much faster this time and was working very well. We decided to roll the dice and take it with us to Canada for a two week trip. I was knowing that I'd be doing a lot of pushing...in the mountains...if this happened again.

To make a long story short, the chair performed brilliantly with absolutely no problems. I just wish it had been that way from the beginning...it would have been nice not to push this chair to the heart of Europe and southern Florida.  

Now, finally, the chair is worth it.  If you do decide to buy a chair like this, make sure it really works as promised as soon as it's delivered...and hold the vendor's feet to the fire if there is anything at all you're not happy with.

Our most recent European traveling adventure to Germany and the Czech Republic was special enough that it is worthy of not just one, but two...YES TWO...Cerebral Palsy Stories.  The first Cerebral Palsy Story from our time in Europe was about the basic fundamentals of using an aisle chair while boarding and getting off an airplane.

The second Cerebral Palsy Story from our time in Europe comes courtesy of a new traveling power wheelchair we bought from a company called GEO Cruiser up north in San Jose, California.  When we were looking at the different models they offered, we opted to go with the elite model in the Geo Cruiser line of power wheelchairs for a cost of about $2,500.  Considering that there are only two models of the wheelchair offered, the choice of models wasn't very hard for us in terms of the number of models offered.  We just had to make what we felt was the best decision for us in terms of which model of the chair we thought would give us the best bang for our buck.

We also wanted to get me a new power wheelchair for traveling purposes so that I could have some independence while seeing the sights in Europe by driving myself around and not having to rely on my parents to push me around all the time to wherever we went.

There are a couple of different electric chairs to choose from. To their credit, when we called Geo Cruiser, they suggested we also look at their competitor's chair before buying. This was the EZ Cruiser wheelchair.

EZ Cruiser's warehouse is located in Van Nuys, California and Geo Cruiser is in San Jose. We were heading up to Northern California so we decided to visit both locations in person to test drive the chairs.

EZ Cruiser seems like a well-built chair and has a nice turning radius and a good warranty.
The problem with it is that the back is at a too-severe angle and it feels like I'm reclining.

Geo Cruiser is more comfortable to sit in but takes a little getting used to with it's wider turning radius and slower speed. The warranty is good but not as good as EZ Cruiser's.

The price for both chairs is almost the same and both weigh around 60 pounds, including lithium batteries. They both fold up to easily fit in a regular sized car trunk, although the Geo Cruiser folds up just a little smaller than the EZ Cruiser.

As I mentioned above, we chose to go with the elite model of the Geo Cruiser when purchasing a new traveling power wheelchair a few months before we left for Germany mainly because it's a more comfortable chair to sit in.  As with most of our other purchases, we had the wheelchair delivered to our house similar what one would have delivered to them from an Amazon.com purchase.

During the time after the new chair was delivered, my family and I took full advantage of the time we had left before our trip so that I could practice driving it around and get more comfortable with it.

Those weekly driving tests consisted of driving it to and from our backyard and back inside the house.  From what I can remember, the only negatives we discovered from these pre-traveling weekly driving tests was that the new chair didn't have quite as nice of turning radius for tight and sharp corners compared to my regular power wheelchair and that it wasn't as fast.  We even got in touch with the company again before we left to ask how we could adjust the speed and they walked us through the steps on how to make it go faster.

Fast forwarding to the week when we leave for our trip, I can already feel a difference while driving it around the airport before our first flight leaves in terms of feeling better about how to use it when navigating it around tricky turns and sharp corners, so I can't say that the weekly driving tests I did before we left didn't help because they did in terms of making me feel more confident and comfortable about my skill level when driving it.

What my family and I didn't find out until the trip was in full swing were are the cons of the wheelchair that weren't present before we left.  For instance, when I had my chair at its top speed at times, it would suddenly decide to start slowing down for whatever reason even though I hadn't turned it down to a slower speed in the first place.  When this happened, I kept having to remind my parents to slow down their walking pace just so I could keep up with them.  When that didn't work, I had to have my dad put the chair in manual mode and push it so we could get to where we were going faster.

Then there were times when some of the screws and bolts on the chair would come loose from going over the lovely cobblestone sidewalks and streets that Europe is famous for.  To manage this obstacle we ended having to go to a hardware store near our hotel as well as borrowing a wrench from the helpful staff at the hotel's front desk to tighten the loose screws and bolts.  This became a nightly ritual during our time there.  So much so that one night, the lady at the hotel's front desk already had the wrench in her hand when we returned from our sight seeing one night and said that we could give it back before we had to leave.  The good thing about that is we didn't have to hold on to it and give it back since we went to a nearby hardware store and got the necessary repair supplies.

One final downside that the chair presented during our trip was a problem with one of the chair's motors that was making it even more difficult to use because it went even slower during these times and it was also making an unpleasant grinding noise in the motor while driving it.  At this point, I was already having enough of a hard time trying to keep the chair on the right side of the sidewalk to avoid any oncoming pedestrians and bicycles that it was getting really frustrating for both my parents and myself that more often than not, we had to put the chair in manual to save us from even more headaches.

About the only silver lining we found for easier navigation of the chair for future trips came at the end when we discovered by accident a little trick where we would put the right motor on manual while driving the chair and somehow this seemed to improve the overall performance of the chair and it also seemed to go a little bit faster once we discovered this trick.  It's too bad that it took us until the trip was over to find this out for ourselves since it would have made things a lot easier for all of us in the beginning.

Since the chair is under warranty, we shipped it back to Geo Cruiser to repair the problems that we had with it. The company took about a week to make repairs and ship it back to us. We will see if the problems we encountered are fixed.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2016
All Rights Reserved.        

CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: The "Timmy Wheels" Big3-0/DirtyThirty Milestone Birthday Celebration-Entering The Prime Years Of My Life

As most of you may have seen from a while back, I recently celebrated a big milestone birthday when I turned 30 years old on February 10 of this year.

Some people that I know of who are from the older generations of folks such as the Baby Boomers or those from Generation X or Y sometimes refer to it as the "Big 3-0." Those of us from who are from the Millennial Generation have started referring to our 30th birthday as the "Dirty 30" birthday.

Before I go on, I must point out that in my family since there are only three of us (my parents and I), we usually don't do too much to celebrate it and make a big deal out of it whenever one of us has a birthday coming up. Usually we just look at it as we're just another year older and wiser.

During most years, we usually don't do anything too big. Most of the time we just go out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Since I turned the "Big 3-0" this year however, my Family and I decided to make an exception to mark the extra special occasion.

As I mentioned before on my own personal Facebook Page, I had originally wanted to see either a Los Angeles Kings or Los Angeles Clippers game at Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles since I am a such a big sports fan, but since my birthday this year just so happened to coincide with the Grammy Awards ceremony that took place on February 12, we had to come up with a Plan B.

Since all the home teams that call Staples Center home were on the road at the time, we decided to look up the schedule of the Ontario Reign, the minor league hockey affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings. Well it just so happened that we were in luck because the Reign were scheduled to play a home game against the San Diego Gulls on the night of my birthday. Bingo! The perfect Plan B was in place for my big 30th Birthday celebration.

So we made the most out of going to a minor league hockey game in Ontario rather than in Los Angeles. While there, my birthday dinner consisted of one tray serving of chicken nuggets with ranch dipping sauce and a side of fries from the nearest concessions stand next to our seating section. Overall, the chicken nuggets and fries were very good and were also much better than the hot dogs that my Mom and Dad got for themselves.

In terms of what happened during the hockey game itself there were a couple of fights broke out between a few players from both teams which is pretty routine and normal for a hockey game. Heck I think that if you go to a hockey game and a fight or two doesn't break out, then you have not been to a "real" hockey game. Watching the fights happening in real time while being at the game in person was pretty exciting and it also provided quite an adrenaline rush. Out of all the things I did or saw on my 30th birthday, watching the fights in the hockey game will probably go down as the "dirtiest" thing that I witnessed during that weekend.

The only bad part about the game was how it ended. The Reign lost to the Gulls by a final score of 4 to 1. Oh well. At least we all had fun at the game even though the home team lost that night.

Of course no birthday celebration of any kind would be complete without a nice and delicious cake to enjoy. During the week leading up to my birthday this year, my Mom Letty kept herself busy throughout the day by putting together the finishing touches on my Mothers circus animal cookie cake with pink strawberry flavored frosting. To say that the cake was really sweet would be an understatement.

That cake was so sweet in terms of how it tasted that it took my Mom, my Dad and I a couple of weeks to finish the whole thing. We probably could have finished it a lot sooner than that if it hadn't tasted so sweet. My dad could not have as much of the cake as compared to my Mom and I because he has this little nasty and annoying disease called Diabetes. So he now has to be extra careful to watch what he eats because his blood sugar levels can go up or down depending on what he eats throughout a given day or week.

When taking into consideration all the excitement and enjoyment that comes from going to a minor league and having more than enough cake to eat as described above, you would probably think that that would already be more than enough for a fairly complete 30th Birthday celebration.

Well for the most part it is but I don't want to finish a Cerebral Palsy Stories post like without also saying a big Thank You with much love and gratitude from me to all my friends on Facebook (from high school, college and other places in between), and elsewhere who took the time to send more Happy Birthday wishes and greetings than I could count my way last month. I read through all of them and I am extremely grateful and appreciative of all the love and support that you all have given me over the last 30 years and counting of my life. Looking ahead to the future, here's a toast to enjoying the continued blessings of what this thing called Life has to offer as I enter the so-called "Over-The-Hill" phase and what is still to come my way during the prime years of my single life on wheels.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2017
All Rights Reserved.

CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: The Musick Family Sunday Day Of Rest-Enjoying The Great Indoors And Outdoors

Sundays at the Musick Household are usually known as The Day of Rest for all three of us as it gives us a chance to unwind from the daily grind of a busy stressful week Whether it's my Dad needing to unwind from a busy week at The Office or my Mom needing a break from her daily caregiving duties for my needs, Sundays are a time when we come hang up the virtual 'Do Not Disturb' sign, get together and relax to spend some quality time alone as a family and recharge our batteries.

The first part of that Sunday relaxation ritual consists of a leisurely walk and roll between me and my Mom.  I say walk and roll because while my Mom does the actual walking, I go out in my wheelchair to face the elements of a hot sunny day or a cold and windy one.

We are fortunate enough to live in an area that has a walking trail outside directly behind our backyard wall.  This way, we already know there is a great place for us to walk that is within walking distance from our house and we don't have to get into our van to drive to it.

Once my Mom and I make our way outside, we use this time to greet our other fellow joggers and friends on the trail.  We do have to be careful though when leaving our house that we don't get hit by any cars since we live on a busy street.  We also make sure that we are fully equipped with the appropriate pieces of clothing depending on what the weather is like when we get up in the morning. If it's a hot a sunny day, I usually have to put a hat on to protect my head and eyes from the bright sunshine.  On the cooler days and months, I usually have to wear a jacket and a pair of gloves to keep my hands warm.

The length of the walking trail is about one and three-quarters of a mile and starts at Buena Vista Street at one end of the trail and finishes at Royal Oaks Park at the other end. As I mentioned above, going out on the trail is a great opportunity for my Mom and I to go out and just simply get some exercise, socialize with the other people out there and enjoy some fresh air. My Dad also uses this time that my Mom and I spend on the walking trail to cook breakfast for both him and her and then to get my weekly lunch of chicken nuggets that he wrote about in a previous edition of Caregiver Chronicles.

After my Mom and I finish up our walk on Sundays and after we have our breakfast and lunch, the next part of our family's Day of Rest routine involves a usually smooth transition to our outdoor patio in our backyard. I say usually smooth because sometimes during the Fall and Winter months, we do get some rainy and stormy weather that pops up every now and then which forces us to enjoy our time and make the most of our Sundays from the comfort found inside our house in the den area known as the Family Room.

On those days when we do get to enjoy our Sunday family time outdoors, (which is most of the time), we have our fun by taking my iPod Classic for musical entertainment and background noise purposes. Fairly recently as well, my Dad and I have been taking a small collection of board and card games such as Sorry!, Checkers or Uno to keep the good times going and keep ourselves even more occupied and busy on a Sunday morning/afternoon.

Another staple of the Musick Family Sunday Day of Rest are the multiple round of drinks that my Mom and Dad have either from a selection of  one of our famous Cocktail Hour recipes or sometimes it's  simply just a glass or bottle of beer or wine. During the cool Fall or Winter months, my Dad will also use this time on the backyard patio to light a fire in our outdoor wood burning chimney to keep us all warm and toasty.

Finally the last part of the Day of Rest for us Musicks' involves my Dad continuing to take his weekly turn of being in charge cooking a dinner selection of some sort either on the grill outside in the backyard or the stove inside the kitchen of our house.

After we finish our Sunday dinner, we wind down the end our week with some very nice and well earned relaxation time in the Family Room watching TV from the comfort of our nice leather recliners we affectionately like to call "The Cloud." The only bad thing about enjoying our Day of Rest is knowing they all have to come to an end. That is until the next rolls around and we can begin to look forward to the next one and let the Sunday rest and relaxation cycle begin again.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2017
All Rights Reserved.

  

CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: Physical Therapy Tuneup-Going To The Gym

For anyone who has a disability like me, physical fitness is another important factor in leading the healthiest lifestyle possible for those who are physically challenged or can't walk.

My weekly workout routine consists of going to Movement Unlimited Fitness Center in Monrovia twice a week.  It's good that they are a gym that specializes in providing physical fitness services to those who are disabled.  They also offer the same services to people who are not disabled.

Some of the exercises I do at Movement Unlimited are the stationary bike for my arms and legs on Mondays for about 20 minutes or so and ten laps in a walker in the aerobics room on Fridays.

Ten laps is the goal each week that I shoot for. even though I don't always reach that goal during my walking routine.  For the weekly walking exercise, I use a specially designed walker called a Rifton Gait Trainer that is equipped with two ankle straps to keep my feet in place as well as another strap that goes around my waist to help me stand in a more upright posture position.

The laps in the aerobics room are probably the most physically demanding exercise I do on a weekly basis.  By the end of the ten laps, I usually have to take a few minutes to rest and catch my breath. I also keep track of how fast I complete the ten laps from time to time, but my Dad and I have a rule that if I stop at any point during the walk to take a rest, then we don't keep track of the time it takes to finish the laps.  On that note for those inquiring minds, my fastest time of doing tens laps in the aerobics room is around seven minutes and ten seconds.

When it comes to using the stationary bike, I recently started a new workout regimen where for about a month or so, I will spend the entire workout time on the bike in an effort to shed even more pounds off my body weight.  Up to this point, I've been keeping my body weight at a consistent 163 pounds.  So far, I've spent two complete workouts on the bike up to this point and I have to say that at the end of the first one, I could definitely feel a difference in that I felt like I was using up more energy than I would have if I was on there for the regular allotted time of 20 minutes.  The toughest part of staying on the bike so far for almost an hour is maintaining the mental focus required for such an exercise, but if it's going to help me lose a little more weight then I'm all for it.

Some other arm exercises I do are the Lat Pull to strengthen my lat muscles.  I also use the Bench Press to exercise my shoulders, but instead of laying on the bench, I put my chair in a forward-facing position to use the machine.  I also do ab crunch exercises, which are probably the second toughest exercise I do after the ten laps in the walker.  On each of these arm exercises, I do about three sets consisting of anywhere between 30-50 repetitions in those sets.  If I'm lucky enough to feel extra bursts of energy, I sometimes do one set of 100 repetitions on some of the arm exercises.

So there you have it.  An quick inside look at a workout routine from someone who is physically challenged to show you that even though someone like myself, lives life with a disability everyday, that doesn't stop me from doing my part to stay as physically fit as possible.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2016
All Rights Reserved.     

CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: The Most Interesting Sleep Machine

We all know that eating a well-balanced along with regular exercise are some of the keys to living a healthy, happy life for anybody.  Most of us also know that maintaining a healthy diet and getting regular exercise is not always easy for any number of reasons we come up with.. That is not breaking news.  As the title of this post mentions however, I'm not going to write a in-depth guide about diet and exercise  Instead, I'll touch on a third element of overall health and wellness. That is a good night's sleep.

First off, I have to say that it wasn't until about a year ago this time when I learned just how important sleep is to someone's overall health firsthand.  As I've mentioned before, I can't really speak for anybody who doesn't have a disability in terms of what effects a lack of sleep can have on their health, but for other members of the disabled community, I'm here to tell you that there are different treatment options for a good well-rested night of sleep. It is also important for the disabled community to consider that not having a good night's sleep over an extended period of time can have an impact on not only your physical health but your mental health as well.

For the mental health aspect, it is important for those individuals with disabilities to not be afraid to speak up to a family member or caregiver if something is bothering you.  That is one skill I've gotten better at particularly over the last year when I started having my own mental health issues that stemmed from a lack of sleep.

Over the last year, I went to a psychologist when my sleep deprivation issues started roughly around April of 2015, which included hallucinations and emotional outbursts that didn't make sense.  At the end of those sessions, I had been diagnosed with Insomnia.  For those that may not know, Insomnia is defined by Web MD as a sleeping disorder that is characterized by difficulty falling and or staying asleep  

During this time, I also started having issues with my breathing or lack thereof while sleeping.  To address this issue, my primary doctor referred me to a sleep specialist where I spent the night at said doctor's office to see if I had Sleep Apnea, where you stop breathing while sleeping, in addition to Insomnia.

Turns out I did and it is easily treatable with the use of what is known as a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine that helps open up your airway to breathe easier so you can have a good night's sleep on a more consistent basis.  One thing that does take some getting used to is the mask a sleep apnea patient has to wear.

You should also consider that a CPAP machine doesn't solve all the issues from not getting enough sleep, but once your used to it, it doesn't hurt.  Another thing the machine does is it keeps track of how many times you stop breathing throughout the night.  The lower the number in the EPH (Events Per Hour) section of the Sleep Report the better.

For those who might be considering the use of one, just remember to breathe and green faces are good.  The machine does give out red faces from time to time based on certain factors that I can't fully explain since I'm not a certified sleep doctor who specializes in this particular field of medicine. The only advice I can offer is don't get discouraged by red faces and it helps to have a positive attitude each and every day.  

Tim Musick
Copyright 2016
All Rights Reserved.

CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: Going On The Record With My Disability

As many of you who follow this blog may or may not know I was born with a disability known as Cerebral Palsy.  As the mission statement of this blog points out I have had Cerebral Palsy from the the time I was born 29 years ago.  

The effects of Cerebral Palsy are wide-ranging for those who have it.  Some Cerebral Palsy individuals require the use of a wheelchair like myself. Others can walk with the assistance of a walker or crutches. There are also others who require the use of assisted speaking devices to communicate with family and friends.

I can't speak for others individuals who live a normal life, but what I can tell you is that I try to make the most out of my life each and every day regardless of the challenges that come from living with Cerebral Palsy.

I don't want to bore you with a laundry list of personal challenges I've faced over the the years because it would take a long time and I don't want to write a novel.  Not to mention that they are personal.  Instead I'll share some stories from time to time under this new series of posts entitled Cerebral Palsy Stories.  I'll do my best to come up with some good and interesting ones.  Hopefully these stories can shed some light on what it's like to live life with your own set of wheels.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2016
All Rights Reserved