Well the weather is finally warm and the ladies are out in their summer finest. Makes my male heart soar with glee. I saw many lovely women today as I was out and about. I guess I will never grow up--seeing a beautiful woman makes me happy. Gosh, men (me?) are so easy to please. And I am now the proud owner of more calloused hands--yes as I am doing more my hands are returning to their previous callous state. Thanks to last month's post I am no longer self conscious about my hands. I do not try to hide them like I have been doing for decades. I have manly hands and no one as a result pushes me around. Hell, I do not even have handles on my wheelchair--I gave them up long ago. I do not get pushed and I do not get carried. The only person that I will allow push my wheelchair is my son and only when I am faced with an impossible hill--think San Francisco or Seattle waterfront.
As pleased as I am with my hands I am not pleased with my beard. I am getting asked questions not about my beard, snowy white, but rather my hair. Yes, my short hair is now object of questioning. I do not like the question. People want to know if I am dying my hair or asking me why I don't dye my beard. For the record, I am not nor will I ever dye may hair. I am getting old and that fact does not bother me one iota. But I do not like the question about hair dying. In fact a large part of me misses my long hair. Amazingly even my mother misses it too--she thinks the long hair was preferable to my white beard. Go figure. This leads me to ask is it that unusual to see a guy with a white beard and dark hair? Am I breaking some sort of social rule I am unaware of? My post about my calloused hands led to a totally unexpected response. So here i go again: what should I do with my beard? I am tempted to shave it off but am hesitant--growing a beard requires two of looking very scruffy. I do not want to go through that again. I also love the idea of being a paralyzed Santa next Christmas.
Paralyzed since I was 18 years old, I have spent much of the last 30 years thinking about the reasons why the social life of crippled people is so different from those who ambulate on two feet. After reading about the so called Ashley Treatment I decided it was time to write a book about my life as a crippled man. My book, Bad Cripple: A Protest from an Invisible Man, will be published by Counter Punch. I hope my book will completed soon.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wound Care: The Final Entry
My original wound from last Fall is healed. Yes, my long experience with wound care has come to a halt. My right hip, the large grossly infected hip wound is officially gone. I will have quite the scar to remind me to be exceedingly careful. I am by no means going to simply hop up and resume my old schedule. That will take time and patience. But the life threatening original problem is gone. I am happy in the extreme. I can move my bed out of my living room and into the bedroom. I can put all my furniture back. I can actually relax when sitting. Today is a big day! I did not get here alone however. I had world class help from my family, friends, and the wound care people at Northern Westchester Hospital. The big question now is the future: how to never ever put myself in this position again. I am going to be cautious in the extreme. Going out today and buying the biggest mirror I can find for self examination. But for now it is party time!