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figured out how to adjust to my body and still stay positive. I disassociated myself from my body; I didn’t look at myself in the mirror and didn’t think about my body. I focused on activities of the day, like what we would be eating, what was on TV and most of all living my life through relationships with other people. One of my coworkers began bringing dinner to my husband and me once a week and visiting. She still does this eleven years later. Relationships have become even more important. I now have fewer relationships but those relationships are more connected and a highlight of my day.
While I have never liked talking about my injury, I know others may benefit from my story. I am a person
from my story. I am a person focused on the present and my future as well. I want to move on from my injury and focus on my life. My daughter calls me stubborn, this characteristic has been helpful in my transition as a quadriplegic person.
After about a year of physical therapy at home and learning how to be a quad, my Neuroradiologist son, Alan, and PTA, Bill, both challenged me to go back to work. I negotiated with the University to work half-time with helpers in my classroom and at home in my Art studio to maintain my Artmaking. I didn’t know how that would work or if I could make Art again, but, I went back to work 18 months after the injury. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to maintain the classroom. Eleven years later, here I am still teaching and making Art. My Artwork looks different but still satisfies my creativity and hopefully shows others that you can do anything, it just might be different that you expected.
Advice I would give to a newly injured person:
1. It is important to look forward and not dwell on what was.
2. Don’t complain. When I was first injured, I was talking to my sister-in-law, a quadriplegic for many years as a result of MS and she said nobody wants to be around a complainer. That was excellent advice and I try hard not to complain.
Continued...