Mileage Monday

It’s the beginning of another week. Seems like summer is flying by. I know some kids are already back in school. Seems crazy that they start this early. Summer is not my favorite season, for more than one reason. But, there’s only a few more weeks until things start to pick up again for the fall. Fall and winter are my favorites. Thankfully, our summer temperatures never got too hot. Oh yes, we’ve had some hot days, and will have some more hot ones before the end of summer. We’ve only had a handful of days over 115. Staying around 105 to 108 for the most part though. We even had a high of 95 last week (or was it the week before?). I’m not complaining.

This summer, we’ve had our fair share of strangeness. A few wildfires broke out in our area. We get wildfires every year, but none ever this close to us. Normally, they stay about 60 or more miles away, but we’ve had two that have reached the Palm Springs area, and that’s only 25 to 30 miles of us. We had some nasty smoke and ash from both fires, but they’re gone now. The Silver fire is the most recent one, and it’s now 95% contained. Hopefully this is the end of fire season.

I did get some exercise in last week. I’m taking some time off from strength training to let my left shoulder heal. Not sure what I did to it, but I think due to a combination of some of my strength training moves and how I vacuum, I pulled something. It’s feeling a bit better, but I’m taking one more week off from strength training. I’m also going to go through my arm exercises and get rid of a few. I know of of a couple that would only re-aggravate it, so bye bye to them.

Since I got my cervical pillow, I’ve had a lot less issues with my neck. It seems to be keeping my neck aligned all night. I still get aches and pains, but nowhere near as bad I used to. So, that was a good $20 spent.

On to the virtual walk stats. I’ve passed through the city of Melvin, KY in Floyd county, and have about 4.5 miles until I get to Mallie, KY in Knott county. I’ve gone a total of 622.6 miles, and I’m going strong. Here are the pictures from last week.

Mile 619.6 (elliptical for 1 mile)                                 Mile 620.6 (elliptical for 1 mile)

                   

Mile 621.6 (elliptical for 1 mile)                                  Mile 622.6 (elliptical for 1 mile)

                   

(photo credit - Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab)

Keep moving!

One Disturbed (sick, sick, sick) Woman

(photo credit – FoxNews.com)

I read this story last week, and planned to write a blog post on it, but every time I re-read the story, I got so angry, I couldn’t write about it without fuming. So I apologize ahead of time if this blog post turns into a rant. Tina’s recent post reminded me I haven’t written about this yet.

OK, so this woman, Chloe Jennings-White fantasizes about being disabled. She wants to be a paraplegic so badly that she’s looking for a surgeon to perform an operation to make her legs stop working. This woman has a “rare psychological condition” called Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). She has actually found a doctor who will perform the surgery (Hippocratic oath?), but she doesn’t have the $25,000 for the procedure.

I can’t access the entire article anymore, but in it, Chloe says she’s never been comfortable with the fact that her legs work normally. At the age of four, her aunt had an accident and had to use leg braces. From then on, Chloe wanted braces also. She wanted them so badly she hand-made some for herself to “pretend”.

She also uses a wheel chair to “pretend” to be paralyzed. She pretended in secret for years, and finally divulged her secret to her partner. The woman she lives with now does all the housework, and helps Chloe do things. Chloe also has gone so far as riding her bike off of a four-foot stage, landing on her neck in order to paralyze herself.

Chloe also enjoys skiing. She admits to going skiing sometimes because of the possibility she will have an accident and become paralyzed. She skis recklessly, and scares her family.

I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around this. A completely healthy able-bodied woman wanting to damage herself to be stuck in a chair the rest of her life?

Tina made a good point in her blog. Tina said that in the video, Chloe uses a wheelchair, but when she gets to a spot where it’s difficult to maneuver the chair where she wants to go, she stands up and pushes it to where she wants to go. Tina can’t do that. I remember when I watched the video, Chole was “transferring” herself from the bed to the chair. She tries not to move her legs, but when she scoots herself into position, her legs help her out.

OK. So let’s say Chloe does have this surgery (it still boggles my mind that any sane doctor would agree to do this), and ends up paralyzed. What happens when she can’t get her chair to go where she wants it to go? What happens when, as a result of the surgery, she’s in pain the rest of her life? Even if she’s not in pain from the surgery, your butt is going to be sore from sitting for so long. You won’t be able to stand up and stretch your legs.

Paraplegics can ski, but it won’t be same. So, Chloe’s passion for skiing will have to be altered. Her partner won’t be able to help her 24 hours a day (I assume she works for a living), so how will Chloe manage to do things? That’s one (one in a million) thing that bugs me. Paraplegics can manage housework and they also go out and work for a living. But, even without the surgery, Chloe has her partner do everything.

You get the picture here. Chloe is a sick, sick, woman and needs help. She does see a psychotherapist, but he indulges Chloe with her fantasies. He allows her to use a wheelchair at the sessions.

I could go on and on about how angry this woman makes me. I’m not alone in my feelings. Many disabled people feel she is insane, being ridiculous, or just being lazy. I hope she doesn’t end up getting this surgery, but if she does, I don’t want to hear her regrets. She won’t have my sympathy.

I think this is the full video from the news story. She’s got several clip on YouTube, but I can’t stomach to watch her anymore.

YouTube

http://youtu.be/O5o2hFrUk4g

Fox News

Fox News link to The Sun’s story.