World Cerebral Palsy Day 2013

Today’s the day! What is World Cerebral Palsy Day? Well, this sums it up. “World CP Day is a global innovation project to change the world for people living with cerebral palsy and their families. It is designed to gather ideas from people around the world and make the best of those ideas a reality.
The project is led by a group of non-profit cerebral palsy charities, and supported by organisations in over 30 countries.” (from http://en.worldcpday.org/about/)

You can find the World CP Day on FaceBook also, and a few weeks ago, they posted an interesting informational graphic.



(photo credit - http://en.worldcpday.org/about/)

I don’t know how big this picture will be on the blog, so go to this website to blow it up. http://en.worldcpday.org/assets/Uploads/about/WorldCPDayCP-Infographic.pdf

I found this information interesting, particularly all the statistics at the bottom. I usually describe my CP as ataxic, but I’ve recently discovered that I was never diagnosed with any particular type. Looking through the various types of CP, I’m leaning more toward the spastic description. My muscles and tendons are very tight and stiff. I also identify with the ataxic type because i do have bad balance. I don’t think my “sense of positioning in space” is impacted at all. Not really sure what that means, depth perception maybe?

The parts of me that are impacted are my right arm and left leg. My gross motor skills are technically level 2, but right now, I act more like a level 4. I’m working on that though. Get myself back to a level 2.

My manual ability is OK. I have no problems with eating, dressing, writing, or catching a ball. Although I do get hit in the head by a ball if I’m not expecting someone to throw it at me. When people start playing catch, I pay very close attention to who is throwing it. Been hit in the head by flying objects a lot over the years. The only real issue I have with getting dressed is buttons. I have a hard time with really tiny button on shirts. Also, the button has to be on correct side of the pants for me (the right side in my case).

I can walk and I can talk. I do experience pain from time to time, but it’s not as bad as is was a year ago before I started going to the chiropractor regularly. I have very tight muscles in my upper back and neck that are a pain frequently. I don’t have epilepsy, don’t have a behavior disorder, and I don’t have an intellectual impairment. I have no vision problems (almost 39 and still don’t wear glasses). I thankfully don’t have bladder control problems or a saliva control problem. And I don’t really have any sleep disorders other than the occasional hard time getting to sleep.

So, there you have it. Me in a nutshell. Not too bad. I got very lucky. My CP could have been a whole lot worse. I was lucky enough to have parents who didn’t treat me any different from my older sister. If I couldn’t do something, I’d get creative and find a way to get it done (still do that).

CP doesn’t get worse with age, although the impact on the body (joints, tendons and such) can deteriorate if they’re not worked. Walking ability also suffers if it’s not utilized often. That’s why I’m keeping up with exercise and trying to regain my confidence with walking.

I hope this information helps anyone out there wanting to know more about CP. Every case of CP is totally different. There are a lot of people with cerebral palsy that are trying to get more awareness of CP out there and help people understand this disability more. Here are links to a few of the people I keep up with whether it’s on FaceBook or through their blogs.

Charisse – FaceBook Page and YouTube Channel

CP Family Network – Website and FaceBook Page

Tina’s Blog – Living With Cerebral Palsy

Amelia's Blog - Life In The Blue Ridges

Have a great day and keep moving!!

A Date To Add To My Calendar

Yes, I am alive. I'm going to be getting on the blog wagon again very soon. This is just a quick post to mention a date that I'll be adding to my calendar from now on.

I became aware of this a few days ago, thanks to Charisse, an 18-year old girl with CP. I guess from now on, the first Tuesday in September is World Cerebral Palsy Day. You can read all about the day here. Really great thing in my opinion, and I want to thank Charisse for posting about it on her FaceBook page.
I highly suggest you check Charisse out on either her Facebook page or on her YouTube channel. She is one awesome girl!
I am coming back, but for now, Keep Moving!

Set Up A New "Work" Schedule For Myself

The other day I had the idea of setting up some sort of "work" schedule. I tend to procrastinate when it comes to getting any writing done. I read e-mail and blogs, play on FaceBook and Twitter, and I never get any actual writing done.

I've finally set up a schedule and it seems to be working so far. The hours of "work" are sort of random depending on the day. I plan to exercise Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and don't plan to write until 10 AM. Then Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday I plan to write in the evenings for a few hours while my husband has a scheduled event in World of Warcraft. I plan on taking Saturdays off entirely, but I may write here or there anyway.

This is all just a tentative schedule. If it works, great, if I make tweaks here and there, fine. Just as long as I get some sort of writing done most days of the week. I'll be happy with that. So far today, I've gotten an article for a ghost writing site done, and I finally got my workout page set up here on Blogger.

I've got an hour before I eat lunch, and I plan of editing some articles for eHow, and I'll upload those to that site probably later this evening. So yeah, the schedule will work pretty well I think. As long as I resist the temptation to read blogs. That's my biggest time sink at the moment. I love reading other people's blogs, and seeing what they're up to.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I intend to get back into my exercise routine. I plan on doing my normal workout routine tomorrow. I'll see how close I come to my scheduled 10 AM writing date. I have a feeling I'll be early, which is fine. Once I get back on my elliptical, that 10 AM deadline will be harder to make. But make it I will.

Do you all have a set schedule you keep for getting things done? How flexible are you with it? Do you have any time sinks like FaceBook or blog reading that get in the way?

Set Up A New "Work" Schedule For Myself

The other day I had the idea of setting up some sort of "work" schedule. I tend to procrastinate when it comes to getting any writing done. I read e-mail and blogs, play on FaceBook and Twitter, and I never get any actual writing done.

I've finally set up a schedule and it seems to be working so far. The hours of "work" are sort of random depending on the day. I plan to exercise Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and don't plan to write until 10 AM. Then Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday I plan to write in the evenings for a few hours while my husband has a scheduled event in World of Warcraft. I plan on taking Saturdays off entirely, but I may write here or there anyway.

This is all just a tentative schedule. If it works, great, if I make tweaks here and there, fine. Just as long as I get some sort of writing done most days of the week. I'll be happy with that. So far today, I've gotten an article for a ghost writing site done, and I finally got my workout page set up here on Blogger.

I've got an hour before I eat lunch, and I plan of editing some articles for eHow, and I'll upload those to that site probably later this evening. So yeah, the schedule will work pretty well I think. As long as I resist the temptation to read blogs. That's my biggest time sink at the moment. I love reading other people's blogs, and seeing what they're up to.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I intend to get back into my exercise routine. I plan on doing my normal workout routine tomorrow. I'll see how close I come to my scheduled 10 AM writing date. I have a feeling I'll be early, which is fine. Once I get back on my elliptical, that 10 AM deadline will be harder to make. But make it I will.

Do you all have a set schedule you keep for getting things done? How flexible are you with it? Do you have any time sinks like FaceBook or blog reading that get in the way?

Quick Little Post

I'm still not quite 100%. I'm still dealing with a stuffy nose and a cough. And headaches come and go at random times. I was hoping this cold would have been gone by now, but it still lingers. It's annoying, and I still lose energy if I do too much.

I was able to do a quick workout Monday. I did 20 minutes of my pilates video, and my floor arm routine. I plan on writing up the exercises I do regularly and posting them here to my blog for you all to get an idea of what I do three days a week.

I've been getting more writing done lately which is good. I still need to work on getting a set schedule set up. I find myself checking email and reading blog posts more often than I should. I have conquered the FaceBook problem though. I used to "play" several games one there and I've cut those out. They were a time sink and just silly. I'm thinking about taking a five or ten minute break ever 90 minutes to check mail and blogs and then getting back to it. That sounds like a good deal.

Not a whole lot is going on today. I'm still fighting this cold, like I said, and am taking it easy. Tomorrow I plan on doing more pilates and arm work. And of course more writing.

This is kind of a wimpy entry, but I thought I needed to write something just to keep me in the habit. Keep on moving everyone!

Quick Little Post

I'm still not quite 100%. I'm still dealing with a stuffy nose and a cough. And headaches come and go at random times. I was hoping this cold would have been gone by now, but it still lingers. It's annoying, and I still lose energy if I do too much.

I was able to do a quick workout Monday. I did 20 minutes of my pilates video, and my floor arm routine. I plan on writing up the exercises I do regularly and posting them here to my blog for you all to get an idea of what I do three days a week.

I've been getting more writing done lately which is good. I still need to work on getting a set schedule set up. I find myself checking email and reading blog posts more often than I should. I have conquered the FaceBook problem though. I used to "play" several games one there and I've cut those out. They were a time sink and just silly. I'm thinking about taking a five or ten minute break ever 90 minutes to check mail and blogs and then getting back to it. That sounds like a good deal.

Not a whole lot is going on today. I'm still fighting this cold, like I said, and am taking it easy. Tomorrow I plan on doing more pilates and arm work. And of course more writing.

This is kind of a wimpy entry, but I thought I needed to write something just to keep me in the habit. Keep on moving everyone!