Proculeius

From momintrouble to High Quad Parents: Hi folks, I just found this site and am very grateful to have maybe found a place with people going through the same thing my family and I are going through. Here’s the short story: Our daughter was involved in a terrible car accident almost sixteen months ago. Unforutnatley, she suffered a spinal chord injury that left her a C2 complete (hate that I now know these terms !!!). She is %100 vent-dependent as well. She finally returned to school last month (accident happened when she was 13 she’s 15 now) and she is suffereing. I feel like we fought so hard to save her life and now we are losing her again. School is incredibly difficult for her. She hates that everyone stares at her and she can’t do anything for herself even raise her hand in class. Last night she asked me to unplug her vent and let her die. Of course I said no. But my baby is hurting and I can’t help and it’s breaking my heart !!! So I’m wondering if any parents here have any

Arianna awoke, still groggy from the sedatives she had been given during her surgery. As a C1 quadriplegic, she couldn't control her diaphragm, so she couldn't breathe on her own. Her doctors had decided to give her a tracheostomy, to assist her in breathing. She now had a hole in her neck where a tube was inserted. The tube was connected to a ventilator, which inhaled and exhaled in a rhythm for her, meaning she could get oxygen without breathing for herself. The thought of it made her uncomfortable. She didn't like the way it looked, how the plastic tube snaked out of a hole in the center of her rigid neck brace, connecting to some machine out of her field of view. She hated the idea of something breathing for her, and she hated that she couldn't even breathe on her own. Her thoughts were interrupted when her nurse, Carrie, walked in. "Good morning, Arianna," she said. "I'm here to talk to you about your bladder and bowel routine today." Arianna couldn't speak. She couldn't

Just looking at him, you would never guess just how rich John was. He'd probably look just like every other disabled person you've met in your life. Except, he's not disabled, not exactly. John is a millionaire biotech inventor from Vancouver B.C. He's invented all sorts of gadgets that can basically turn people into cyborgs. And it's because of one of those gadgets that now leaves him in a wheelchair, not that's not because it malfunctioned or anything. quite the opposite in fact, it was DESIGNED to leave him in a wheelchair, Ever since he was a kid, John wanted to be disabled in some way. He couldn't explain why he did, all he knew was that he had to find a way to be disabled. And since John was already smart, he decided to start developing biotech, and later cybernetic implants. He eventually found a way to place a microchip at the stem of his spinal cord that would be capable of essentially shorting out parts of his body at will. It could even send minuscule electric pulses, not strong enough to cause harm, but strong enough to cause muscle spasms simulating cerebral palsy. Before he implanted the microchip, he spent tens of thousands dollars and hundreds of hours preparing for it. He spent hundreds of hours learning how to operate all the adaptive equipment, how to transfer himself in and out of a wheelchair, and everything else he would need to be able to do on a daily basis. He recorded hours of speech samples so he could develop an ai text to speech software that sounded exactly like him for conference calls, him and his personal press team came up with a story that he could use when making public appearances at conferences. He bought specialized equipment and made his Deep Cove home wheelchair accessible with elevators, lowered counters, a completely accessible master bathroom and ceiling lifts going throughout the house. Finally the day has come to get the implant. He walked into his private medical lab and sat down on the operating table. Several hours later, he woke up as a quadriplegic. He expected this, as he asked his doctors to set it to that once it was implanted. He pressed the call button beside his bed with his weak, curled up fingers. His aide, Riley, came over and greeted him. “good morning John, should we get you into your wheelchair?” John simply nodded in response. Just as Riley was hooking up the sling to the ceiling lift, John got a feeling something was missing. “My back brace.” he exclaimed to Riley. He said he would go get it right away. Shortly after, he came back with a plastic brace printed in ombré blue. Riley sat John up and strapped the brace on. Once it was on, Riley continued lifting John up and into his brand new wheelchair. Once he was in his wheelchair and strapped in, he immediately did a few spins and started whirring about. This was the day he’d dreamed of all his life. He was finally disabled. As he went through the rest of his day, he enjoyed putting things on his legs, ecstatic that he couldn’t feel anything, he had Riley hit his knee with a reflex hammer, and smiled when nothing happened. After a few hours, he went into his office to get work done. After a while, he gave up on work and went back to his room where he had Riley help him take off his shirt. He could finally examine the other things the doctors did while he was under. He now had a feeding port just next to his belly button, as well as an internal catheter snaking out of his pants. Another thing the doctors did, was use a new type of tracheostomy that his company developed. Instead of having the connection on the outside sticking out one or two inches, this new one is almost completely flush with only a couple centimetres sticking out. Additionally, it can have a silicon covering so it doesn’t stand out. John loved having these medical devices on his body. It was now almost midnight and John was ready for bed. He went into his bedroom followed by Riley, who used the hoist to put him in the bed, and change his clothes. Riley then took the catheter bag off of its hook underneath the seat on Johns wheelchair and put it on a hook at the foot of the bed. John gladly watched his amber piss drip into the bag at a steady rate. He took his phone in his curled fingers and opened an app. This app controlled his implant. It had a diagram of a human spine where he could select different levels of paralysis, and buttons for the symptoms of various disabilities. John tapped the diagram of the spine and selected the uppermost level. Before going to sleep, he called Riley in who hooked set up a portable ventilator and attached it to the tracheostomy port. John then went to sleep knowing he would wake up a complete quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chin down.

The transfer ambulance pulls up to a small house. The paramedic opens the rear doors, unloading the stretcher that 23 year old Carson lies on. He has his left arm in a blue camo long arm cast, and his legs and torso are in a blue and orange one and a half hip spica cast. Carson’s girlfriend, Joanne, is waiting on the porch. “So glad you’re home!” She exclaims as soon as she sees him. She follows the paramedics into the house and shows them to a bedroom that now contains a hospital bed, transfer sling, and a changing table. The paramedics lift Carson onto the bed, and leave. Once they're gone, Carson lets out a loud sigh of relief “So nice to be home” he tells Joanne. Joanne smiles at him and then goes to the kitchen to prepare his lunch. During the 3 weeks Carson was in the hospital, Joanne was taking home care courses so she could learn how to clean his feeding tube, change his diaper, transfer him from a bed to wheelchair and numerous other home care tasks. Unlike at the hospital, Joanne blends a variety of fresh berries to go in the formula. Once the formula is prepared, Joanne brings everything into her and Carson's bedroom and gives him his lunch while chatting. First she opens the line and flushes it with a combination of saline and warm water. She then attaches the formula bag delivery man the IV pole next to his bed. She starts the pump, and now Carson will be having his lunch fed directly to his stomach for the next hour until it's empty. Now Carson and Joanne start talking while the pump hums away in the background. The pump beeps, announcing that it's empty and Joanne stands to turn it off. While she disconnects his feeding tube, Joanne tells Carson the results of her meeting with his orthopaedic surgeon the previous day. “So, the doctors said we have an appointment in three weeks to replace this cast with one that will allow you to sit up more” Exhausted Carson replies, “I can’t wait. It’s only been one week and already I’m tired of lying in bed all the time.” “I know babe, but you’re at home now, and we can both relax without the noise of a hospital. Now, what do you think of a bath?” Carson tells Joanne that he would kill for a nice warm bath, especially after 2 weeks of being in the hospital. Joanne goes to the kitchen to clean and disinfect the feeding tube. She comes back after ten minutes, and then manoeuvres the transfer sling into place. She goes through the same process that Ryan, Carson’s nurse at the hospital, went through numerous times. Sliding the small strap underneath Carson's casted right leg, and the sling underneath his torso. She then presses the button on the side of the lift, bringing Carson up and out of the bed. She then brings the lift across the room, and over the changing table. Now Joanne goes through the process of taking off Carson’s diaper. Once the diaper is off, Carson is once again hoisted into the air. Joanne now brings Carson into the large ensuite bathroom where a large, shallow tub lies in the centre of the room. Carson recognises it from the hospital, it's a specially designed tub that makes sponge bathing easier. Joanne lowers Carson into the tub, and fills up the small separate tub behind Carson's head with warm soapy water. She then starts scrubbing. Half an hour later Carson is all clean and wrapped in a nice clean towel. Joanne lifts him with the hoist, and brings him back to the bedroom and onto the changing table where she applies a new diaper. Now that he has a clean diaper on, Joanne gets a pair of shorts from a drawer underneath the changing table. Carson laughs, baffled, he asks her "How am I supposed to wear those with this giant bar between my legs?" instead of replying, Joanne simply undies a set of fasteners on the shorts, allowing them to go on over the cast, and then be clipped back together again. Joanne finishes getting Carson dressed and brings him into the bedroom. Once she finishes lowering Carson into the bed, and undoing the sling, she lies down next to him and together they fall asleep watching tv. The next morning, after going through their new morning routine of Joanne changing Carson’s diaper, starting the feeding pump, and setting him back in the bed, a knock comes at the door. Joanne goes to answer it. From his spot in bed, Carson can hear a truck backing into the driveway, and lowering something down on a lift. Ten or so minutes later, Joanne comes into the room pushing a large object, covered in a sheet, in front of her. “And what is that?” Carson asks her. “Something from the rehab clinic” she then removes the sheet, revealing a big motorised wheelchair underneath. Carson is shocked “How much did this thing cost!” He exclaims, Joanne tells him not to worry, they’re only renting it. He relaxes once Joanne tells him this, but then he asks her, “how do I fit in this?” “Ah, that’s the fun part” Joanne tells him. She then presses a couple buttons, and the wheelchair transforms, the backrest lowers down to an almost lying down position, and the footrests lift up in the same way. Carson doesn’t even bother with admiring it, right now he only cares about getting out of this stupid bed. Joanne feels the same way, she doesn’t like being stuck in the house either. So she then goes through the process of transferring him to the chair, and showing him the controls much as the delivery man had done for her less than half an hour ago. Carson then proceeds to adjust the wheelchair until he’s comfortable and then does a bit of a spin. “What do you say we go around the neighbourhood?” he asks Joanne, she happily agrees and they go around the neighbourhood and then, after a 20 minute walk, they relax in their backyard together. All of a sudden Carson’s face changes from being nice and relaxed to almost panicky. Joanne notices the change and asks what’s wrong. “I think it’s time to go inside” he tells her as he starts whirring himself back inside, bumping over a ramp that Joanne had installed covering the steps. Joanne follows him in, confused and worried about her boyfriend. Once inside, Carson finally tells her what’s wrong, “I peed myself and I didn’t even notice” he tells her, clearly upset and embarrassed. Joanne tells him that everything is alright, they’ll call the doctor in the morning but in the meantime, he needs a fresh diaper. They go through the process of changing his diaper, and 10 minutes later he follows her out of the bedroom, into the living room. He sees his xbox and reaches to grab a controller and turn the console on. He isn’t able to reach and nearly falls off the chair, thankfully the safety belts do their job and don’t allow him much wiggle room. Joanne comes in from the bathroom and notices him struggling. Without saying a word, she walks over, turns on the console and gives the controller to Carson, then grabs one for herself. At first, Carson plays awkwardly, learning how much he can move his fingers in the full arm cast. But after an hour or so, he starts getting the hang of it and is playing almost as good as he normally does. The next morning, Joanne calls the doctor to ask about Carson peeing himself. The news wasn’t good, since he was hooked up to a catheter for almost a whole month, his body was emptying his bladder and bowels whenever they needed to, his bladder and bowel muscles weren’t stopping anything, and the situation isn’t any better with diapers. And since he will be in diapers for another six months, chances are very slim he will be able to re-toilet train himself.