Respite in Tampa

I spent the first two weeks of July 2019 in the Tampa VA Hospital for respite. Respite gives my caregivers and I a break from each other. LOL During my stay there are many activities that I could do, but of course my nerves were so bad the first or five days I did nothing but staying in my room. But after we got my medications figured out I was able to do things as long as they did not go past 6:30 PM because I am so tired by then I am ready to go to bed. I did go to a horse race the last Friday that I was there and won 10 hospital bucks.

During this stay to my surprise I had a roommate! Her name is Dawn, she was in the Navy. After she got out of the military and gave birth to her son, at the age of 23 she was in a horrific car accident that left her paralyzed. Dawn is a unique case her spinal cord was basically electrocuted when the car she was riding in and got thrown from, landed on her. She is neither a paraplegic, a person who has control of their upper body or quadriplegic, someone who is paralyzed from the neck or chest down with no upper movement. Her legs are paralyzed and she does not have control at her waist. She can move her arms and she can use her hands in a unique way. Her fingers are bent as if they were going to make a fist, she uses one hand to reach over and open up the other hand, when she goes to grab something her fingers will close around the item and she will pick it up. She fed me food, made my coffee and did my laundry. I was shocked and amazed the whole time while I was with her. She told me that if she was in my condition that she didn’t know if she would’ve wanted to live. I of course believe that God only gives us what we can handle. Dawn was able to go home and hold her baby and help raise him, where as I would not have been able to do that, so see things do work out. Dawn is now 62 years old, she lives on her own and can even drive a van. She keeps her days busy with making wool rugs with her loom, one of which she just sold an art show at the VA hospital and taking care of her dog. She was in the hospital with me because she had been in a car accident and then while she was staying in the hospital for that, she got a wound and had to be transferred to the SCI Unit. Her van unfortunately was totaled and the person that did this to her did not have insurance! Dawn is a very sweet, kind, generous and smart person she has been dealing with the VA for 38 years now. Unfortunately, she was there for the first 25 of those years when the VA was not very helpful, especially to women. So, she did not get all the things that I did. Such as equipment for my house, PT And OT in the beginning along with courses that taught my parents and I about spinal cord injuries and how to take care of me. Of course, nothing can truly prepare you to bring a quadriplegic home but at least we had four months’ worth of information that could help us whereas Dawn got nothing. One year ago, her right leg had to be amputated from just above the knee and her left leg is not doing very good. She gave me some very good advice on how to take care of my legs. One of which is to stop the bowing of my legs, I need to have support on both sides my calves or strap them together. My new chair has though side supports thank goodness. She also told me to keep exercising to keep my muscles from basically petrifying. They call the muscles petrified because they look and feel like petrified wood. Gross right!? She also does brain games to keep her memory intact. This is something I already do. I am so grateful to have had Dawn as a roommate with me for my stay. It is very rare to see another woman there. We kept each other company and I think we talked each other’s years off LOL. We had a great deal in common, so there were many conversations about being paralyzed, religion, relationships and men. We learned many things from each other that we could take home and use. Thank you Dawn for making my stay at Tampa VA Hospital a great one!

I had a visitor or should I say several visitors during my stay. Carl, Max, Ruby and Hope came to visit me superdogmax.com. This was my first time meeting hope, she is the cutest and most adorable puppy I have ever seen. Except for my Peyton of course, he is of course my favorite. Hope had her first ride on a wheelchair while sitting on the tray. She did very well like she had been doing it her whole seven months of life. Ruby was her same spunky self, ready to do whatever Carl asked of her. Max being the oldest of the three is getting a little slower but is still his same sweet self. Max is getting ready to retire to live the rest of his days in the lap of luxury at his house with the pool. These dogs are all so amazing, they have helped many children read, stay calm, smile and laugh even if they were in the direst of situations. Like having cancer, autism, or ADHD. They also help family members by just being around them. Here are a few stories about what these dogs do for a living.

10 minute TV documentary Healing Paws Animal Therapy and how Carl Gordons dogs Max, Ruby and Hope, provide assistance to Pinellas Counties school children helping them to read aloud along with so many other things they do to benefit the schools. Working tirelessly at three schools per day, for a total of 15 schools per week. https://youtu.be/1TfrPniggKg Leila Davis Elementary students aloud read to dogs! See how the Healing Paws Animal Therapy program is helping students read aloud at Leila Davis Elementary School in Clearwater, Florida. https://youtu.be/JsY8ogIGh8k Dogs help ESE students learn at Leila Davis Elementary School We see how the dogs from Healing Paws Animal Therapy are helping ESE students at Leila Davis Elementary School in Clearwater, Florida. https://youtu.be/wiTn54sHIkg Healing Paws Animal Therapy dogs amaze first grade students at Leila Davis Elementary Dogs from Healing Paws Animal Therapy visit Mrs. Jones first grade class at Leila Davis Elementary and are amazed at what these dogs can do! https://youtu.be/a96aGOzMj7E

They came to visit me three times, I feel like I am a VIP, LOL. Thank you so much Carl for bringing them to see me, I know I told you that after you left on the last day I would see you before leaving that I started to cry, this lets me know just how much I appreciate and care about you and those pups. I look forward to our next visit, you guys truly make Tampa a better visit for me.