My Physical Therapy Appointment Today

Today after waiting for months for approvals for a few appointments to help with my tendinitis for my arms and shoulders, I was baffled. I chose this particular physical therapy place because they were closer to where I live. My only other choice was a place in Greenbrae, which was much farther away and not accessible by bus.

It was a big mistake. I was dismissed with only one visit only. The physical therapists told me about a few exercises and tips on being on the computer. They didn't even show me anything! What I was told basically was to exercise, exercise, no matter what. When I asked about what I should do about being in pain, they told me to "exercise through the pain." Huh? These are physical therapist giving me this advice?

Also, I was told I should have a better bed and couch. Where is this furniture going to come from? They told me that I should definitely not to carry heavy things. Especially I was told to eliminate having too much stuff in my purse. Does anyone think about what it's like when you have to carry everything you need to have with you because you don't have a car?

The physical therapists want me to find an activity that I really love to get me motivated to get  out more. They suggested finding an exercise class that is low cost; like 3 bucks or maybe free. But they couldn't tell me where to look for such a thing.

After hearing this I was just baffled. Where am I going to find things like this? They expect that I have the money to pay for these things. They expect me to have the transportation to get to these places. There are beds available for free on craigslist.org, but who will transport this bed to my apartment and up my stairs?

 Where does any body that receives SSI and must live on a fixed budget finding these deals ?  And how can more physically active in a way help when you are in so much pain in the first place that you not in mood to do things and that it hurts at times that you can't do them.

First it does cost money for exercise classes. If the class is free there is still the question of having the money to get on a bus to get or if there is a bus that even goes to that area anytime the class is happening. Yes there are exercise books that you can check out of the library, but sometimes it hard to figure them out  or the poses hurt you even more because you don't have a coach to help you understand the way you can exercise without hurting yourself worse.

So, one good thing that has happened is that a friend brought me a Wii. With a Wii fit, I've been trying to do that on and off.  It shows you at least if you are doing the poses right when you body moves. Of course like I said it is sometimes tricky to try to to do the poses because sometimes it hurts more when you are in pain in the first place.  Also I get frustrated easily.  If  I don't get the hang of it so fast. I guess that when my my so called disabilities come in and get tired fast after 5 or 10 minutes, it seems.  But I try it when I get motivated to do it. Even though it might not be much, at least it is an effort.

The Ideal to have a nice bed is nice but if you don't have the money or the help to get it, that is a problem alone.   And if you shouldn't carry heavy things then how else am I supposed to do it when things are to far away to get to.  Yeh I have a small cart  but you can't carry something furniture on the bus.  So you really can't do "major" shopping, but only the weight of what you can carry. 

I carry a lot of stuff in my purse to a point it weighs about 8lbs after I've taken out everything that I can remove from it.  My friend Franis had me list everything I carry in my purse.  I did that and there is a reason why I needed everything I carry in the bag.  This doesn't include a reusable water bottle for long trips.  When I go out to Bolinas, I also need to carry a back pack on top of it all to collect stuff out of the free box where I find things for free.

I need all this stuff in my purse because I'm out most of the day or I spend the night some where I have to have everything in case I get stuck and have to stay longer than planned, which has happened. But I take the stuff I need just in case it rains at time or if I get stranded somewhere at the last minute. When you add things up like I do or if any one else does if they think like me (smart)  they to might come up with needing a heavy backpack too.

I think that people just don't think about things like that because they have a car and friends to help them out. They just don't know what I have to do to live with limited abilities that is an every-day part of my life.

Which is why I write this blog.

And I guess for me I could be more disciplined to do more things daily like exercise. My friend convinced me to buy a big exercise ball to sit on at the computer. My worker for my birthday gave me an exercise bike. So, we'll see if I can gradually work up to using these things regularly.

How I'm try to cope in a bad situations.

Hi I know I've not been on my blog for quite awhile but I've been busy trying to cope with my life situation.

I have gotten one very sweet response to my blog. and I hope these people can help me out,, (as they have offered) on some personal things I'm going though.

Since the last time I wrote I got so depressed. I'm not sure people know what that means, but you shoot down anyone's help. Once my friend Fran returned from Hawaii a while back, my focus was to get  my depression and stuff under control . Thanks to Fran, I was able to get on new anti-depressant which has helped a lot with my depression. We're hoping these changes also stop the weight gain that has been making my back pain worse. But I'm still going though pain. I'm trying to cope with my situation and trying to get motivated to do things I want to do daily. It's nowhere near as bad as it was before. Same life, different attitude.

  Because of  Gov. of Ca. (we nicknamed him the Terminator) trying to cut so many people who were on In Home Support Services, the local news was advertising reasons for cutting hours. What they said on the TV didn't help my situation.  My worker at the time got weird from listening to the TV. She started repeating to me what the TV people were saying. She was sided with the TV news and the Terminator on trying to cut out services for people that need them no matter what situation they are in.  Because she was stressing me out because she thought I wasn't deserving of the services if I wasn't in a wheelchair! I had to let her go and be without a worker for awhile. Fran helped me write a new advertisement to find someone else.

I was very grateful and immensely relieved for the the Federal Goverment Ruling that none of these services should be cut off. It did not matter what level of disability or help that people needed in their situation. They realized that,  without services, people like me (who need some help,) we are only going to get worse and will become more costly as that happens.

But, here we are in 2010.  The word on the news grapevine is there will be another attempt on the Gov. Terminator's part to try to cut out the whole program all together. So here we might go again for round two!

Since then my need of help is still the same. But at least I have a nice wonderfull new worker that helps me out now until the IHSS bomb drops from the CA state capitol.  I'm very happy with my current worker. I hope she stays with working for me forever! She is so much fun to be around.

I'm  now going to go to physical thearpy for my tendinitis and chronic athritis soon, after months of waiting on the proper paper work to go though.  I hope it helps. It is hard being on the computer for long periods of time and that's my main entertainment.

But I'm trying to do as much of my e-mails that I can. Since I can't work to make money, I do a lot of surveys. Sometimes I get rewards or a few cents of cash for doing them. So that has helped out some just to start a saving account.  If  I can get more friends or other people I can refer them also and get rewards for that too.  But so far not many people are willing to do it. If you intersted let me know.  I have gotten many free coffees on my Star Bucks card and so on for my efforts.

Yes I'm still in debt but I'm trying to get out but it is hard since the goverment cut my health benefits. No more dentist filling cavities in teeth, or replacing front teeth that get knocked out by accident or breaking off.  And the state still hasn't raised SSI income in awhile for a cost of living increase. Instead, they cut it. So it is hard to stay afloat  at times, In fact, I'll have to be a liitle more thifty to get by. Trying not to get more in debt.

People say that I should get out and walk around more. It's difficult to not walk into the Dollar Store and buy something every time I leave home. It also costs me to get on the bus to go anywhere, and riding the bus hurts my back. So, it's cheaper for me to just stay home to avoid spending money.

I call 800 numbers from the products I buy and  tell them how much I like them. Sometimes they send me free coupons for the next time I buy the item,  That  helps me out a lot. I also enter contests on line, and have won some. But mostly I just win products. But that is fun to do.

 I also take my old books to a used book store for selling.  Also, I found a place online to that pays for shipping and cash for your used books to,  I can get extra cash for referring people to site also. So if you like to buy used books, let me know!

Then on Fri. I watch the 5pm news on channel 7 and they have a segment call Micheal Finney's Fri. free stuff.  I just started doing that. I have gotten stuff like free pizza and burgers and what not. Just by watching and sending a SASE to the place to get my free stuff.  

Well I think this is it for now if you are interested in the things I've to offer let me know and I'll get back to you when I can.  

Thanks for listening and following my blog.

Tammy