The O.I. Saga Ch. 7: The Game Plan

I'm feeling a bit down in the dumps today, but that's not gonna stop me from bringing you guys another exciting blog post. And yes, this is indeed gonna be a positive installment in the O.I. saga, because today, I'm bringing you....

....Drum roll please.....

....my game plan for my independence! So here's what went down. The other day, I came a Facebook group for people with O.I. When I joined the group, the first thing I did was write a post asking my other fellow O.I. colleagues about ways I can be more independent with my condition. Because after all, if anyone knows how to accomplish this, it's others who went through the same things that I'M currently going through. And sure enough, within hours, I was able to get a TON of suggestions on how to accomplish this goal. With that said, I have taken their suggestions, and used them to construct a plan on how to be more independent. So without further ado, here is my game plan on how to be more independent!

The most obvious first step to take, is to get a wheelchair that I can actually move myself. My current wheelchair is designed in a way where I can't move it. My parents have to push it for me. So even outside, I'm not able to do much on my own, which is a huge problem. The obvious way to combat this, is to get a wheelchair that I can move on my own, which will obviously give me more freedom to do whatever. There are two types of wheelchairs I could get. One's a manual wheelchair, where I simply just roll the wheels to move, and the other is a Power Chair, where I control a battery powered wheelchair using an analog stick. I'm thinking I'm gonna go with a power chair, since their heavier, and have less of a risk of flipping over. And the last thing I need is to get crushed by my own wheelchair....Not fun. XD

The second thing that could benefit my need for independence are grabbing reacher sticks. If you don't know what those are, they look like this.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1423726560976482&set=p.1423726560976482&type=3

This one should be self explanatory. Say I'm riding around in my wheelchair, and I wind up dropping something. No problem! Just pull out the grabbing sticks, and use that to pull the object by towards me! Better yet, but this could also be useful for when I'm in my house, and NOT in my wheelchair. I could use these to maybe get something from a tall shelf, or flick a light switch, or open a door, all from the ground. It can definitely make some tasks ALOT simpler to perform. The third thing would be ways for me to perform some daily tasks on my own. Getting food and things like that. This I think might be the easiest one to accomplish, as it's the first thing I came up with before I even found the Facebook group. There are most likely ways to modify certain objects, or even ways to purchase objects that suit my needs. So no big deal there.

Then there's the final part of my game plan, and it's the part that I'm still very uncertain about how to accomplish. The task of getting up/down from high up places. Getting in and out of bed, getting in and out of my wheelchair, ect. Currently, this task is done by my parents, who carry me into these respected areas. And although it's an effective means to accomplish this task, it certainly isn't a permanent one. My parents obviously aren't getting any younger, and they won't be able to do this task for me forever. So the sooner I figure out how to do this on my own, the better. I just don't know how to do it. Maybe a lift of some kind? I dunno, but I'll cross that road when I get there. Right now though, I'm about to hit the blog character limit, so I'm gonna end it here. Let me know what you guys think of this game plan in the comments below, and I'll see you in the next blog post.

....where I finally tell my parents about how I'm feeling. AWW SNAP! CLIFFHANGER YO!!!! XD