Daily Routine

 Good evening, everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful day today. For today's blog post, I'd like to share some insight into how I function on a daily basis. I truly hope you enjoy!

In order to explain my daily routine, I feel like I should explain Cerebral Palsy a little bit more. There are four types of CP. My particular type of CP is spastic CP. Spastic quadriplegia/quadriparesis: Most severe form of spastic CP and affects all four limbs, the trunk, and the face. People with spastic quadriparesis usually cannot walk and often have other developmental disabilities such as intellectual disability; seizures; or problems with vision, hearing, or speech.. Essentially, I'm not physically capable of doing anything without assistance. I'm unable to dress myself, bathe myself, do my own hygiene routine, prepare meals, feed myself, clean my apartment, drive myself in the community, get in and out of my wheelchair just to name a few things. I also need assistance with putting my speech device on my chair. So, I have around the clock caregivers who help me. My caregivers are my life line, and I'm very thankful for them. Now, even though I'm extremely physically involved, I'm a competent adult who is able to make decisions for myself. For example, if I'm out in the community, and I purchase something, my caregiver has to go into my purse, get my preferred payment method out, and do the physical transaction. I am capable of deciding if I have enough money to pay for whatever I need or want. I'm in charge of everything including what to wear each day to my finances, and everything in between.

Let's take a look at my day starting with when I decide to get up. I call for my caregiver. They come into my bedroom. I inform them of what I would like to wear. They gather my clothes, and then they proceed to get me out of bed, and undress me. They then transfer me from my bed to my adaptive shower chair in the bathroom. It's bath time now. My caregiver washes my face, hair, and body. After my shower, I get dried off, and then I get lotion and deodorant applied to my body. I'm carried back to my bed, and I'm dressed for the day. After that is done, I'm transferred to my wheelchair. Due to my CP, I have no sitting balance, so I have to be secured to my chair by multiple different straps. When I'm in my chair, I drive myself out of my room, and into the living room/kitchen. My caregiver attaches my augmentive speech device to my wheelchair, and powers it up. I decide what I would like to eat, and then my caregiver prepares my meal. As I mentioned earlier, I cannot feed myself, so my caregiver has to feed me. For those of you have infants or toddlers, you might understand what I'm about to say. My mouth muscles do not work properly, so depending on what I'm eating, my food needs to be cut up small enough so that I don't choke while eating. After I'm finished eating, I get my teeth brushed. I then check my email, do social media, or read a book via my speech device. It has WIFI capabilities, as well as supports  Bluetooth devices. Therefore, I'm able to communicate with people face to face, as well as have long distance communication. I'm able to communicate via email and text messages through my Dynavox. I can also control Alexa,  my television, and other electronics. Depending on if I decide to go into the community, I'll let my caregiver know when and where I'd like to go. I have an wheelchair accessible van which my caregiver drives. Afternoon turns into evening, and now it's dinner time. The same routine transpires where I decide what I'd like, I tell my caregiver, and then they proceed to feed me. After dinner, I usually use the bathroom, and then get dressed for bed. By the time that's done, it's time for shift change. My evening routine is usually full of books, listening to podcasts, or watching television. I normally go to bed pretty late, around eleven. I tell my caregiver that I'm ready for bed. I then shut my device down, and then drive into my room. My caregiver transfers me from my chair to my bed, and positions me in bed. And that's basically my day.

I have provided a link to the CDC website regarding the types of CP. If you're interested, take a look.

I throughly enjoyed sharing this with you. I hope you will enjoy reading it. Have a great rest of your day, and until next time, take care of yourselves and others :D

https://www.cdc.gov/cerebral-palsy/about/index.html