After the rain…

 Monday was a great day. No more visiting nurse so as soon as Karen got my chair together, got me up and dressed Robby and I were out of here. After being stuck in bed for three days I was ready to go and I am sure that Robby was too. We cruised through the lagoon, up through Bay St., Park, down Westcliff Drive and back and then over to the wharf and back. The waves on Westcliff Drive were just amazing, people were lined up all along the side just to see them… Not to mention the many many surfers out in the water. Every time I would cruise a couple of feet and see something amazing and of course, thank goodness, I had my Google Glass with me and took pictures and videos as often as I could. They were doing a lot of work around the beginning of the wharf so it's a little hard to maneuver but we always seem to do it just fine. We came home and rested for a while and then Teresa came to bring me dinner, Turkey, squash/beats and green beans… It was really good. Rosa came in but wasn't feeling good so she brought her daughter to help, she had been to the emergency all night the night before and she didn't look good. She threw me in bed really quickly, her daughter do a lot to help, and then she went home to rest… I can't really see Rosa resting very much because she is always such a busy woman but I hope she takes some time and relaxes.

Tuesday was a pretty crazy day. I got up without eating because I needed to go get some blood drawn and I had to fast for it, when I got down there the lady told me she made a mistake and I didn't need to… Luckily Lisa drove me down there so I still had time to go back and eat before she left for the day. Since we were out we decided to stop by the sewing store to see if they could give me some ideas of what kind of material I could use to wrap the trim of my bath sling, it keeps scratching my skin and giving me blisters. She saw me some really soft material and some batting and gave me some names of some people who might be able to sew it for me. After that we drove over to Scott auto body to get an estimate for my van, somebody hit me and put a huge dent on the passenger side over the front wheel… They are getting to know me pretty well over at Scott's auto body lately it seems. We came back and Lisa got me some breakfast and then Robby and I went for a cruise through the lagoon, down Westcliff Drive and back, down to the end of the boardwalk and back… It looks like they are pretty much finished with the accessible walkway across the train bridge to E. Cliff Dr. and I am so excited. I didn't want to chance running my batteries down anymore so I decided to come back another day and for the first time cruisers across the bridge… I'm so excited! I came home and Rosa came into work but she wasn't feeling well at all, she had been to the ER and brought her daughter to help put me to bed so she could go home and rest. She got an ingrown hair from waxing that turned into a boil… ouch!  She put me to bed and then her daughter took her home.

Wednesday was a really good day. I had an appointment with a disability lawyer to help me figure out what I need to do about my long-term disability claim, they want me to pay $70,000 back. I have heard the guys name several times throughout my spinal cord injury life but have never met him before, she was really easy to talk to and be around and very knowledgeable… He put me at ease very quickly, I was so nervous and so freaked out about the money. He referred me to a guy in San Jose and Teresa agreed to take me whenever we can get an appointment, it will be so nice to have this taken care of. It sounds like they can only go back a couple of years, we'll know for sure after we talked to this other guy. We decided to go to Lailis for lunch, we have been there a couple times and the food as well as the people there are excellent. I also like this place because it's accessible, inside and out. After lunch we just cruised up and down Pacific Avenue and did a little shopping, I haven't done that for very long time and it felt great… I need to cruise up and down there more often. We came back home and Teresa put me to bed and I just relaxed and watched TV for the rest of the evening, it felt great.

 Thursday was a pretty good day. I got up and cruised with Robby down to the family center for my appointment with my psychologist, a really feel a lot better about myself since I have been seeing her and I feel validated… I always feel like nobody has ever believed me and everybody thinks I am this mean bully and I've noticed that people tend to get very upset with you, and often quit helping you, if you don't do exactly what they think you should be doing and the way you should be doing it. I think since I moved here I have become a lot more independent and I take care of my own business and I feel great about. After my appointment we cruised up and down Pacific Avenue and then over to the boardwalk, they are doing so much work at the wharf that is really hard to get over there right now but I know when they are done it's going to look awesome. I checked the progress on the footbridge of the end of the boardwalk and it looks like it's almost done, I'm too nervous to cross over it while there are still people working on. One potential problem that I see is that the bridge is not wide enough for even to bicycles, and have watched two bicyclists cross each other, so I'm afraid of getting halfway across and somebody coming from the other way what will happen? I know that I can't turn around or go backwards but know I have to do is do it once or twice and I will be okay with it. I am extremely excited to finally be able to go over to the other side. My chair stalled twice yesterday but I was able to take a video with Google Glass and send it to the Permobil rep and Andrei. We rested for a bit, and think it got up to 75° yesterday and Robby was really tired and worn out. We practice a few of the commands, the last three or four days while he has been really good and I'm so out of him. Teresa came in and we did some personal care.

Friday was a pretty long and boring day. Karen took it off, as well as Monday, and I couldn't find anybody to come in even for a couple of hours so I ended up staying in bed. It was such a beautiful day outside and I was sorry to miss it but tomorrow's another day. My big idea was sleep all day and of course we want to you can't? I did take little naps in between watching TV but that was about it. Teresa came in at night to feed Robby and I and I got to take a nice long hot bath. Not so bad towards the end…

Saturday was a great day. It was so nice to be up and out again, staying in bed makes me crazy anymore. Robby and I went for a cruise through the lagoon, through Bay St., Park, down Westcliff Drive and ran into Lee and Claudias son Matt. I haven't seen that for a year or so, last time I saw them all of us Geminis had dinner together. Not only Matt and I were born in June but also his mom Claudia and my uncle Dick, the ideal restaurant by the wharf offers a free primary birthday dinner the third Thursday of every month for those people who have a birthday that month and the dinner is pretty awesome. We chatted for a while and then Robby and I cruised down to the end of the wharf and back and down to the end of the boardwalk and back. I stopped by to check out the progress alongside the train bridge and it looks like it's just about done, a cruise up the ramp to get up closer look but I just couldn't get up the nerve to go across… There were too many people and the bridge is way too narrow, anything during the week when there is not as many people around will be better to try it. It's just so long and so narrow. We cruised back home in my chair was having trouble getting up the ramp and my mom had to come outside and push me through the door, this is getting to be so ridiculous. We rested for a while and then Robby and I went outside to practice some commands, of course my chair worked fine after we rested. Teresa came in and brought some french fries so we could try the French for a test on Robby, during their training they pour french fries all over the floor and have the dogs walk through them and lay down and they can't eat any of them, I don't know how they do it… I certainly wouldn't be able to but Robby did really good, he just looks the other way… I'm so proud of my boy. Teresa put me to bed and we did some personal care and I got to take a nice long hot bath, the jets were not working but I just take a bath… It's always something??

Sunday was a really great day. I got up and took Robby for a cruise, our usual route around Santa Cruz. When I was perfect and it just felt so great to be out and about, people are so much nicer when it's beautiful outside. One great thing about living in Santa Cruz is that people seem to come here from all over the world, I have a lot of different accents and some of the people that stop and talk to me are just really interesting. We came back kind of early mostly because of my chair but also because my brother Stanley and his family were going to come and stay overnight and take Robert to the airport in San Jose so he could fly back to Oregon. Robert ended up being sick so they decided to let him rest and just stay there. We were going to order pizza on my mom and I just decided to have a salad and a chicken sandwich, it was really good. Teresa came in and put me to bed and then faxed the papers to the lawyer so we can accordingly so this LTD mess, a lawyer sounded pretty confident that I wasn't going to have to pay back $70,000… I hope he's right and I do trust him. I was pretty sleepy and fell asleep just after Teresa left.