Today’s Thoughts and Feelings:

So today was pretty much the aftermath of this past week in regards to me, my health, and my nursing care debacle. For those who haven’t had the chance to read my latest post regarding my nursing care situation, insurance has taken away my 24-hour nursing care until the first of the new year. But getting back to today, I was admitted to Baptist Hospital in Gulf Breeze, Pensacola, Florida, because of what they found out was a UTI (urinary tract infection) and a specific type of bacteria in the bloodstream. As of right now, the only significant update is that I had a procedure on my wound that they went into, and they basically cleaned out all of my potential infections. Other than the obvious, we’re doing everything we can to minimize any complications that could arise from this procedure. Right now, the only thing that is being observed is the bacteria in my blood. We don’t know what exactly the specific bacteria is, so we are waiting for the results to come back from the lab. Something that has floored me since being a person with quadriplegia is the amount of people in the medical field who are clueless about taking care of people with quadriplegia. Now for me, I can advocate for myself to an extent. Still, for those who can’t, I’m sure it’s terrifying to try and explain their care to a bunch of people who are surrounding themselves with their medical stuff. I wish someone would create a required course in nursing school specifically focused on spinal cord injuries. Not just spinal cord injuries but the different types of spinal cord ‘plugins like quad or para.

According to the Mayo Clinic, A paraplegic person experiences paralysis in the lower half of their body, typically affecting the legs. In contrast, a quadriplegic person has paralysis in all four limbs, including arms and legs, due to damage to the upper spinal cord; essentially, paraplegia only affects the legs. In contrast, quadriplegia affects the entire body below the neck. As for those who are in the know about celebrities, original Superman actor Christopher Reeve suffered a spinal cord on May 27, 1995; actor Christopher Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down after he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia. National Library of Medicine wrote in an online article that When Christopher Reeve fell from his horse, he landed directly on his helmet, in a nearly perpendicular position, breaking two vertebrae in his neck. His spinal cord was not completely severed, but there was an extensive hemorrhage at the point of the injury. Regardless of where the injury occurred, God called him to a specific ministry, and just like Christopher Reeve, I believe God has put me and many others who are in my situation into a ministry that honors and glorifies him!