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New member with an interesting story

Q

quadriplegic85

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi everyone, my name is Jenna. I'm 25 and a new Mac user. I got a Macbook in July and I'm still learning to use it. I'm a quadriplegic like my user says. I was injured in 2008 in a surfing accident. I'm paralyzed from the shoulders down. I like writing, watching sports, playing certain computer games etc.
 
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Welcome to the board! All the members are awesome so feel free to post away!
 
quadriplegic85 said:
I will definitely stick around. I still need helping learning Mac and I posted some questions in the Mac OSX forums about needing help with do something in Pages.
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It's a very busy forum with a lot of great knowledgable people so you should get some decent answers. Good luck 🙂
 
Hi Jenna, welcome to MR! Can I ask where your surfing accident was? There's a lot of surfing where I'm from (Oahu) and curious.
 
scottness said:
Hi Jenna, welcome to MR! Can I ask where your surfing accident was? There's a lot of surfing where I'm from (Oahu) and curious.
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I was injured in Wilmington, North Carolina during a vacation while visiting relatives. I had been surfing since I was 13 since I grew up in Florida and California.
 
Welcome!

MR is much like real life, you will get out of it what you put into it
You will find a lot of great people, and few who are irritating too 😉
But sounds like you have a great attitude and spirit and you will be a great asset around here

Make yourself at home and join in!
And let us know if we can do anything to make your stay more pleasant!

PS
You might want to pop in and say "hello" in the Official New Member Thread too!
 
^ Jenna, this man above is a cake, not a biscuit.

This tip will serve you well as you discover the ins and outs of this weird, wonderful and strange place. Hope you enjoy your stay... and only use Mroogle if you're not in the mood to talk to people. See you around here or there.
 
Alright there me dear. Glad you're with us.

Does this now mean we get an extra pixel on the xkcd map?
 
iJohnHenry said:
Thank you, the always reliable Randy. 😛

Jenna said from the shoulders down, not from the neck down, but her user name implies the loss of function of all 4 limbs, does it not??

Just asking for a clarification. 😛 x 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadriplegia
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There are 7 different levels of quadriplegia that are related to the levels of injury. I broke my fourth cervical vertebrae which classifies me as a C4 quadriplegic which leaves me paraylzed from the shoulders down. c1-3 quadriplegics are paralyzed from their neck down and some have to depend on ventilator to breathe because their lungs and diaphragm are effected due to the high level of their injury. I had to use a ventilator for about two months after my injury. When I went to rehab I had to be weaned off it which I had to learn to breathe on my own again. The levels of c5,c6, and c7 effect people different and some have different uses of their arms but their arm is weakened and some have use of their hands in different degrees. The line of paralysis in those levels is from the nipples/armpits down.

Quadriplegia means that all four limbs are effected in some way. Some quadriplegics are very independent physically and can do most of their care. Unfortunately in my state other people have to be my arms and legs which is hard to deal with at times but I feel I'm lucky because I have my mental facilities in tact and I could have a career someday. At the time of my accident I was a college dropout and I had been working in real estate. I was in the hospital and rehab for about six months and during that time I went through a bouts of depression and wanted to die. Social workers and psychologists at the rehab facility encouraged me to enroll back in college later on after my release.

I moved back with my parents and enrolled in college last spring. I'm able to take some online classes and my college provides me with two aides who help me in class. I can control my computer, TV and a few electronics with voice activation and I control my wheelchair with a blow straw control. My parents do most of my care and we have a nurse and a caregiver who come every other day to help out. The things I hate the most are being fed meals by other people and having to be bathed and dressed by others. Some days I try laughing at the fact that someone has to feed me and I even thought about having custom bibs made up.
 
quadriplegic85 said:
There are 7 different levels of quadriplegia that are related to the levels of injury. I broke my fourth cervical vertebrae which classifies me as a C4 quadriplegic which leaves me paraylzed from the shoulders down. c1-3 quadriplegics are paralyzed from their neck down and some have to depend on ventilator to breathe because their lungs and diaphragm are effected due to the high level of their injury. I had to use a ventilator for about two months after my injury. When I went to rehab I had to be weaned off it which I had to learn to breathe on my own again. The levels of c5,c6, and c7 effect people different and some have different uses of their arms but their arm is weakened and some have use of their hands in different degrees. The line of paralysis in those levels is from the nipples/armpits down.

Quadriplegia means that all four limbs are effected in some way. Some quadriplegics are very independent physically and can do most of their care. Unfortunately in my state other people have to be my arms and legs which is hard to deal with at times but I feel I'm lucky because I have my mental facilities in tact and I could have a career someday. At the time of my accident I was a college dropout and I had been working in real estate. I was in the hospital and rehab for about six months and during that time I went through a bouts of depression and wanted to die. Social workers and psychologists at the rehab facility encouraged me to enroll back in college later on after my release.

I moved back with my parents and enrolled in college last spring. I'm able to take some online classes and my college provides me with two aides who help me in class. I can control my computer, TV and a few electronics with voice activation and I control my wheelchair with a blow straw control. My parents do most of my care and we have a nurse and a caregiver who come every other day to help out. The things I hate the most are being fed meals by other people and having to be bathed and dressed by others. Some days I try laughing at the fact that someone has to feed me and I even thought about having custom bibs made up.
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Oh wow. What an emotional ride you've been on. Thank you for telling us. I was curious but I wasn't sure how to ask and didn't want to bother if you didn't feel like talking about it. At the risk of sounding trite, I really admire your attitude and I'm glad you found your way here.
 
iBlue said:
Oh wow. What an emotional ride you've been on. Thank you for telling us. I was curious but I wasn't sure how to ask and didn't want to bother if you didn't feel like talking about it. At the risk of sounding trite, I really admire your attitude and I'm glad you found your way here.
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Your welcome. Feel free to ask my questions I don't mind questions at all. People are curious and I understand that so I have no problem answering questions. Many people still don't understand the different levels of spinal cord injuries so often people get confused when they hear about a quadriplegic who has some of their arms and can do a lot for themselves and often I get asked questions like, "why are the guys from Murderball classified as quadriplegics if they can move their arms?" I explain to people and they find it easier to understand afterwards. I get asked a lot of questions of how I do stuff and what I need help with and don't mind answering those questions either even if they are really personal.
 
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