Well at the last minute (Last Night) my mom called to say my sister just got in from Charlotte where she has been away on business. Finding out that Amy was actually going to be home this year for Thanksgiving My sister didn’t want to just cancel and reschedule thanksgiving like we had planned. She decided she wanted to drive down here and take us out to a buffet dinner for the holiday since it’s rare that Amy is home on a holiday….so we made the plan to go out, everyone got in to bed a bit early. My son wakes me up saying he was sick to stomach. Because he has some serious social anxiety problems and rarely leaves the house we considered nerves, gave him some belly stuff and waited a bit…still sick and had evidence to prove it. So..we arranged for someone to be here with him and Amy and I would go out to dinner with everyone. Don’t worry…I wasn’t leaving a young child.  My oldest son is a handicapped adult and with another adult nearby to help out he’s perfectly okay to be left with a minor ailment…just didn’t want anyone reading this to think I was leaving a sick little one at home.

We knew we needed some slime/fix-a-flat because Amy came home from work saying the tire was bad.  ThenI told her that sucks because my sister was coming down to take us out to dinner.  So in the middle of the night we call my sis who was going to bring us some slime tire sealant when she came down.  Amy goes out the truck to get something before taking her shower and the tire was flat, flat…on the rim and you can’t use slime that way cuz there is no way to pump the tire. 

 

So…we consider popping off the tire, having my sis come down, we will slime the tire, pump it up at Amy’s gas station, bring it back pop it on the truck, check on the kid, if he can’t go we will go on to dinner. 

Well….. 

All we had was an old bottle jack for a car we used to have and a scissor jack that goes to the lumina that isn’t running anymore…no clue what is wrong with the Lumina this time.  Anyhow we tried the bottle jack and had to put it so far under the truck to hit a flat point that we had to use my crutch to jack it up…it wouldn’t go high enough!  Crutch however worked quite well as an emergency jacking tool.

We tried the scissor jack and the truck fell off the jack twice because of the angle we had to get the jack because in this case the jack was too big to fit under the only area that would work as this jack has a lip that is suppose to go into a slot on the Lumina.  The truck has no such slot so we had to find a piece of solid looking metal where the lip would overshoot and not leave an unlevel jacking surface.

So since the scissor is too tall


 

We Get Amy and the Neighbor kid (my youngest son is with my mom and sister 2 hours away) to each use a jack. We will raise the truck high enough with the bottle jack to get the scissor in a better position and hopefully finally jack the truck up. 

Almost there…bottle jack raises the truck, scissor goes in, cranking it up…the side support we used isn’t strong enough it bends and drops the truck, gotta bottle jack it up to get the scissor jack unstuck and out of there 

DEFEAT! We don’t have a truck jack because the truck didn’t come with one and we haven’t been able to afford a replacement jack.  The truck is grounded till we can find someone with a truck jack to come up here and get the !@#$% Tire off….so we ate oatmeal for thanksgiving dinner cuz yeah we are at the end of the month and out of food and we were thankful that nobody got their head crushed under the truck when it dropped that last time. 

Joey…my sons friend learned a valuable lesson in how NOT to jack up a truck. Of course we knew this was dangerous, but when you rarely have the right equipment for a job you do what you gotta do and you hope to come out of it with life and limb intact.  Nothing new for us but hell I felt like venting today cuz I really wanted something better than oatmeal!

So now THIS tire which is not the previously slimed tire that blew back in September while hauling floor repair lumber, no this will be my newest tire running on slime hoping to make it till income tax time so we can buy 4 used tires. 

How as your thanksgiving??

Hi This is me and my partner Amy.  I love to get out of the house and enjoy nature but like many  others who use a wheelchair…I’m limited in where I can go.  Wheelchair casters don’t travel well over grass, sand, crushed or loose rock, twig or woody areas…well pretty much anywhere that isn’t a paved or dry hard packed surface.

I was considering saving up for an all terrain wheelchair such as the CrossFire or Trekinetic both of which are very expensive.  In searching for less costly all terrain chairs I came across this invention.

He has a few videos about this too, what it is an wheel that attaches to the foot plate of your existing wheelchair  turning it into an all terrain chair.

Rather than  $2000.00 + for a chair, this little invention is $499.99 plus shipping and handling.  Far less costly and can be put on any other future wheelchair.

Check out the Video:

Here is the Website and Info:

http://gofreewheel.blogspot.com/

To get your own FreeWheel and Perch contact: pat@gofreewheel.com
$499 plus shipping & handling, please allow up to 2-4 weeks for delivery.
PayPal accepted.

Money Back Guarantee. One Year Warranty

Of course saving up for one of these is a bit of a challenge.  I still have to open my back yard up and get privacy fencing and we are still plugging away at some home renovation and battling a vehicle that constantly breaks down.  Saving up for this comes dead last on the list and is a hope for somewhere in the distant future.  I’m accepting donations towards this piece of equipment if you would like to help me get it a little faster.  Please know this is a greedy wish…I am able
to get around like any other person….I just really would love to be able to enjoy nature.  I have all my life been the walk in the woods kind of person, I love getting close to the shore of a river just to dip my toes, but as you see…getting close to the edge of the Savannah river is not something I can do on my own.  You can see from this image that my casters are totally sunk below the sand as well as my foot plate!  Amy had to back the truck down as close as she could to help me get to the truck because my chair casters were stuck in the sand and I couldn’t move.

I had a great time!  But I went back not long ago and couldn’t even get to the water, the path was far too eroded from  recent rain and my casters couldn’t roll down.  Amy had to push me down there, but she is not strong enough to push my fat butt back up the hill and helping me walk up is dangerous to both of us.  Usually she winds up backing the truck down so I can hold onto the truck to get back inside.  Only on this day she had to ask people who were fishing to move  their cars from the side of the path so she could back the truck down.  It would be nice to do these things myself and  not have to have Amy or people who don’t know us put themselves out of the way just so I can dip my toes in the Savannah river.

Oh  yeah…and if you haven’t noticed I’m a tad overweight..LOL…it would also be REALLY cool to be able to go outside of my kennel (which is why I need my yard opened up) and get some good all terrain exercise.  My only real exercise is going shopping and we make a full day out if it going lots of places so I can roll miles and get some good exercise but once a week isn’t quite enough to burn off my weight.  I can’t  get my chair down my driveway as it’s just an eroded path…everyone who comes to my house actually parks on the road because my driveway is so bad it’s dangerous to cars.   If they need to bring something to me they actually use my neighbors driveway then cut across the easement to park next to the kennel.   I can’t get up nor down so I can’t even go out and take a stroll about the neighborhood.  I could be exercising if only I could roll over some rough terrain.

Finally one more thing.  Many who know me know I enjoy taking part in charity events.  In August 2009 our local motorcycle rights organization in which I’m a proud member, did the annual back to school run for the Helping Hands Shelter for Abused and Neglected children.  When it came time for group photo, I couldn’t manuver the curb to get to the field, then couldn’t traverse the filed and had to have one of the men push me into position.  Sounds petty….but think about his.   How would you feel if a man had to pick you (a walking person) up and carry you  over a curb in front of a hundred people, then carry you to the photo area just because you were wearing high heels that you couldn’t  remove?  Wouldn’t you…perfectly able to walk feel embarrassed to be assisted in such a way? Ok yeah…you might have simply removed your heels, but work with me here…you are stuck in heels, all your friends are getting ready for a group photo you either can stay out of the pic or get carried to the site..and you really want to be in the pic.

I am perfectly able to wheel my chair, unfortunately chairs are simply not factory designed (unless specially ordered) to be all terrain.  If you can’t do something wearing 4 inch high spike heels…chances are I can’t do it either.  You can take your shoes off though.  I have to buy extra equipment.

So if you wanna help…

I have found myself in a desperate situation with a devastating outcome if I don’t find some much needed help. My 8 week old kitten needs a life saving surgery.

My boyfriend, Brad, and I visited some mutual friends on the weekend of September 26th, 2009 in Tallahassee, FL. Once we arrived, we met one of the girl’s 11 week old kitten. He had an obviously large, solid belly and was walking uncomfortably. This girl had a full time job and left the kitten locked out of her room every day where his food, water or litter box were, all day. She works at a profitable job and never took the kitten in for a visit at the vet after she adopted him, as the shelter made her sign and promise. The second day we were there, the kitten’s anus prolapsed. If his belly full of worms wasn’t sign enough that the kitten needed to see a vet, his anus being forced out was clear enough to anyone.

The owner locked him in a cage because his “butt is gross” and right then decided that she wasn’t going to take him in to the vet because it cost too much money. She left the kitten in there and was going to leave it to die outside. I immediately called my vet hospital from back home in Chicago and all my former employees I had worked with at Petco. I’ve worked as a grooming assistant and trained service dogs for the handicapped and I know that no animal should have been living like this kitten.

The girl didn’t care about the kitten anymore, so my boyfriend and I took him home with us to Tampa, where we live and go to school. The very next day, the kitten, which we named Marty, had a vet visit. The vet let us know that this 11 week old kitten was really no more than 6 weeks old and weighed only 1 pound! The vet confirmed that Marty had a terrible case of worms, along with a horrific ear infection and a large infestation of fleas. Because his previous owner hadn’t gotten him de-wormed after she adopted him, Marty’s worms were so bad that they had forced his anus to prolapse. The diagnosis required a surgery in which he would have stitches around his anus. This surgery is usually successful, especially in young kittens, if the worms and prolapse are treated in time.

His surgery was almost $300.00, and could have been prevented had he been taken to the vet to get a simple check-up and medicine when he was adopted. My boyfriend is unemployed and a full time student and I have a part time job working 6 hour weeks, maximum, for minimum wage while being a full time student. Needless to say, we were not ready to pay for the vet visit as well as a surgery. We are both huge animal lovers, so helping Marty was not even a question for us. While having the stitches in for a week, Marty was de-wormed with a 5-day treatment and 2 other strong de-worming medicines. In between the visit to get the stitches in and out, Marty went in for 2 more vet visits, because Brad and I were so worried that he would get infections and just wanted to make sure everything was going smoothly. The day his stitches came out, everything was looking good. The next day, his anus prolapsed yet again. Another vet visit and cost later, we were told to wait two weeks to see if it would go back in. Discouraged two weeks later, the vet gave us two options: humane euthanasia or a surgery with a 100% success of never prolapsing again.

Brad and I love Marty so much. He is our child, and touches every part of our hearts. The day we saved Marty from sure death, he saved us. Marty wants nothing more than to be by people, constantly following us around the house, begging to sleep on our laps and constantly giving kisses. He is so happy yet has never known a truly happy life without pain. Marty never whines, despite the half hour sessions of cleaning and lubing his anus, consistent vet visits, stitches and having to wear an E-collar all the time so that he doesn’t lick and dry out the exposed anus. He is such a trooper and has been so strong in his very short life. To know that Marty could be a happy and not in pain after this surgery lifts up my heart and spirit. The only problem is the cost.

Brad and I can not afford the permanent surgery, which costs around $3,500.

We have already spent so much more than anyone ever should have, had it all been prevented with just one vet visit after his adoption. We are so pressed for money and trying to raise as much as we can. As college students, not many of our friends have money to donate, and neither do non-profit organizations. Everyone wants to help so bad, especially after they meet Marty, but no one can financially.
Brad and I need to make a decision soon, and while we wait for answers, Marty lives his life with a prolapsed anus, constantly wearing an E-collar and relentlessly uncomfortable and in pain. He doesn’t deserve this life of pain that he has only ever known. Marty, Brad and I would be eternally grateful if you even consider our application. This one surgery will change our entire lives and allow Marty to be a kitten. A real kitten. Marty is my entire life, and I can not and will not let him be taken from me if this one surgery can fix all of his problems.

Receiving any donation would be the best thing to happen to our family and would finally allow Marty to experience a life where there is nothing but love. Marty is too young, too loving, too undeserving of pain and most of all, too much a part of us to be anything but better and healthy. I appreciate any help you can give our family. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for even taking the time to read about Marty.

Veterinary Information is on the Chip in Page—->http://handipets.chipin.com/martys-surgery

Estimate from the surgical center

Page 1 of Marty's Estimate

Page 2 of Marty's Estimate