Driving Again

The hand controls were installed in the car on Friday, and Jason spent part of this afternoon practicing getting in and out of the car.  Disassembling the wheelchair and putting it in the passenger seat is a little tricky right now, but I'm certain that once he figures out where everything should go, he'll be able to get in and out really quickly. When he got frustrated, I reminded him that it use to take me upwards of 10 minutes to break down his chair and put it in the trunk...now it takes less than a minute.  Things do get easier :)

After practicing getting in and out a few times, he drove around our back parking lot a little bit.  He'd like to be able to do more, but his license is suspended at the moment, so we're not going to risk anything more than what he did today.  It was good for him, though, to get a feel for the hand controls and the spinner nob.  He said it was pretty easy to drive, so that's a good thing-no need to return to the mechanic for adjustments.  Now, we just have to wait on the DMV side of things.  We mailed in the doctor's forms this week, so now it is a matter of waiting to get an appointment with the safety office.  We're hoping this will happen before we leave for Baltimore in June.  At this meeting, they'll ask him more questions about his injury, and how it could impact his driving.  At that point, they'll make their recommendation (no license, yes to license, or yes to license assuming you can pass the driving exam).  We're expecting the third outcome.  The good news is that he can take the driving exam here in Fremont, and not at one of the few safety offices, so it should be relatively easy to get that done.  

The leg braces should be ready this week.  We have an appointment at Santa Clara Valley Med on Tuesday, which should be the final fitting.  Keep your fingers crossed that it actually happens :)  These braces have taken far longer than I ever anticipated, so it'd be really weird if things went according to plan this week...

And, finally, a few weeks ago, I complained that the representation of SCI on TV (and Downton Abbey in particular) was not so great.  Well, I was wrong.  Season two of the US version of "The Killing" features a plot involving SCI that is really good.  It is the best portrayal of a newly injured person that I've seen (the character is a relatively low level paraplegic...pretty similar to Jason).  It's worth pointing out, though, that the character is VERY newly injured, so a lot of the complications he's confronting on the show do go away with time.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Lots of love,

Ashley