I was a bad girl

[gsJack]

First time I saw a handicap plate on a bike was over 20 years ago at an annual get together in Akron, OH.  Middle aged guy that had MS, he added a sidecar to his old Virago a couple years later and carried his wheelchair in the sidecar but was still riding.   

[lewismug]

Mary, I work for one of those Defense contractors down there in Orlando too!  Computer Sciences Corporation.  Our main office is in Orlando, but I live and work in Mississippi.  That's kewl.

[spc]

First time I saw a handicap plate on a bike was over 20 years ago at an annual get together in Akron, OH.  Middle aged guy that had MS, he added a sidecar to his old Virago a couple years later and carried his wheelchair in the sidecar but was still riding.   

That's awesome, glad he didn't let anything keep him from riding

[Toogoofy317]

You have no idea how many times I get that lecture. You shouldn't be riding. Usually it comes from people who have no idea about my heart problem. I have spoken with my cardiologist and he has okayed it as long as I am responsible about it. If I don't feel 100% I don't ride. I've only ever passed out due to low blood pressure and I check it before I go. If I'm out somewhere and don't feel good I call a friend and get a ride home. If I stopped everything that people suggested I stop doing I might as well be dead. You shouldn't try to play basketball, you shouldn't work and go to school, you should never have a drink (I have one mud slide on my b-day) don't do anything that excites you, don't get stressed out, you shouldn't live alone, don't ride roller coasters, don't ride your bicycle, on and on. But, at twenty seven I'm not going to sit on the couch all day and have a pity party because of the things I can't do. I've already have to give up two careers and a lot of other things to this heart problem. If my heart gives out or my defib fires it sure as hell ain't gonna matter if I'm in a car or riding a bike. Honestly, if my AICD fires while I'm on my bike I'm apt to hurt a lot less people than if it happens in a car. Besides in seven years my defibrillator has never fired. My philosophy is I'd rather go home sliding into home plate than sitting on the couch longing for the life I wanted to have.

As far as the handicapped plate goes. I really don't use it all the time except maybe at the mall or large stores like Wal-Mart where you have to do alot of walking. Most of the time riding a bike does not require that much physical effort. In Florida the law is that you have to have a physician write a letter stating that you cannot walk more than 100 feet due to physical impairment i.e. limb, lungs, heart, or back. In my case I'm in heart failure and have three herniated disk in my back, and at the moment a severly sprained ankle. I guess that is why so many people give me issues is because " I don't look sick" I hate that more than anything in the world do I have to look like quasimoto to not get constantly harrassed. Even a good friend of mine made the statement "you're so lucky you get to park up front" Hell, I'd trade hearts with ya if you want my tag that bad. What I would give to be able to not have to guess if I will be able to get up in the morning or if I will have to cancel my plans and spend the day in bed because I can't physically get up. I guess that is what is so frustrating because my heart kinda has a mind of it's own. The past few weeks I've been feeling well other than the ankle. Woke up yesterday morning and today. Couldn't get out of bed. Had to call in sick to work and spent all day today in bed debating on if I should go to the ER and have to spend the next few days in the hospital. Or stay home and pray that when i wake up the heart will want to go to work and allow me to go to work. and on top of all that I've got Chron's disease which kept me in the hospital the whole month of February. So, I think my krapped out body deserves a little shorter walk to the front of the store!

Ok sorry off my soap box now!

Mary S.

Hey lewismug if you are ever in O-town give me a ring we'll go riding together. Same goes to you Tussey. We def got to get together and ride sometime. I'm in the Down Town area at least twice a month or so so let me know.

[tussey]

what's the matter with you? what's wrong with your heart? and what's chron's disease?

[Toogoofy317]

Well, my heart condition is called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Apparently I had it all my life but it didn't show up until I was 21 just finished EMT school and about to go into  Navy ROTC start as a flight medic and eventually Med school. As you can imagine with this diagnosis they dropped me like a bad habit. In essence my heart the septum ( muscle that divides the four chambers) is twice the size it should be and due to that it can screw up the electrical pathways hence the defibrillator. Usually, you hear about this disease when you hear of a young athlete in their prime just falling over dead in the middle of a game or work out. It actually occurs one in 500 people. The severity of the disease can range from no symptoms to heart transplant. My doctor in Boston says I will probably need a transplant eventually. Sad I have to travel to Boston just to see a doc but there really aren't any good specialist down here.

Chron's disease is a gastrointestinal disease that also has no cure. Pretty much the body kinda turns on itself and gets extremely inflammed causing severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomitting, and sometimes bowl obstruction. What makes it so hard on me is that the medication prednisone and remicaide put me into heart failure and almost killed me. The remicaide when not given with benedryl caused me to have a severe allergic reaction. But, I still have to take it every six weeks now with benadryl at the same time. I swear at times the cure is just as bad as the disease.

The side effects from these medications are terrible but it keeps me going. It seems like everyday I get up I'm preparing for war somedays I lose the battle and end up in the hospital but other days I win and get to enjoy another day! guess that is why I bitched so much when I can't ride my bike because of this petty ankle krap. I've been through so much and an idiotic moment is causing me to miss out on things I love to do esp when the rest of me felt so good!

Oh well, You asked for it!

So, I'm guessing you live in the UCF area? I only work a day or two a week due to me getting disability and my PT  but I usually do have a few available days off so maybe we could do a ride sometime soon or just meet up for lunch or something. Does you GF ride two up with you would like to meet her too!

Mary S.

[pbureau69]

Pb:  I've got a friend that took 2 bullets in his upper right thigh, extensive neuromuscular damage.  He can still walk though it's painful past a point, but he has no problem riding a bike and is technically handicapped.  What's the problem with that? 

no problem , lets not start a fight, I was just asking. maybe my mind is just amused by seeing a handicapped plate on a motorbike okay. being from Canada the "known rules to have a handicapped plate/tag " are very different.. take this question as a "question" nothing more please.

cheers.

PS: so in general are the handicapped parking place closer placed than the motorcycle parking places ?

[Toogoofy317]

Nope not mad at ya. I guess it is just a bit of a sore spot when you have people constantly running up to you and lecturing you on why you are abusing your grandmother's tag like that. Mostly, that happens on the car but one idiot said that with my bike and I cracked up and asked "does this look like my grandmother's?"

In Florida there are very few motorcycle parking spaces. And that would be at the hospital and about six spaces at the Florida mall. One day at Wal-Mart was trying to be nice and park it in the yellow area where the handicapped area was the woman started yelling at me and flashing her little handicapped hang tag at me. I was getting up set and rolled the bike up a little to be nice and she blew this ear splitting horn ( was a big red-neck truck) it startled me and at the time my knee wasn't completly rehabed and I ended up getting pinned between the pole and my bike. I screamed out for help she just laughed at me! After about ten minutes I finally got it off of me without it hitting the ground. If she would have still been around I would have beaten her with my helmet.

Most of the time I will just park up next to the building out of the way and no one really says anything. Mainly because I feel bad about taking up a whole spot when someone else could use it.

But PB it really takes alot esp on a forum to make me mad. You would have gotten a PM I don't bash people in public. I was just explaining what a lot of handicapped people go through on a regular basis. I try to realize that many of them are trying to be good citizens and making sure it is the truly "handicapped" that park there. My philosophy on that is let the cops do their jobs you never know if that person is on their last straw and about to lose it if they are confronted one more time! I've come close myself!

Have a good and safe day!

Mary S.