Howard Falkinburg

A blog about my rehabilitation and recovery from a spinal cord injury that left me paralyzed with quadriplegia.


My new pet peeve

It’s not actually my new pet peeve but it’s one of my newer ones nonetheless. And this peeve is any place that is inaccessible or difficult to access with power wheelchairs. Medical facilities are the worst! You would think they would be the most sensitive to this.

One example was my ophthalmology appointment on September 21. The front doors were narrow and there was clutter along the hallway that I had to slalom around. I had to enter the tiny exam room in reverse.

I spoke with the office manager about this. Call it my personal crusade to alert oblivious businesses or offices about this issue. 

The purpose of my ophthalmology appointment was due to the blurriness in my right eye. This happened after my bout with shingles a few months back. This was after my kidney stone surgery while still in the hospital. I took steroid eye drops that helped but never cleared the problem. The ophthalmologist said this may eventually clear up but the blurriness may be permanent.

This sucks because the blurriness is fairly significant. My brain feels like it’s working overtime to compensate between the two visions when watching TV or reading. Sometimes I close my right eye because of fatigue.

There has been a lot of collateral damage to my health since the accident. I’ve had hyper tone, kidney stones, surgeries for drop foot and hammer toes, baclofen pump revisions, ileostomy surgery, UTIs, yada yada yada. The list goes on. Then there’s the mental health toll. Anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and suicidal thoughts and plans. I feel a shell of myself much of the time. At least my mental faculties are still firing.



5 responses to “My new pet peeve”

  1. Jane Lambert Patsakos Avatar
    Jane Lambert Patsakos

    Boy, are you ever right! Medical facilities should be the MOST accessible and yet they are not. You are correct to inform office managers about this. It will probably be brought up at the next staff meeting and hopefully, measures put into place to prevent this in that particular office. I’m glad you make us all aware of all your frustrations and battles and inner torment. When we share your experience, I hope it helps you realize the support you have.

  2. Howard, your honest way of communicating is opening a lot of our eyes to the realities that surround us. Thank you for sharing and allowing us to help spread these important messages to our own health care professionals! Your words will spread far and wide.

    1. Thank you for your comments and reading.

    2. Thank you!

  3. I am surprised by the obstacles – I need to see them more too and advocate! I am grateful for knowing each of this.

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About Me

Hello and welcome to my blog. I am LMSW and spinal cord injury survivor. . Another.

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