First off I want to share my story. My name is Cami. I was in a car accident July 21, 2001 (Age 16). I rolled my vehicle 7 times. When I arrived to the hospital the ER Doctor was just going to send me home in a cast... My parents knew something else was wrong with me. I just remember it hurt soooo bad! I ended up staying in the hospital 2 weeks on oxygen in Intensive Care. I remember going to therapy 3 times a week getting the electric stimulation pads put on my arm (Trying to help the nerves I guess?) Then afterwards came the worst part of therapy. The physical therapist sitting there asking me to move my hand... and my arm didn't move. I did that for months... Then finally I got movement!! I remember my mom took me to my dads work, pulled him out of a meeting, and showed him. Haha I felt like a pet doing a trick or something. I just remember feeling sooo happy I got some movement back. My friends gave me a lot of crap being one handed. It was hard, rough and very depressing. I played tennis and was really good at it. I had to sit out my Junior year though due to my injury... I will never forget the day my dad took me to the tennis courts and taught me to serve one handed. I worked hard that entire summer just trying to be able to serve. I ended up taking region in number 2 singles my senior year. I don't know why my doctors never told me about occupational therapy or what was going through there heads but I had to teach myself how to do everything! Buttoning up pants was a task, my mom did my hair (embarrassing..lol), putting a bra on... Now that I think about it I don't know how I did it. I am so excited I found this website! It is so frustrating at times and I want to break down and cry but now that I found this site I have other ppl that can relate to me! I don't want to go off on how horrible I feel etc.. I want to be able to talk to other ppl. If you have any questions on anything feel free to ask me!
I was reading one message board and cant exactly remember which one but here is my answer. It was about bras for the women. Lol. I found bras that you can do up in the front instead of in the back. So much easier. Pulling up your hair...if you can use your other hand to hold it or even the door trick is helpful.