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Ryan – Do you live independently?

Ryan – Do you live independently?

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My wife was my primary caregiver in the beginning, both through the hospital and at home when I needed it. Shortly after I got home, I was definitely independent to do my bladder routine. My bowel routine, I wasn’t quite as independent on, it took ... Show More

My wife was my primary caregiver in the beginning, both through the hospital and at home when I needed it. Shortly after I got home, I was definitely independent to do my bladder routine. My bowel routine, I wasn’t quite as independent on, it took me a few months to get more independent on that. But now when it comes to like personal care, I don’t really have her help me with anything. If I want somebody to check my skin, I’m not very good at it because it’s behind me, so I have her look at that because it just makes more sense to have someone up close and there’s someone there. If I lived on my own, I would certainly find a way to do that. But if she’s going to go out of town for the weekend or for the week or something like that, then it’s not intolerable for me to stay at home by myself. But I also have someone, like we didn’t have a caregiver or anything but I’m not home for the week by myself. I don’t have to do, keep my apartment completely clean, or make the bed or anything. I can do it, but I also work a fulltime job. So, the people that I know that do manage to do that, although it’s amazing, I’m like, “you don’t have a job to do, okay? Talk to me when you have to do both things.” So, yeah, I mean I can walk the dog, cook meals, you know all that stuff, whatever it takes.

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Ryan – Do you live independently?

Ryan

Injured in 2015 at age 25, quadriplegic
More Videos by Ryan
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My wife was my primary caregiver in the beginning, both through the hospital and at home when I needed it. Shortly after I got home, I was definitely independent to do my bladder routine. My bowel routine, I wasn’t quite as independent on, it took me a few months to get more independent on that. But now when it comes to like personal care, I don’t really have her help me with anything. If I want somebody to check my skin, I’m not very good at it because it’s behind me, so I have her look at that because it just makes more sense to have someone up close and there’s someone there. If I lived on my own, I would certainly find a way to do that. But if she’s going to go out of town for the weekend or for the week or something like that, then it’s not intolerable for me to stay at home by myself. But I also have someone, like we didn’t have a caregiver or anything but I’m not home for the week by myself. I don’t have to do, keep my apartment completely clean, or make the bed or anything. I can do it, but I also work a fulltime job. So, the people that I know that do manage to do that, although it’s amazing, I’m like, “you don’t have a job to do, okay? Talk to me when you have to do both things.” So, yeah, I mean I can walk the dog, cook meals, you know all that stuff, whatever it takes.

Ryan – Do you live independently?
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