New Experiences

Jerry started taking classes at the community college in the first week of February. Our schedule was a bit grueling with school Monday through Thursday, SCI-FIT in Pleasanton Friday and wheelchair soccer on Saturdays, not to mention homework.  The drive to school is about 45 minutes, too far to drop Jerry and come back home so I am taking classes at the same time as Jer.  I'm loving it, I have a golf and a fitness class, it's a great break for me.  The first hurdle to overcome was how Jerry was to manage homework assignments, the first homework assignment was a bit overwhelming. We purchased software that allows Jerry to do calculus using his voice activation software, it's been challenging for him but he's figuring it out. Jerry really enjoyed his history class and liked the teacher very much. In the 4th week Jerry had an issue with the teacher and dropped the class.  I encouraged him to stick with it, not let the teacher get the best of him however he felt he could not work with a teacher that was so unreasonable.  Jerry has special accommodations for test taking, he takes tests at disabled student services where a scribe will write his answers. He showed up for class on Monday and found that there was to be a test however he didn't have the chance to set up the time with a scribe because he was unaware of the test. Jerry asked if he could set it up for the next day and the teacher would not allow it. The teacher explained the test date was in the syllabic (handed out the first day of school), he told Jerry he would have to take a zero and be more prepared for next time.  The bottom line is Jerry is just trying to figure out how to be a student as a quad, he took classes he thought would be easy, he didn't need them.  The purpose is to work out the kinks and figure out how to manage. As a mom I was ready to march in and have a little chat with that teacher however Jerry would not allow it, Jerry did make a complaint in disabled student services.

Jerry is playing wheel chair soccer (power soccer) on Sundays and enjoying it very much. He plays on a co-ed team with others with different disabilities, some have MS, MD and spinal cord injured.  Jerry's wheelchair is not good for the sport it's far to slow so in the beginning it was very frustrating for him.  The coach has a few extra chairs that people have handed down and offered one to Jer.  It took about 3 weeks to modify the chair to fit Jerry's needs, this weekend he was able to control his new chair with almost no issues. The team had a tournament in Santa Barbara last weekend so Dennis and Jerry made the long haul.  This was the first time since Jerry's accident that he has traveled in a vehicle for more than 2 hours as well as a first for staying in a hotel. Jerry fared well on the drive and slept fine without the alternating pressure mattress.  This was a good trial for travel, our next trip will be a little more challenging as we'll be flying to Atlanta GA in July.

Here's a little taste of power soccer:

God Bless!

Katie