Have you ever dreamed about what it would feel like to fly? I have and this past weekend me and my brothers did just that, well not Superman fly but more like Ultralight and Sport Plane fly. Recently I posted about my brothers surprising me and taking me out to shoot my dad’s SKS rifle which he brought back with him on his final tour of Viet-Nam. This rifle has not been fired in just about 50 years so on the day after my birthday they gave me the honor of being the first one to fire it in all that time. Now for us September is a busy holiday month we have our anniversary (17th), Robert’s birthday (49), Rich “Trish’s other brothers” birthday (52, I think), my birthday (50, same day as Rich’s), my daughter birthday (25) and my brother Marks birthday (52 also). It seems like every weekend we are having a party. This year for Marks birthday he wanted to do something different so we decided to go fly a plane and no that’s not the lead in to a bad joke. I have always wanted to learn to fly a helicopter but just never got around to it, so for no more than the price of a tank of gas we found an airport almost right between us and went and each flew one of these two aircraft for a 1/2 hour. 
I was surprised that his is one of the few things I can do with my back. I chose the blue/white aircraft and was surprised at how easy it was to handle and how comfortable it was. The brothers have gone scuba diving in Monterey,Ca. and on the first Caregiving.com Cruising the Bahamas cruise just last year they were able to shark dive. They know my back and even so they always ask me if I think I can do it, instead of just going out and doing it. My limitation is not only my pain but my internal pain pump is limited to a depth of 10 meters, their diving to 100 meter excluded me, however I was more than happy for them to experience it and of course they could not re-board the ship without photos. This post is not about me and my family’s vacations and the experiences we have, it’s about not letting your pain exclude you from continuing to enjoy those experiences you want to and hopefully add new one to your list. Even with my chronic back pain, we have taken trips to Disneyland and California Adventure. I’ve even rode many of the rides while there, what I do have to do is take a minute and ask myself some questions like, how bad do I want to ride this? How much will I hurt after the ride? What do we have happening later today? And what do we have planned tomorrow or the rest of the week? Reason is, if I plan to para sail or have a hike or something I really want to go on, will riding this ride now keep me from doing that later? Take into account that when you packed you threw several disposable ice packs or travel heating packs in your bag, I hope? If not here’s a recipe I’d like to share with you,
How to make your own homemade Ice Pack
First, find a local drug store and purchase a small box of gallon size zip-lock style bags, a bottle or rubbing alcohol and your ready
to make your very own homemade ice pack, bigger, cooler cheaper than any you can buy in the store.
Second, before going out for the day, take a zip-lock baggie and place it inside a second zip-lock baggie.
Third, dump the entire bottle of Rubbing Alcohol into the Zip-Lock along with one bottle of plain water.
(Use the Rubbing Alcohol bottle to measure the water)
Last, close both bags, shake it up and them (1) Place bag in freeze section of the refrigerator or
head out to the ice maker, pick a spot and dig a hole, place ice pack in and cover. I guarantee that
when you return at the end of the day, you will have a flexible, re-usable ice pack.
Don’t limit yourself because you think it’s going to hurt too much or for any other reason, heck I just flew a sport plane. Even though we have pain, we still have needs, wants, and lists and if we let our pain control what we do we’re giving into to. Don’t let your pain pick you, http://www.PickYourPain.org. Go out, take your pain by the reins and experience all those thing you’ve want to, yes there will be some limitations but everything is flexible and people are accommodating. If you do, please reply to this post and let me know what it was that you took control of and did. I am very interested and always looking for new ideas.
Namaste’
Richard K.
PickYourPain@att.net
Richard is a trifecta caregiver, along with his wife he cares for himself, with Chronic Back Pain which he’s had for 21 years. He cares for his brother in-law, Robert who lives with him and who has dealt with Epilepsy his entire life. He also advocates for his mother who has various cardiac related issues, severe hearing loss and other medical issues. You can read about his experiences with chronic pain and how he deals with his mothers and brother in-law’s issues on PickYourPain.org or at Caregiving.com. He is also involved in several of Caregiving.com’s support groups and chat rooms, he is co-host of an internet based radio show about caregiving. Richard is also a patient advisor, board member for Intake.me which is working to improve the intake process at medical facilities. Richard has three adult children who despite them having to deal with his medical issues, he says, “They have turned out better than I’d hoped for.”
Blogger, Husband, Son, Caregiver, Author
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