This is one of the longest pages on my site! FAQ means "Frequently Asked Questions". As my website gets more and more visitors, I receive more and more emails, most of them full of questions. I wish I could respond to all of them, but many times I can't. That's why I put this page together! Please, if you have a question you'd like to ask me, look through this page first by clicking the links below, or scrolling down the page and reading everything. If you don't find what you are looking for, please email me and I'll do my best to get back to you. Thanks in advance! Dean.
FAQ's about my injury & paralysis
FAQ's about my everyday life, who I am
FAQ's about my website in general
Email me at Dean@DeanJoyce.com
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How do I type if I can't move my fingers?
What kind of wheelchair do I use?
What kind of cushion do I sit on?
Do I drive?
What kind of catheter do I use?
How do I write?
How do I feel out in public?
How do I avoid pressure sores?
How do I regulate my body temperature?
Do I exercise?
How long was my hospital stay
Was I in a coma? How long?
I think this picture answers the question good enough. I use this velcro strap and pencil on my left hand to strike each key. Believe it or not, I type about 50-55 words per minute just by hitting one key at a time. Lots of practice:) Need a strap? Email me
I use a Colours "Eclipse" manual light-weight rigid frame wheelchair. Actually I have 2 of them. The first one I got as I was leaving rehab in Phoenix. It's a black frame that originally came with 24" spoke wheels and wheel covers and Primo tires. I then decided to get the 3-spoke composite 25" X-core rims and nice "bicycle-like" tires... very smart move! These wheels are bigger and therefore require less pushing to go faster, they're lighter, and if you drive, they are easier to grab if you need to take your chair apart each time. The chair I use now is the same exact one, but instead of black, I got it in polished aluminum. I use the black one as a spare.
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I use a Roho Nexus low-profile air cushion. I started off with a Jay gel cushion, and I'll never go back to them. The gel weighs too much and you have to squeeze the gel around to a comfortable position every time you want to sit on it. The Nexus is very light-weight and comfortable. I highly recommend Roho cushions.
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YES! I started driving again in May 1997 after buying a brand new 1998 Mercury Mystique. The car is a mid-size 4-door sport/luxury car which I had hand controls put in so that I can drive it. If you want to see more of my car, click here.
How the car looks now!
I use the Rusch/MMG sterile kits. I find them to be superior to any kits I've ever used. If you've had problems with urinary tract infections, switch to these!!! In the 5+ years I've been using them, I only had 2 uti's that I needed medication for. That's an excellent record for a quad who caths himself. You can contact the company by phone at 1-800-553-5214. I have an instructional "how to" video available by request (for $20) for those who may need help in figuring out how to cath independently. Buyer must be at least 18 years old. Request a video
Well, since I can't move my fingers, writing wasn't too easy at first. I tried adaptive devices, but eventually I got fed up with them and tried writing with a fat pen. I got tired of that and realized if I used a felt-tip pen, I wouldn't have to push down as hard as with a ball-point. Finally, I could write nice and dark. With practice I write neater and faster, so keep trying if you're having a hard time, it'll work out.
A lot of people email me with this question and honestly I think I'm a bad person to answer it simply because I don't care about other peoples opinions, especially negative ones. However, I will say to the parents out there... If your child is looking at someone in a wheelchair, LET THEM! If they ask them why they are in a wheelchair, LET THEM! I say this because if you don't, you are going to give your child a subconscious thought that it is bad to talk to someone in a wheelchair, simply because they will generalize the experience as something negative.
Honestly, my experiences have never been bad. People generally seem to be very understanding, and even generous from time to time. As long as you keep a smile on your face, people will usually smile back. So put your fears aside and get your ass out in public again!
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I move around! Thankfully I've never had a pressure sore, and I hope I never get one. A lot of people ask me how many hours per day I'm in my chair, but the only thing I can say is that I'm awake for 20 hours each day. Since I can't walk, I'm on my ass for those 20 hours, but it's either sitting in my chair or sitting in my car. But to avoid pressure sores, I just make sure I stay active. By active I mean that I am constantly going places and transfering in and out of my car, or if I'm in my chair for a long period of time, I push down on my wheels to lift my ass up in the air for about 30 seconds every 20-30 minutes. However... every person varies! I'm just telling you how I do it, but you have to find what works for you. If you stay in your chair constantly, I recommend that you take a break and lay on your side in bed for about 30 minutes at the half-way point of your day. As far as clothes... I wear jeans all the time. I just make sure that the jeans I wear do not have any copper rivets on the rear pockets. I suggest that you learn as much as you can about pressure sores, medically known as "Decubiti".
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I have written a page on this topic, you can read it here
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Yes. One of the most important things anybody can do is exercise. Before my injury I worked out 6 days a week for about 2-3 hours each day. Yes I know that is not practicle for most people to spend that much time, but even 30 minutes a day is not hard to find and yet is still plenty of time to have an effective work-out.
Thankfully there is equipment designed for wheelchair users. More specifically, there is equipment desined for low-level quadriplegics like myself. Two pieces of equipment that I use are the "Uppertone" and the "Saratoga Cycle". I can honestly say that after only few weeks of using them, I gained enough strength back to transfer myself without assistance, push my chair up steep ramps/hills, and wheel around a much longer distance without getting weak and tired.
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Aside from the 7 weeks I spent in Mount Sinai, NYC being treated for Leukemia at age 3, I spent a little more than 6 months in the hospital after my spinal cord injury (sci) at age 21. My accident was on 10-24-95. I was in the Intensive Care Unit (icu) at John C. Lincoln hospital on Dunlap Road in Phoenix, Arizona until 11-9-95. I then began rehab at Good Samaritan hospital on McDowell Road in Downtown Phoenix until I flew back to New York on 2-13-96 to complete my in-patient rehab at Helen Hayes Hospital (HHH) in West Haverstraw which ended on 4-26-96 (four days before my 22 birthday). I was then free to go home and start my new life which I am living now. I did continue therapy on an out-patient basis at the HHH day hospital until 11-96, but that was it finally, therapy was over with.
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Yes, 1 week! After my accident on 10-24-95, I was in a coma for about a week before I began to wake up. I have reviewed my medical report many times and I now understand how severely injured I was. When a person is comatose, the doctors test for three things.
(1) Does the victim's eyes respond to light/dark? (Scores 1-5)
(2) Does the victim respond to sound? (Scores 1-5)
(3) Does the victim respond to pain? (Scores 1-5)
In my case, I did not respond to any of these three things. My medical report says I scored a total of 3 on the Glasgow Coma Scale. To help you better understand, a 1 is the absolute lowest you can score in each of the 3 categories, and a 5 is the highest.
A total score of 13-15 = Mild brain injury.
A total score of 9-12 = Moderate brain injury.
A total score of 3-8 = Severe brain injury. Guess I got really lucky.
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How old am I?
What is my family like?
Any piercings or tattoo's?
College? What's my major?
Do I believe in God?
Favorite TV shows?
I was born on April 30, 1974. Do the math :)~
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First of all my parents are still together. I figured I'd mention that since it's pretty rare these days. Anyway, I also have 2 sisters and 1 brother. I'm the youngest. We all live within about an hour of each other and I'm the only one still living at home. I was also the only one to move across the country when I moved out in '95, but now I'm back since my injury and I figure I'll stay here until I'm done with school.
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Yes I have both. Click the picture to see more!
I've been going to Dutchess Community College for a couple of years and will be ready to transfer to a 4yr school next summer if everything goes as planned. At first I wanted to become a social worker, then I leaned towards Computer Info Systems, and now I'm kinda back to the beginning, going for psychology.
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Here's a question that I'm getting tired of. I've been asked this one many many times and eventually I will take the time to write a page about all my beliefs and philosophies and what inspired me to think in such ways. In the meantime, I will just say that I do not support organized religion, of almost any kind. I was raised Catholic and even attended Catholic school until 4th grade. It wasn't something I wanted to do, but as a kid you get suckered into everything anyway. As an adult now I do not go to church, not even on the major Holy days like Christmas and Easter (that would be hippocritical). I just don't see how I'm helping anyone by going there, sitting face front, and listening to the same stuff over and over, year after year. In my opinion, a person should believe in themselves, take responsibility for their own actions, be nice to others who deserve it, and enjoy life. I've had a near death experience and an outer body experience, and there was nothing but peaceful emptiness. No light, no flame. So to all you bible-thumpers out there... stop trying to drag people into your mentally constructed heaven. If people like me want to go to Heaven, we'll build one from our own perspective. I will link to my new "beliefs" page from here when it is complete.
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Most of my favorite shows aren't on anymore, just the damn reruns are what is left of them. But if I were to rank my favorite shows, Seinfeld would be #1, Friends #2, Frazier #3, Fresh Prince #4, Home Improvement #5, and I sometimes watch shit like 7th Heaven, Mad About You, definately some MTV when they actually play video's, and late at night when I work on my website I'll watch Happy Days or something on Nick-at-Nite. Sounds like all I do is watch TV when I write it all in one paragraph, haha.
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This section here will answer questions many people have asked me about what kind of computer I use, the programs, and how I make websites.
How did I get started doing websites?
What html program do I use?
What books helped me?
How did I get my www name?
Want to link to each other?
What kind of computer do I use?
The first reason I started making a website was because I was extremely bored. I got my first computer after getting out of the hospital in April 1996 and was amazed by all the stuff on the internet. I spent most of the summer indoors and on-line since my wheelchair ramp wasn't built yet and in return I became very computer literate.
To build my first webpage I searched and searched for someone that knew how to make one. No luck! And, for a while I just gave up on the whole idea. Then I met a girl online who told me about "aolpress". It's a free html editing program that AOL offers to its customers, and can be found at Keyword- aolpress. Trust me... the program is great, but the instructions suck! If you are just starting out and plan on using aolpress to build a page, don't read the instructions... they will confuse the hell out of you by trying to teach you things that are very unnecessary. Get in touch with me... I'll tell you the quick easy way with that program.
By mid-February 1997 I spent a few hundred hours designing some pages and ended up losing them all. I don't know what happened, but it pissed me off so much that I said "screw this" and put it aside for about a month. In that month I gathered some information on paralysis that I wanted to put on a website, and by April I had a few pages up and running on my AOL account.
During the summer of '97 I continued adding stuff to my site and decided to start looking for a way to get a real website name, you know, the kind with the www in front of it? Well, it ain't free, but I feel it's worth it. I got my www.deanjoyce.com name and started using it on January 1, 1998. My AOL website had accumulated nearly 4,000 visits before I started my new site at Zero! Today (5-23-99) as I write this, the counter on my website reads 11,147 hits. Not too bad I guess.
Anyway, that is how I got started! I have also made a website for my father's sport card store (www.diamond-jacks.com), and I started a homepage for a friend of mine out west who has since learned how to do pages and has continually added and changed her webpage (http://members.aol.com/catspage).
So, I hope I answered the question thoroughly. If there is something you'd like to ask me, just click here, and send me your question. If you are looking for someone who can make a website for you... tell me what you are looking to do and we'll work something out.
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Currently... HotDog Pro Version 4.56. You can get this program at www.sausage.com. It's not a free program, but you will get your money worth if you buy it. It offers a bunch of features to make page design easy, but I just write the code because that's just the way I like to do it.
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When I started making websites, I didn't use any books at all. That was my goal. I wanted to be able to say that I figured it out without reading anything about html, and I did! Of course it took a lot of time and the only way I learned was by making mistakes, but I think that is the best way to learn anything. In webpage design, I'm probably familiar with almost every screw-up that is possible, but since I encountered it at some point, I know how to troubleshoot and fix it. After making my site, I wanted to make it better... and that's when I started with books. I first bought "HTML For Dummies #2", and learned how to do frames, and then I recently bought "HTML Goodies" by Joe Burns Ph.d. His book is awesome! ANYTHING you want to know about making a website, you can read about in his book. Want to buy a copy? Then go to his website... www.htmlgoodies.com
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It's easy! The company that hosts my website is Interland. Right on their front page you can type in the name you would like to have, and it'll tell you if it is available still. If you are lucky, you can purchase it and build a site for it. Interland has been a great service for me over the past few years, and their rates are perfect. If you go with them, tell them you found them at deanjoyce.com. Thanks!
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Definately! In fact, I would greatly appreciate it. However, I refuse to be associated with anything that has to do with discrimination or racism, or almost anything that ends with "ism". What about sex sites? Yea, I'll link to them if there is a disclaimer as you enter. And a free membership would be a nice gesture:)
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The main computer that I use to go online and do my website is a Gateway.