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Feeling unsteady

Thankfully today’s post is not about falling over. I think you’ll all agree with me that that’s a relief given that I’ve managed to hit the deck twice in the past fortnight.

That said, I have been feeling a bit more wobbly on my feet than usual over the last few days, and a lot more aware of how I’m moving around, even when I use my walking frame Martha. To be honest, I think this is mostly down to nerves that I’m going to land on the floor again.

There were several occasions during the weekend where I felt like I was going to topple over, but managed to catch myself in time.

Sometimes, when I have a fall, it makes me feel unsteady for a couple of days afterwards and I find myself being extra cautious for a few days until that passes. It knocks my confidence for a bit. How long this lasts depends on what I was doing that made me lose my balance and how much I hurt myself. Sometimes it doesn’t dent my confidence at all and I just get on with things, but if it I hurt myself quite a bit, or have a few close together  as I have done, it makes me feel a bit unsteady for a while.

I’ve certainly felt this way over the past couple of days, but I’m hoping it will pass soon.

Another fall

In Monday’s post I told you all about a fall I had last week. Well, I had another one yesterday, but thankfully I wasn’t hurt.

My mother and I decided that we’d go out for a wander, so she put my walking frame Martha up for me because I don’t need to use it when I’m in the house. I went out of the door, got into it and started to turn it around when I noticed that it started feeling wobbly. Then I realised:

When you unfold the walker you can always tell that it’s been put up properly because there is a little clicking sound as the buttons you press in to collapse it again lock into place. When these are in place it won’t collapse again until you push the buttons, (there’s on each side), inwards.

As the Martha started to wobble, I could tell that that she was starting to fold up with me still inside. I was falling over backwards and Martha was going with me. It’s also worth noting that I wasn’t stood on the grass, but on our paving stones.

This time, I didn’t really have time to think other than the usual Oh please don’t whack your head and Oh dear I’m actually falling. Truth be told, the words running through my mind were far less polite than ‘oh dear’, but I don’t think you’d be very happy with me if I typed what they really were. All I will say is they weren’t very pleasant ones.

Somehow, I managed to keep my head up and didn’t bang it. My mum came flying out of the house as she heard Martha clattering and my yelping. Yes, I yelped. When she got to me I was on my back holding my head and arms up. I dare say I probably looked a bit like a turtle.

She pulled me up and was really apologetic even though it wasn’t her fault at all. Martha had looked like she had been put up properly and when there’s lots of noise around you don’t always hear the clicking noise that it makes. I hadn’t noticed myself, so it really wasn’t her fault. I don’t blame her. These things happen and are easily done.

If anything, I should have checked that the buttons were locked in before I started moving Martha, who, you will be pleased to know, wasn’t damaged in the fall either. Phew!

About a fall

One thing that I mention on this blog from time to time is falling over. Sometimes I just lose my balance and end up hitting the floor when there is nothing for me to trip on. It happens. I can’t always stop it and just have to go with the flow and hope I don’t get too badly hurt.

I had a fall last week when I was in the kitchen, holding a mug of gravy. I started to wobble and felt like I was going to go backwards. There was a split second when I thought I had managed to catch myself in time, but then I started to wobble again and I knew that was it.

I let out a scream to let the people near me know what was happening. I usually let out some kind of noise when I know I’m about to take a tumble, but this scream came out far louder, and far more high-pitched than I intended.

So many thoughts ran through my head in the couple of seconds that it me to land on the floor, like:

  • I hope this gravy isn’t as hot as I think it might be
  • I really hope this mug doesn’t smash all over me, and,
  • Please don’t bang your head, please don’t bang your head

You will all be happy to know that none of the above happened. Yes, the gravy was quite warm, but thankfully not warm enough to burn me. I ended up with quite a bit in my hair and some running down my nose, mind you. Somehow, I managed to tighten my grip on the mug and not let go, and landed on my bottom and avoided hitting my head. Phew.

Oh, and I also managed to make quite a mess of the kitchen. Some of the cupboards, walls, and some of the floor had also been splattered by the liquid. I was mortified when I realised how bad it was but luckily, it had all been cleaned up by the time I got out of the shower. Believe me, I needed one.

I’m even more amazed that the white-and-pink onesie I was wearing came out of the wash with no lasting stains too.

Still, I don’t want to do that again in a hurry.

Getting into a routine

I feel that I need to start today’s post with a confession.

I haven’t been keeping on top of my physio as much as I should.

Yeah, I will admit, I haven’t been keeping on top of physio and stretches as much as I should be doing. I feel quite guilty about this. I know that I need to get into some kind of routine with them.

The stretches that I have don’t actually take me all that long to do so hopefully I won’t find it too hard to get into the swing of things. Although I worry that might be easier said than done.

I really don’t like admitting that I’ve let things slip a bit on the physio front, so let’s hope that I can get myself back on the right track so that I can write a more positive post about that.

Walking in the wind

For me, walking in strong winds with my walking frame is not an easy task.

Occasionally, the wind has been known to push me along at a faster speed than I would like, or I struggle to walk against it. Whenever it’s possible, I try and stick to using my wheelchair if it gets to the point where I start to find things difficult, but sometimes I have no choice but to go out with my walking frame Martha.

In cases like this, I always try and take someone with me who can help me if I get stuck, or  at the very least try to set off earlier than I need to so that I can still get to where I need to be on time, and still be able to sit and take rests, or wait for the winds to die down a bit if I need to.

The main thing I worry about if these kinds of conditions are falling over and not being able to pick myself back up again.

I remember an occasion once where I had no choice but to go out on my walking frame when I thought it was quite windy. A lady who saw me struggling to walk in it asked me if there was anything that she could do to help, even though it looked to me like it was taking her a lot of effort to walk too.

I couldn’t think of a way that she could have given me a hand, but just the fact that she asked cheered me up a lot. I was really grateful for the offer and put me in a better mood as I carried on.

Many of you know that, given the choice, I would much rather use my walking frame Martha than use my wheelchair, because I do really enjoy walking, but I know that I have to choose the option that I feel most comfortable with on the day. When it’s really windy, I usually feel a lot more comfortable in my wheelchair.