Category: Uncategorized

View from a wheelchair

Usually when I’m just popping down to the local shops I take my walking frame Martha instead of my wheelchair. It’s not exactly a large area and it’s fairly flat (although there are a few cobbles) so I can usually manage to walk around. Granted, my friends and I will usually pay a visit to one of the little cafés for a cuppa and a cheeky slice of cake so we can sit down, but somehow I don’t think that has anything to do with me not being able to walk as far as them.

Last week though, for various reasons, I went there with the wheelchair and left Martha behind, and I was amazed at just how strange it felt. I’ve had Cerebral Palsy all my life and have had a wheelchair since I was 12; so although I spend most of my time using a walking frame, using a chair sometimes isn’t  anything new. I still take it on my trips further afield and to my boyfriend’s house, given that he lives up two rather large hills which are struggle for me on a good day, let alone a not-so-good one.

Yet, that day in town, things felt a bit alien for the first hour or so. Everything seemed far higher up that I remembered and I felt really small, even though this would all feel completely normal and natural if I were going somewhere else that I would usually need to use my wheelchair. The thing that shocked me most of all was how much harder it was at first for me to hear what my friends were saying, because I’m used to being stood up next to them.

All this got me think about how I see the world differently depending on which set of wheels I’ve opted to use on any given day, and I did wonder if I perhaps take the fact I use Martha so often for granted, although, admittedly, it has taken a long time (and a lot of hard work) to get there. That’s a post for another time, though.

The difference in my height sitting in the wheelchair and me being stood up is probably quite small because I have to use a booster cushion, but it was still enough for me to notice because I’m just not used to using it in my local town centre anymore. Then, someone almost landed on my knee because they weren’t paying attention to where they were going. That hasn’t happened for a while.

Maybe I should spray paint my wheelchair bright blue too?

Hmmm…

My Smurfette Wheatbag

My Smurfette Wheatbag
My Smurfette Wheatbag

So I thought I try and raise a smile this Friday so here goes.

I decided that I’d try do this by posting a picture of my Smurfette Wheat bag, mostly because I think it’s actually quite cute. Yes, I know I’m 22, but in my opinion it’s fine to always carry a torch for those TV shows and characters you loved to watch before school while you were chompping down your Coco Pops (other breakfast cereals are avaliable).

I actually though I’d lost this one somewhere in and amongst the other army of wheat bags that my family seem to own, I always did like this one because it’s one of the smaller one because it smells of vanillia, which makes a nice change from all the other lavender scented ones that we have.

Have a nice weekend guys,

Nic

Change is in the air

Well, today I’m feeling really quite positive and motivated, which is nice. I think that it could have something to do the think fact that my room has been recently redecorated, and sometimes I think a change like this can do us all some good.

I’m quite excited because I’ve got a new wardrobe which  is lower down that my old one was so that it’s easier for me to get my clothes on and off the rails without almost falling over with the effort, or simply giving up and throwing everything into a pile at the bottom. The latter is what happened far too often.

There’s also a nice, new comfy bed. It’s much bigger than my last one, which will give me even more room to practice being a starfish at night, oh and it will make it easier for my mum to do my physio on it, but I’m far more excited about having more room to sprawl out in if I’m honest. I’m half in love with it already because I went to sleep with a very achy back last night and when I woke up it was as good as gone!

In my spare time,  (AKA when I’m not frantically job hunting),I do a lot of fiction writing as well as working on my blog. Usually as I do it I always hope that one day other people will read it and enjoy it, but I never expect that to happen. Today though, as I sit here in the writing cocoon that I have constructed for myself, tapping away and the keyboard and listening to Paramore, I’m starting to feel like maybe at some point they will. Not just yet, but it feels possible. We’ll see.

The extra effort that I’m supposed to be making with physio has actually got off to a pretty good start. I know it’s only been two days since I wrote the post declaring that I was going to try really hard so I shouldn’t get too excited, but it all helps, right? So far I’ve only made a few small changes, but hopefully they will all combine together to have a big impact on me for the better.

Doing the “Make Sure I’m Standing Up Straight Dance”

A couple of weeks ago, while I was busy doing my Surgery Diaries set of posts marking the six-year anniversary of my operations, the physio I had been seeing over the last few months decided that she was happy enough with my progress that I didn’t need to see her anymore, until my next set of problems arises, that is.

I’d gone originally because the backs of my knees had decided that they wanted to give me some grief after we’d had the kind of winter that I spent yesterday’s post complaining about. My muscles and I have a mutual hatred of the cold, as you all know by now.

So, back to the physio I went to try and nip it in the bud before it got any worse and she did all the right stretches and gave me some exercises that would fix it. I was amazed at the fact that I could do them all within the space of about five minutes before I’d even got out bed in a morning! (They were lying down exercises, I wasn’t being lazy) . I found that because there was someone there watching my progress who would be able to tell if I hadn’t done my homework, I actually did them.

As well as this, we worked on trying to improve the way that I stood to improve my walking and posture generally. It was really quite funny at first. As she tried to help me stand straight to show me what it would look (and feel) like, my limbs pretty much decided that they would what they wanted and not listen to anyone else. As soon as my knees were put right, my already aligned shoulders would go back to how they felt most comfortable, then my hips would follow their lead and we’d have to start all over again. Eventually though, the physio won and I was standing tall and straight. It felt really odd, like I was stood curled up in a ball, but I could see from the mirror that I wasn’t. It felt really comfortable and made me ache quite a bit.

After a few weeks (and lots of practice) I’ve managed to get to the point where I can just about do it for myself as long as I’m holding on to something. It still takes a while to ‘stack’ (they called it stacking) my head, shoulders, hips, knees, and feet all at once, but as long as I’m patient I can do it! For now I’m working on doing to for short bursts while I’m stood talking to people on my walking frame. I’d love to know what it looks like to others while I stand there, doing a sort of frustrated dance type thing that it takes to get everything lined up properly so I’m standing straight. I have now decided that I’m personally going to start calling this process the Make Sure I’m Standing Up Straight Dance, mostly for my own amusement.

Preparing for winter

This year, I plan on starting to prepare for winter early. No, I don’t mean that I’m going to pretend that I’m a squirrel and bury lots of acorns and nuts in the garden; nor I am going to be like a bird and fly south for the season (although, I won’t lie, a holiday would be great right now). Ah, a girl can dream…

No, what I mean is that I’m going to try and get into some habits now that I’m hoping will stop the cold weather from having such a big impact on me this time around. I’m not a professional doctor or physiotherapist, nor do I pretend to be, so I’m not sure if making an extra effort this my physiotherapy now will make me less achy in the winter, but I figure it’s something that I should probably start doing anyway, because as I’ve said time and time again, I know I don’t do as much as I should.

The end of last year things seemed a lot worse than normal because it was far more bitter than I remember it being for a long time. When I get cold, my legs get tight and my muscles ache more than usual. I tend to spend a lot of winter using my wheelchair rather than my walking frame because it’s more comfortable that way. Plus, if we have snow, there’s just no way that the tiny front wheels on Martha will cut through it all, and I don’t want to risk slipping on any ice either. This just means trying to do as much more physio as I can at home to make up for the shortfall in exercise.

At the beginning of this year, things started bothering me enough for me to give my physiotherapist a call and make a set of appointments. I had around six spread out of the course of the next few months and she finally discharged me again a couple of weeks ago. More on that later.

So, it’s only September but there’s already a chill creeping into the air, and I’ve noticed that my legs and hips are already starting to show their dislike for it, especially first thing in the morning and the last thing at night as I’m trying to drift off to sleep. I’ve decided that if I start working hard now and paying more attention to my stretches sooner rather than later, I’ll, (hopefully), have got into the habit by the time the worst of the cold hits so having to work harder might not seem like such a chore.

Although I need the help of another person to do some of the bigger ones, there are lots of little things that I can do for myself that I’m hoping will help, like spending more time lying on my stomach for half an hour while I watch TV or read a book get a good stretch out, and it feels like my wheat bags barely have time to go cold before I’m reheating them again (I’m sat with one under my knees as I type). This is to help keep me warm as much as it is to sooth my muscles. Oh, and I’m going to have to remember to keep on to top my physio too. I’m pretty sure that will do me some good, no matter what time of year it is.

I am aware that wheatbags might not be suitable for everyone to use, or help everyone. I’m not a medical professional so I can’t offer advice on when a person might like to use one or when it might not be suitable for them. This is a reflection on how they help me personally only.

Feel free to help keep me on the straight and narrow by leaving me note in the comments section, or on Facebook and Twitter, from time to time.