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.
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.
I have (some more) exciting news. This week I’ve been a guest blogger for Eille over at CP Teens UK about why I personally enjoy blogging about having Cerebral Palsy.
If you want to read the post, then you can do so here. You’ll find it written in green underneath Eille’s post about tiredness.
After the success of my ponytail challenge that I set myself, (which you can read about here and here), and some discussion with my friends I’ve decided that I should embark on another one…to be able to do my own shoelaces.
This is something that I don’t think I’ve ever managed to do for myself, because it would require work from my left hand as well as my right, and this is the kind of task that I find really hard to do with my left one.
Over the years I’ve found it kind of frustrating that I haven’t mastered this for myself to be honest. If I’ve bought footwear that has laces instead of Velcro or zips, then I have to ask someone to tie them for me so that they are loose enough for me to be able to slip my feet in and out of them, but not so loose that they fall off my feet when I’m walking.
I’ve tried and tried to do this and I’ve not had success yet. When a friend saw my post about doing a ponytail, she sugguested I try doing the same thing with my shoelaces and I think this is a really good idea so I’m going to give it a go.
I’m not sure if or when I’ll manage this, but I’m willing to try. Let’s see what happens. As always, I’ll keep you all updated.
So last week I set myself the challenge to get the hang of tying my own hair back. This is something that I’ve always struggled with and I think I only ever managed it once before. I have some news…
I went out and bought myself a huge pack of bobbles to be able to do this because I couldn’t seem to find any of my own anymore, which shows how often I actually ask someone to put my hair in a ponytail for me. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I did.
Then, I started trying and after the first few goes at it I took a break because my shoulder started aching and decided to have a few more attempts later. During that second session I actually managed to get half of my hair into the bobble! It was really loose and not all of my hair was in it, but I still got really excited and reached for my camera to take a photo to show you all my progress. Then I realised the batteries had run out so I had to go and get some more. Sadly, by the time I found some, my hair bobble had slipped out completely and landed on the floor before I could stop it. I’ll admit that I was a little bit annoyed that I didn’t get the picture in time. I made sure that I sorted the camera out anyway.
Feeling spurred on by my recent achievement, I decided to try again. After a few more fails I actually managed to get my hair into a ponytail! Most of the front part of my hair was in too this time so it was even better than the first. I had a quick go a trying to take a photo but I found it hard to get the angle right, so I went downstairs to ask someone else to take one for me, hoping that it didn’t all drop out on the way.
“Quick, someone take a picture before it all falls out” I said as I burst into the room. They all looked at me and realised what I was taking about and they were all really pleased for me. Not only did my hair stay in place while they took the picture for me, but it’s mostly still in place as I’m sitting writing this too. Because it actually surprised my by not falling out before I made it back upstairs to my room, I decided to take a picture of it from the front too. I think ‘selfies’ are clearly not my strong point but I gave it a go.
Thanks to my mum for taking this picture in a hurry.My attempt at a ‘selfie’
As you can see, my hair’s not perfect, but that’s what practice is for, right? It still took me quite a lot of tries before I achieved this, but I’ll admit that I got there faster than I thought I would. I was expecting it to be a couple of weeks yet before I got to write this post, if I did manage it at all.
I think I should try taking my friend’s advice and set myself the challenge of trying to get the hang of tying my own shoe laces next. More on that soon.
viewfromawalkingframe 