Tag: disability

Socks, socks and more socks

Whenever someone is stuck for ideas of what to buy someone for a gift, there always seems to be a joke that you’ll get them socks. I don’t know where it came from but I actually quite like getting new ones. For lots of reasons.

As I’m pretty sure many of you know by now I have really cold feet most of the time, so I’ll sometimes been seen wondering around in multiple pairs, even in warmer months so I like to keep lots of them on standby. I seem to have developed quite a big collection of Christmas slipper socks too. Even though I know I probably shouldn’t I wear them all year round to help me stay warm.

Another reason that I like getting socks is that I have a habit of putting holes in them. Partly I think because I find them quite hard to get on in a morning, so my toes end up where they end up, which isn’t always in the part of the sock that’s meant for your toes, so I end up putting a hole through the material because it’s stretched in the wrong place.

Sometimes, when I’m walking my sock will start coming off my foot, and then it will get a hole in it because it ends up trailing on the floor until I can get to somewhere to sit and sort it out. Most of the time I’ll wonder round in a pair that don’t match because I refuse to throw away the one that I haven’t damaged yet because I know that will happen to it soon enough and there’s no point letting it go to waste. .That said, even though I probably have more odd socks than I do pairs, my collection go so large at one point that my drawer would no longer close and I had to start keeping them in seperate bags.

New Splints update

My new splints
My new splints

So, I’ve worn my new splints a few times now, and the right one feels quite comfortable, which is good.

The left one isn’t quite as comfy.

It just feels too tight on the sides and underneath parts of my feet and it leaves red marks when I’ve been walking on it around the house. It’s not as easy to get my foot into either. I’ve managed to avoid any blisters so far though, which is a bonus. These things just happen sometimes, it’s not anybody’s fault but hopefully it will be easy to fix.

I’ve spoken to the hospital and they’ve said that I can go back in and they’ll try and heat it up a little so they can try and make it a little less snug for me, which should help.

I’ll let you know how this all goes.

Wrapping Christmas gifts

Yesterday I finally managed to finish my Christmas shopping. Well, I say I have, but I’ll probably think of something that I’ve forgotten over the next couple of days and have to get that too.

My boyfriend was a huge help and we went and got most of the things while I was in my wheelchair so that I didn’t have to battle with the crowds or try to carry everything. I bought him lunch as a thank you so I didn’t feel as bad about him having to push everything back to my house in the rain.

All that I have left to do now is buy and write cards, do wrapping, and buy decorations for my walking frame Martha. The first and last things I’m looking forward to, but I really, really suck at the wrapping gifts part.

Because  I sometimes struggle to do certain things with my left hand and arm , this is not an easy task for me. I try and do most of it only using my right hand, but it’s still tough.

I find it really hard to cut the paper, fold it all up, and hold it in place while I put sticky tape all over it. When I try to do this for myself, the paper ends up so loose that whatever is inside ends up rattling about, and there’s always so much tape on them that no one can get into it…

There have been many occasions when I’ve actually managed to get the tape in my hair instead. Getting it out again isn’t as easy as I thought it might be. I don’t recommend it.

I always amaze myself at just how much I manage to make a mess of it, because sometimes I’ll have a go at doing one or two, just to see if I’ve improved any of the last time I tried it. You’d think that I’d have started to get a bit better at it, but I don’t. My efforts seem to just get worse each time, even with using a tape dispenser, or a paper-cutter thing instead of scissors. Sometimes, I end up ripping it halfway through and have to start again.

Usually, one of my friends will kindly help me to do my boyfriends things, and he or my mum will give me a hand with the rest so that all I have to do is hold bits down and write the gift tags. Last year my sister lent a hand too.

Do any of you have any hints or tips?

The final countdown

Yep, it’s official: I’m counting down. But not to Christmas or even New Year. Nope, I’m just waiting for Tuesday, which is the day that my serial casting pots will be coming off.

Serial casting is some treatment that I’ve been undergoing for the past five weeks for my Cerebral Palsy. As my ankles are tight, they’ve been potted into a better postion, so that hopefully, when they get taken off on Tuesday, my muscles will be more relaxed. Then, I’ll be able to get my foot into the place that the casts have been holding it a lot more easily.This, in turn, should make the new splints that I’ll be getting on that day a lot more confotable for me to wear than if we hadn’t done this first.

If you want to read more about how I’ve found the process, you can read my other posts  about it here.

As excited as I am to see how well the has worked, and to get my new splints, I think the thing I’m looking forward to the most is not having to worry about getting my feet and legs wet anymore. Thankfully we have a walk in shower at home that I’ve still been able to use as long as I covered the pots with some waterproof protectors and some bin bags, but it’s just not the same. I’ll be able to go out in heavy rain without having to worry and constantly look for shelter again too. Not that I make a habit of going out when it’s pouring it down, but it’s nice to have the option, you know?

Not long now though. Almost there.

Four days to go, if you don’t count Tuesday itself. And yes, I am counting.

How much my walking frame helps me

My Nimbo Frame Martha
My Nimbo Frame Martha

Sometimes I think that I take the independence my walking frame allows me to have for granted.

I was chatting to a man in the train station the other day, and he was saying that my Nimbo frame Martha looked really good, and that the little seat on the back was a good idea.

He said that it was great how something like that could make such a big difference to someone’s life, or he assumed that they would. I told him that in my case this was very true because if I didn’t have my frame, I would find it really tough to leave the house on my own.

I wouldn’t fancy not taking my walking frame Martha out with me unless I knew that I had someone with me whose hand I could hold onto. I might be able to walk to the end of my garden, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t make it to the end of my road without falling flat on my face.  Any unexpected dips in the pavement always run the risk of throwing me off balance. It doesn’t take much some days. I have a knack of falling over even when there’s nothing there to trip on. I know that I couldn’t get up and down the kurbs to cross a road.

Most of the time, I don’t even stop to think about all the things that I can do with Martha in tow that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise because I’m just so busy doing them. It’s only when I have these conversations with people that I take the time to stop and think “wow, it helps me more than even I realise sometimes”.

Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I don’t always take the time to stop and appreciate the impact that the walking frame has on my life, in a good way. I never really think about it until I explain it to others. I always like telling people about how useful it is, because it always makes me feel grateful.

As I’ve mentioned before, Martha is the first walking frame that I’ve had with a little seat attached. Before she even arrived, I knew that this would be a huge advantage for me, but I couldn’t have anticipated just how much until I started using it.

I’ve used it just to take rests as and when I need them, while stood talking to people in the street. I’ve also used it on the train when there are no other seats (standing up on moving things is always a challenge, even with the frame). There have also been times that I’ve used it to rest my shopping bags on while I’ve reorganised them all because it’s easier than having to bend down all the way to the floor.

It’s safe to say that I don’t think I could go back to having a seat-less frame anymore. Well, I’d struggle with at least. It’s helped so much that I will always make a strong case for having one when I have to get new frames in the future, although I know that this might not always be possible.

I don’t ever remember not having a walking frame at any point in my life, and I really don’t know what I would do without one.