Tag: disability

Moving slowly but I don’t mind

NB: Sorry if this post has appeared in your reader twice today, or you got an email notification that I’d updated and then  it didn’t work. I meant to save the post as a draft earlier and published it by accident when I wasn’t ready. Sorry!

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that take me the longest to do. Doing physical things at speed, walking, going shopping, getting dressed, and things like that can sometimes take me quite a while. I don’t mind though, I just make sure that I leave myself enough time to do things, even if that does mean that I have to wake up about two hours before I leave the house sometimes.

People often question why I choose to get up so early, but once I explain it kind of makes more sense.

On a day when I’m not going anywhere, or doing anything special, I’ll usually wonder around in a pair of jeans and jumper. I often find that these are the easiest things to put on because there aren’t all that many buttons involved, and I can just pull things on over my head and be done with it.

If I’m having to wear a button down shirt, this can sometimes take a lot longer (there was one time that it took fifteen minutes). I never know if any day will be like that until I start trying to do things, so I have to leave myself plenty of time. You know, just in case. Socks are usually always a pain no matter what.

And don’t even get me started on tights if I’m wearing a skirt or dress.

You know that scene in the Princess Diaries when Anne Hathaway’s character is trying to get changed in the back of car and keeps falling over? Well, that’s me, except I’m not in a car, but at home, in my own room, with everything set out in ways that I find easiest to work with.

I really dislike tights, but I still wear them because it’s worth the effort to keep my legs warm.

Anyway, once I’ve done all that, and battled with my shoes (I’m not even going to there), I have to leave the house, and have to do so way in advance because I never know how long it’s going to take me to walk places, or if there’ll be room for my walking frame on the public transport I need to take. If there isn’t, then I have to wait for the next one, which adds time to the journey. I don’t mind, as long as I get there safely in the end.

Sometimes, I set off so early that I end up getting places an hour or so early, but I don’t mind at all because I hate being late. I just always make a point of trying to have something to read in my bag and it’s all fine.

Today, I kind of had one of those days when I was trying to make a sandwich for lunch. It was a new loaf of bread that no one had started yet, so I had to struggle with that annoying little sicker on the packet and then try and reseal it. I myself I totally convinced that these things aren’t actually designed to go back on, because they never seem sticky enough, and I can never actually retie the packet tight enough to get the silly things back on anyway. That took a while. Then, I had to make three trips to the fridge to get the cheese, ham and margarine that I wanted and put them back again. In the end, around fifteen to twenty minutes later, I had my meal. I am lucky. It’s more than some people will have.

But what surprised me most of all was that, when I made the sandwich, I made it on a plate, and then stood there staring at it for a couple of seconds before I realised that I wouldn’t be able to carry it to the dining room like that so I popped it into a bowl. Yet, for those couple of seconds that I was stood there thinking to myself that something didn’t look right, I forgot that I’d find something really hard, or that if I tried to carry a sandwich without puting it into a bowl first, there would be a good chance my floor would have my food instead.

When I go to these meetings or appointments that I mentioned above, I always try and let people know that I have Cerebral Palsy before I arrive so that I can check the accessibility of the building and whatnot. Yet, sometimes I forget to do that on the first phone call or in that first e-mail, and have to get in touch again and say “by the way, I forgot to mention this before but…”

Sometimes, my parents will ask me to something that I haven’t quite managed to find a way around yet, and then say “Oh sorry Nic, I forgot then”

It still takes me by surprise that, my family, my friends and I forget sometimes, but it’s nice. It’s nice that it’s not the first thing that any of us think about. Plus, as I’ve said before on this blog many times, I wouldn’t take away my disability, even if I could.

That’s why, when I move slowly or find things hard I really don’t mind at all. Well, most of the time anyway.

How time flies!

It really does seem like time flies by these days.

I’ve had my serial casting pots on for four weeks now and it’s passed very quickly, which I’m going to say is a good thing.

I’m still not sure when they’re going to be coming off yet, that will all depend on when my new splints arrive, and when the splints ( AKA orthotics department) can fit me in at a time that suits them both. I don’t mind being in the casts for as long as it takes, but I won’t deny that I’m looking forward to them coming off.

As I’m sitting here typing this, I have an itch on my left leg that is just under the pot and just out of reach. It’s been here for a couple of minutes now, and because I’m writing about it, it’s making it seem worse. So I think I’ll talk about something different…

So, anyway, (she says, trying hard to focus on the keyboard and nothing else), I’ve had this current pair of casts on for two weeks and no one has signed them this time. They have been sort of customised by accident though because they are covered in bits of fluff from the slipper socks that I’ve been wearing to keep my feet warm. The bits close to my toes and heels are starting to go pink and black, which kind of makes me smile. I’m pretty sure someone will come at them with a marker pen before too long, though.

Speaking of decorating, I’m already thinking of how I can cover Martha in trimmings for Christmas this year. I was talking to mum about this earlier today and she has a few ideas too, so between us we might be able to come up with some form of festive fun for my walking frame.

If you have any suggestions for things that you think might look good and are fairly easy/cheap that I could try, feel free to suggest and I’ll see if I can incorporate any of them.

A useful gift

My reaching stick
My reaching stick

When it comes to buying things that will help life easier, my Mum’s pretty good at it. She gets the things that  I’d never usually think about, and they always work better than I think they will when she gives me them.

There were the microwave pans she got me when I went to uni, and the gripped turner type thing that she packed for me. I don’t know how to describe it, but I used it to turn a tap off a couple of times when they were stiff, and she got something to sit the microwave on at home to stop it sliding around when I was trying to use it. I didn’t realise how much I appreciated that one until I used a mircowave somewhere that didn’t have one of them.

One year for Christmas, my mum decided that she would get me a reaching grab stick. I laughed when I opened it, in a nice way, pointing out that it could end up making me really lazy, and my boyfriend added that I already had one of those anyway–in the form of him.

I could see where she was coming from, because I often can’t get to things that are high up, and it could come in handy to pick up things I’ve dropped. Still, I never really found a reason to use it so it sat in its box unopened for a while and then I’m ashamed to admit I kind of forgot about it.

Not too long ago, my mum found it under my bed and said that I should start using it. We got it out and played around with it for a bit. I put it next to my desk. I was very disappointed when I realised it’s only about three inches too short to reach my bookshelf from there! It’s stayed in its place ever since.

Until today, that is.

Today I found a genuine use for it. Something had fallen down the back of my desk that I couldn’t reach because my arms were too short. I didn’t need it urgently so I could’ve waited until someone came home to fish it out for me. Then I spotted the stick out of the corner of my eye.

I managed to push it down the back and (after some trying) get the paper out. It is now back where it belongs. Yay!

Now I feel very happy that I’ve actually found a use for it and that it was one where I wasn’t just being lazy at the time

Maybe my mum does know best after all. Thanks Mum!

Yep, it’s that time of year again…

This week, I’ve not be feeling very well. Don’t worry, it was just a cold so it was anything bad. Still, it’s not exactly fun.

Because of my Cerebral Palsy, something usually aches or hurts on a pretty much daily basis. Most of the time I just ignore this or slap a wheat bag on whatever body part has decided will take its turn that day and carry on.

Some days are worse than others, and I have the occasional what I suppose you could call ‘bad one’ where I don’t feel like moving around much unless it involves shuffling my way to the kitchen to make tea, and going back to my seat again.

These times come on the strongest when I’m ill. I know that no one feels like doing a lot when they’re unwell, regardless of whether you’re disabled or not, but I haven’t been like I was this past weekend for a long time.

I was amazed at just how drained and stiff I was, to the point where I spent a lot of time just sat in bed. Anyone who knows me will tell you that this just isn’t the kind of thing that I would usually do.I felt quite unsteady on my feet (that could be partly to do with me currently being in serial casting), but I was holding on to the walls and furniture around the house more than normal. I do it out of habit to steady myself all the time, but I clung on a l lot more.

Going up and down the stairs made me feel really, really tired ad like I’d run a marathon (or how I think it might feel, as I’ve never done it) and everything ached.

Sometimes, I have days like this when I’m not sick too, but thankfully these are even fewer and further between than they are brought on because  I’m poorly, so I can’t really complain too much when they strike because people have them far worse and far more often than me.

It’s hard to explain to people how they impact on me , partly because I feel like I’m complaining unduly and also because it’s hard to admit just how inactive they  feel.I should just count my blessings it doesn’t happen too often.

Thankfully, the heaviness in my limbs has gone now and I’m back to being as active as normal. My voice is starting to make a comeback too, although I think my family (and especially my boyfriend) were quite enjoying me being quiet for a few days. Now, it’s just a case of waiting for the irritating cough to go away and I’ll be back to normal. Yay!

In other news. Today is my 100th post of the blog, which makes me smile. It took me a few months, but I got there in the end.

Have a good weekend all.

Nic

Let’s have a catch up

First off, I need to start off by saying sorry that there wasn’t a nice new post for you all to read on Monday. I meant to tell you all on Friday that there wouldn’t be one but I forgot. (Silly me). I’ll try make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

Now, onto today’s topic which I suppose is kind of a round- up of all that’s been going on the last few days. Things have been pretty busy.

As you might recall, on Thursday I had somewhere to go on the train and I was wondering how easy it would be for me to manage alone while I was undergoing my serial casting treatment to release some of the tightness in my muscles. I am very happy to say that all went fine and it was just the same as always, which is nice to know. The only real difference was that I’m walking even slower than I usually do (speed is not my strong point at the best of times), but I managed to set off early enough that I still got there ahead of schedule.

It just so happened to be a dry day too which made the trip a lot less stressful because I was a bit worried about getting the pots too wet, so that was a relief.

On Friday, I went back to the hospital to get the air of pots that I was wearing taken off and get cast for some new daytime and night time splints to wear once the serial casting process is done. I was happy to see that even though was only two weeks into the treatment at the time, you could already see some improvements. We’re not quite where we want to be yet I don’t think, but there’s still a couple of weeks to go yet so there’s room for more changes.

When I went to see the man who was in charge of taking casts for my splints, he told me that the ones that I will be getting for during the day time will be like some that I have had before. For some reason, I thought they were going to be different, but I must’ve got myself confused somewhere along the line. I think because I personally have always just called them ‘fixed AFOs’, the word ankle made me think that they were something I hadn’t tried before and now I feel a bit silly. Either way, I don’t mind having those again. All the posts where I said that I hadn’t had them before have now been edited so that they no longer say that and I’m sorry for any confusion that this may have caused.

I’ll post pictures when they arrive rather than trying to explain them all. I thought I might have some already, but I spent a lot of time where them under my jeans or trousers so I don’t actually have a photo where they are visible. Sorry about that.

I was allowed to choose what colour I wanted, and usually I’d go for something bright and bold but this time I thought I go for black, just for a change, and I can jazz them up with stickers or something if I fancy a bit of a change at some point.

The night splints that I’ll be getting (which I think are called resting spring splints,) will be made from the same cast too. I don’t think that I’d had this kind of thing before, but I guess I really won’t know what they are until they turn up. It might be something that I have used in the past bit with a different name to what I’m used to using so I’ll let you know.

Then I went and had more pots put back on my feet. It will take about two weeks for the splints to arrive so they will stay on until I go in and get them fitted, all being well.