Tag: disability

Getting cold feet

My Microwavable socks
My Microwavable socks

Over the past few days I rally have been getting the feeling that winter isn’t too far away again.

No, not because the trees are losing their leaves or because the days are getting shorter, but because it’s getting to the time of year where I start wearing multiple pairs of socks.

I don’t think I’ve ever met another person who owns quite as many pairs as I do. I have enough to fill an entire drawer so that it can barely close without giving it a huge shove, and then I fill a separate overnight bag too. Even when I wear tights, a put a pair on over my feet.

Because of the way my feet drag on the floor when I walk, I put holes in the toes very quickly. I never throw any odd ones away because I go through them so quickly. Some days, it can take ages to find  a matching pair if I’m head out to an appointment or something like that.

I got the pair of microwavable ones that Rob got me out of the wardrobe the other day in preparation, and it won’t be long before they get used again. I can’t walk in them but I can sit in them while I read books and type all my job applications. My gloves have made a reappearance in my coat pocket too, and I don’t think it will be much longer before I don my hat and scarf too.

What do you do to keep warm when the weather turns cold?

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A catalouge of excitment

My appointment with the occupational therapist (OT) yesterday went well. We’ve recently had a new kitchen fitted in at home, so some of the tips and tricks I learned for managing to do a few bits and bats in the old one won’t really work anymore, which is frustrating and hard, given that it took so long to get used to them. Still, maybe the change will do me good and I’ll learn lots of new stuff that will be useful in the future.

The OT came out to the house and brought with her a couple of things that she thought might help me. These were a bread chopping board with raised edges so that things don’ t fly off and end up here, there and everywhere, like they usually do when I’m trying to butter bread. If you’re ever anywhere near me when I’m making a sandwich I suggest you stand well back because there’s a good chance you might end up covered in something, getting accidently elbowed in the ribs, or both.

The other one is a similar chopping board, with spikes on and a mini grater attached so that I could put something like a jacket potato on it while I get the cheese ready.   Usually when I do this, I have to hold the grater in my weak hand while it’s balanced on a plate, and the cheese in the other. Usually this means that the plate or bowl flies off it one direction, and the grater in the opposite. This makes a mess, and me even more frustrated when I have to try and clean it up.

These items have only been given to me on a short-term loan to see if I find them useful before I spend loads of money on things that don’t really work for me, which I think is a really good idea. The lady left me some catalogues to browse through too, which I’m really excited about, probably because it will remind me of going through the Argos at Christmas when I was a kid. I’ve had a quick flick through them and I didn’t realise just how much was out there! I’m going to sit and give them my full attention later with a cup of tea and see if anything catches my eye, or gives me an ideas of things we already have in the house that I can adapt.

We came up with a list of a few other things to try too over the next couple of weeks so we’ll see how things go. I haven’t played with these ones that she brought yesterday yet, but it’s on the to-do list for this weekend when I’ve bought some food to experiment with. I don’t watch to use the family shopping in case I butcher it beyond all recognition and it’s not edible afterwards. I know this might sound a bit dramatic but believe me when I say it’s entirely possible.

I really hope they help because it gets me down that I can’t help out with the cooking more. I’m willing to spend the cash if I think the difference will be worth it. This could be the start of something really good for me.

Time for change

So, yesterday I took a trip to the hospital to have a discussion about my callipers and pick up some new boots that it’s hoped will help them stop cutting into me a giving e blisters quite so much. I went in there knowing that we’d also be looking at some of the other options that we could try. More on the new footwear in a minute, I promise.

A couple of weeks back, I went to a clinic appointment where someone suggested that we could try using something called Spring Splints at night instead, which I’ve never had before, but  they said I should discuss that further when I went to pick up my new shoes. I  go to a lot of my appointments on my own these days, (don’t you love being a grown up), but this time I asked my mum if she could come along for the ride to offer some insight into things that had worked well for me when I was a child.

After a bit of a debate, it was decided that we could give these Spring Splints a go when I’m resting, and also cast me for a pair of ridged ankle AFO splints for during the day. I’ve had AFOs before . There’s also discussion of using another course of using another method to help release some of the tightness in my ankles. It’s something that I had done a few times as a child and it worked really well. However, that is only at the discussion stages right now so I’ll mention that later on if it goes ahead.

My callipers
My callipers

Anyway, back to the shoes. They look pretty much the same as the ones in this picture, only with one extra strap, and not worn down, obviously. I’ve hunted high and low for a picture of my old splints, but I can’t find one because I used to wear them under trousers or jeans most of the time. Sorry.

When I got my new pair of boots that the callipers slot into, I found that they had an extra strap on the back that should make a difference to the position of my foot so I’ll keep trying to wear them for now until the new stuff comes through. I tried walking around in them for a bit and it’s so far, so good, minus the usual feelings of having to break in any new gear you get for your feet anyway.

I’m nervous about trying the new splints but I’m excited too. I’m willing to try anything that might help in the long or short term so I’ll just have to keep an open mind and see how it goes.

If you or someone you know has tried any of these types of splints, I’d be really grateful if you could leave me a comment or tweet me.

And so, let’s hope that today’s appointment with the occupational therapist goes as well!

Busy week ahead

Well remember what I said last week about all my appointments coming at once?

This week is going to be busy one because I have two, one day after the other.

My first one is to get some new boots to wear with my calipers so that they’ll hopefully blister me less. However, we’ll also be looking at some other options we could try instead or alongside to make it better.

Then on Wednesday I’m seeing an occupational therapist about some kitchen gadgets I could loan to see if they would be of use to me before I buy any. I’m excited about this one because I’m hoping it’ll bring me more independence.

Wish me luck, I’ll keep you all posted as  best I can.

Remembering appointments

When it comes to me and appointments relating to my Cerebral Palsy, they tend to come in spurts. I’ll go months and months without a single one, and then there’ll be a few that seem to be pretty much one after the other.

Lots of these are often made quite far in advance, sometimes  six months to a year before I actually need to attend, so keeping track of them and remembering when they are can be a bit of an interesting task.

I do all the usual tricks of sticking the letters to the fridge door, feeding them all into my phone and telling my family over and over again when they are so that things will hopefully stick it at least one person’s brain so that I won’t only just remember at the last minute and have to scramble to make travel arrangements. Some departments at my local hospital have started sending out SMS messages or phoning me to check that I still want my slot, which is a great help.

Yet, the other day I got one through the post for April 2014, (it seems so strange to type that), that I think I’ll have no problem remembering the date for.

Why? I hear you ask.

Well, the appointment falls in the first week of April, and the same day that my parents had been given as my original due date. As it happens, I came into the world in the first week of January, 14 weeks sooner than anyone expected me to.  So yeah, when I meet someone who actually was born on that day in April, or I have an appointment on that day, it tends to stick in my head quite easily. I gave myself a small smile as I read the letter and went and told my mother.

“Don’t t think I’ll forget that one anytime soon,” I said.

As it happens, my next appointment at the dentist falls the day before this one (see what I mean about them all coming at once?) Okay, so I know this one isn’t related to my disability, but the timing is quite good nonetheless.

I can’t actually remember what time I’m actually meant to be at the hospital, or the dentist for that matter, but I’ll probably start committing that to memory sometime next March.