How simple can that be? I went for a walk this morning. It was freezing cold, literally, about one degree Celsius. My gloves have holes in them (for a knitter that is kind of embarrassing, I should be knitting my own replacements, not waiting until I find them in a shop!) My two pairs of leggings under my jeans kept me cosy, my various tops and jumpers, hat, scarf and cosy coat kept me warm. But how do I walk?
I began walking again last year. With limited distance goals, after just doing laps of the garden, I began going about one hundred and fifty paces, then back again. Which took me about two houses down the road. As the weeks went by I increased the distance, not going two days in a row, and only going when I felt well enough during the day. If I felt dizzy, nauseas or tired I stayed home. By the end of the summer, about six months down the road, I could go round the block two or three times during a good week.
Today I donned my warm layers and headed out, with a rucksack! It was a first time experiment to see if I could manage it and it seemed to work alright. It contained pretty much nothing, but I could carry it. Yeah! I've had things in my pockets before, but never a load on my back. Shopping was my downfall when I tried to walk again four years ago. I failed miserably by taking my purse out with me and thinking I could fill up the fridge with bargains by carrying bag loads home from the local shop. As I said it was a failure. It was one of the things that turned my return to walking into a return to the wheelchair yet again. I am still using the wheelchair, when I'm going a further distance, when I've been using my legs for other things during the day, such as standing in the kitchen or a standing yoga lesson or when I've walked the previous day and am feeling it! It's all about moderation and giving myself time to prepare for any advances.
As far as the process of walking step by step goes, I have a new focus. This came from a walking meditation I learnt last summer. Breathing slowly and feeling each pace. Walking before meant getting somewhere without falling over. It now means finding a view to enjoy, while I decide on my destination. I admire the highest point on the horizon, forget about where I'm going and just enjoy the journey.
Showing posts with label wheelchair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wheelchair. Show all posts
Monday, 25 February 2013
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Stopping Myself In My Tracks
I have done this before. Started walking again when I realise how much I prefer walking to sitting in a wheelchair. Nice idea. Unfortunately with ME patients it doesn't always work like that!
So what has happened before? Over a summer, when the weather has been good I have been out of the house. Maybe starting in April, thinking I would try to start getting a bit more exercise, enjoy the free spirit. By August I am getting on a bus and having a whale of a time. But I am not listening!(see yesterday's post) My body was saying in June, "give me a chance, I know you're anxious to walk again, get some independence, but I'm not ready yet" I might have muscle aches, hip pains, a couple of 'crash' days dotted in and out of the weeks and my life would start to become a full blown wave of booms and busts, with seizures and days in bed, by the end of the summer. By September I'm cursing myself deciding what it could have been that caused all this. With so many symptoms being thrown at me, I am confused to say the least, especially with the last two months of probably hotter weather making it difficult anyway (over 23-24C is too much for me!).
Over the years I have tried more and more strategies to combat this. Just walking three days a week. Not using the bus and staying in the local area, only walking on flat ground. Last year I tried walking 100 yards then resting for a few minutes, taking me 20 minutes or more to go somewhere which would previously take me 6. I found so many walls to lean on and seats and benches around the town, I could lead a guided bus tour of them!
My legs are getting stronger, I don't get dizzy as often when I'm upright. I can stand in the kitchen for longer and have pushed the wheelchair a bit this week when we have been into town, here on holiday. Hindsight and knowledge is giving me a new perspective. If walking, like I have done this week, feels good and I do it every day it will probably lead to another downfall. However, if I walk for 5 minutes every day, or 5 days a week, I may manage quite well. The occasional slightly longer walk or standing will not make a big difference, but as with the meditation and yoga, it is the accumulation of it that makes the impact.
Walking is something I love. It was something I experienced a lot with my parents when I was a child. Going on holiday was about walking, not visiting theme-parks or spending all day by the pool. All it cost was a pair of wellies for everyone, wet-weather coats and a bar of Dutch chocolate for half-time! (my Dad would pick them up when he went over for work!) It is one thing I long for in my future and probably explains why, as soon as I feel the road under my feet, I just want to go, go, go all over again. I'm feeling that again now. It is so hard to restrain myself, but to find the end goal, and I do believe that is a plausible goal now, I have to take it one step at a time.
So what has happened before? Over a summer, when the weather has been good I have been out of the house. Maybe starting in April, thinking I would try to start getting a bit more exercise, enjoy the free spirit. By August I am getting on a bus and having a whale of a time. But I am not listening!(see yesterday's post) My body was saying in June, "give me a chance, I know you're anxious to walk again, get some independence, but I'm not ready yet" I might have muscle aches, hip pains, a couple of 'crash' days dotted in and out of the weeks and my life would start to become a full blown wave of booms and busts, with seizures and days in bed, by the end of the summer. By September I'm cursing myself deciding what it could have been that caused all this. With so many symptoms being thrown at me, I am confused to say the least, especially with the last two months of probably hotter weather making it difficult anyway (over 23-24C is too much for me!).
Over the years I have tried more and more strategies to combat this. Just walking three days a week. Not using the bus and staying in the local area, only walking on flat ground. Last year I tried walking 100 yards then resting for a few minutes, taking me 20 minutes or more to go somewhere which would previously take me 6. I found so many walls to lean on and seats and benches around the town, I could lead a guided bus tour of them!
My legs are getting stronger, I don't get dizzy as often when I'm upright. I can stand in the kitchen for longer and have pushed the wheelchair a bit this week when we have been into town, here on holiday. Hindsight and knowledge is giving me a new perspective. If walking, like I have done this week, feels good and I do it every day it will probably lead to another downfall. However, if I walk for 5 minutes every day, or 5 days a week, I may manage quite well. The occasional slightly longer walk or standing will not make a big difference, but as with the meditation and yoga, it is the accumulation of it that makes the impact.
Walking is something I love. It was something I experienced a lot with my parents when I was a child. Going on holiday was about walking, not visiting theme-parks or spending all day by the pool. All it cost was a pair of wellies for everyone, wet-weather coats and a bar of Dutch chocolate for half-time! (my Dad would pick them up when he went over for work!) It is one thing I long for in my future and probably explains why, as soon as I feel the road under my feet, I just want to go, go, go all over again. I'm feeling that again now. It is so hard to restrain myself, but to find the end goal, and I do believe that is a plausible goal now, I have to take it one step at a time.
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Shopping
I love the internet for this reason if nothing else!
I can and do shop for everything on-line. From shoelaces to spaghetti, from lightbulbs to lawnmowers. The funny thing is that when I search and search for something, which I think I should easily pounce on in the local shops, I end up going straight to Google after three weeks of desperation and find it after a few clicks. We dropped a melamine tray last summer, which was intrinsic to my way of life at that time. Eating in bed, on my lap, was the only option. I needed my head, neck and back supported completely and a few thick layers of duvet and blanket over my legs. This tray smashing on the kitchen floor gave us a reason to leave the house. 'Oh, great' I thought,'I can enjoy choosing one from a shelf in a department store, or kitchen shop'. "Oh, no I couldn't"- I could hear the audience chanting back at me, pantomime-style, as we couldn't find suitable alternatives anywhere. After all this excitement of going to a different shopping centre and collapsing in bed week after week, I went back to my favourite stalwart Amazon, and there they were teasing me from the page!
Researching shopping is also a must when finding clothes or shoes as the process can take such a long time and a lot of energy otherwise and I cannot take a long time, or a lot of energy! (neither can my husband's patience!) If I would prefer to try the items before buying, or the postage costs are extortionate, I find the shops, check their stocks and we appear, try and buy, if they are suitable.
I now know the local shopping centres which are accommodating to my needs; good parking facilities, flat pavements or walkways, without cobbles and only slight slopes for using the wheelchair. So always check which town we will visit to achieve the most.
The beauty of me being at home gives me the opportunity to have items sent through the post and returned if necessary. Larger items (most recently the food mixer and a new toaster) which we would otherwise have to balance on the back of the wheelchair, or on my lap, can be delivered without concerns of no one being home to sign for the items.
Food-wise I shop regularly using iPad apps, which give a quicker shop- as if I was in the store. I can usually read full lists of ingredients and also choose most of my shopping from the monthly offers. Some of the more exclusive foods can be found in health-food online shops with supplements and, as with searching out the trays, I might be going in dozens of different shops before finding what I prefer.
Thanks to Google, Amazon, Ebay and many others, my life can be a lot more focused on recovery and careful pacing than it might be otherwise!
I can and do shop for everything on-line. From shoelaces to spaghetti, from lightbulbs to lawnmowers. The funny thing is that when I search and search for something, which I think I should easily pounce on in the local shops, I end up going straight to Google after three weeks of desperation and find it after a few clicks. We dropped a melamine tray last summer, which was intrinsic to my way of life at that time. Eating in bed, on my lap, was the only option. I needed my head, neck and back supported completely and a few thick layers of duvet and blanket over my legs. This tray smashing on the kitchen floor gave us a reason to leave the house. 'Oh, great' I thought,'I can enjoy choosing one from a shelf in a department store, or kitchen shop'. "Oh, no I couldn't"- I could hear the audience chanting back at me, pantomime-style, as we couldn't find suitable alternatives anywhere. After all this excitement of going to a different shopping centre and collapsing in bed week after week, I went back to my favourite stalwart Amazon, and there they were teasing me from the page!
Researching shopping is also a must when finding clothes or shoes as the process can take such a long time and a lot of energy otherwise and I cannot take a long time, or a lot of energy! (neither can my husband's patience!) If I would prefer to try the items before buying, or the postage costs are extortionate, I find the shops, check their stocks and we appear, try and buy, if they are suitable.
I now know the local shopping centres which are accommodating to my needs; good parking facilities, flat pavements or walkways, without cobbles and only slight slopes for using the wheelchair. So always check which town we will visit to achieve the most.
The beauty of me being at home gives me the opportunity to have items sent through the post and returned if necessary. Larger items (most recently the food mixer and a new toaster) which we would otherwise have to balance on the back of the wheelchair, or on my lap, can be delivered without concerns of no one being home to sign for the items.
Food-wise I shop regularly using iPad apps, which give a quicker shop- as if I was in the store. I can usually read full lists of ingredients and also choose most of my shopping from the monthly offers. Some of the more exclusive foods can be found in health-food online shops with supplements and, as with searching out the trays, I might be going in dozens of different shops before finding what I prefer.
Thanks to Google, Amazon, Ebay and many others, my life can be a lot more focused on recovery and careful pacing than it might be otherwise!
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
When Will I Be Walking Again?
A friend asked me this question recently and I was kind of flummoxed as I don't see it as a priority. The one thing that might push that part of my recovery is that it is my husband who pushes the wheelchair when we go shopping, or even for a short 'walk'(!). I would like to stop using the wheelchair and have more control when I leave the house, but as I say it is not a priority.
I am using my legs around the house, but if I use a pedometer to count my steps during the day, I am still only doing 800-1400 over 24 hours. This needs to increase and I need to lengthen my standing times between rests, before I can walk for anything more than a couple of minutes outside.
My physical energy is used in so many ways. If I was to still ask someone else to continue the cooking, someone to carry me into the garden if I wanted to sit in the shade on a sunny day, maybe also fetch and carry items around the house at my beck and call, then I might be walking 500 yards every day. I use energy in so many ways; when eating, getting dressed, making scrambled egg or a frozen, pre-chopped vegetable based curry! Also when filling my day with time passing activities; knitting, playing patience, doing jigsaws, reading, writing. The one thing I must mention is that energy is needed in this time to heal the body too. De-conditioned muscle needs time and energy to heal, more than a daily night's sleep will give.
Also my legs need practice walking. I am stretching my hamstrings in yoga, in putting a couple of plates in the dishwasher. My hip joints stiffen at the slightest weight bearing and more than a couple of minutes standing still. My yoga exercises are important, by sitting cross-legged, bearing my own body weight and stretching the spine.
Moving around the house will increase as the days, weeks and months go by. When this is nearer normal, or acceptable levels I will start to move about outside. I have had too many experiences over the years of walking around outside only to come home and collapse in an exhausted heap. During these times I have relied so much on others for day-to-day living needs. I am searching for a life where I can function inside and out of the house. Showing others that I can use my legs is not a priority; my priority is feeding myself, washing myself, dressing myself, enjoying hobbies and daily life. Once I have achieved that, I will encourage the outside world to enter into my life again and I will start to explore the one hobby I do still crave; going for quiet, peaceful, adventure-filled walks. (Oxymoron intended!)
I am using my legs around the house, but if I use a pedometer to count my steps during the day, I am still only doing 800-1400 over 24 hours. This needs to increase and I need to lengthen my standing times between rests, before I can walk for anything more than a couple of minutes outside.
My physical energy is used in so many ways. If I was to still ask someone else to continue the cooking, someone to carry me into the garden if I wanted to sit in the shade on a sunny day, maybe also fetch and carry items around the house at my beck and call, then I might be walking 500 yards every day. I use energy in so many ways; when eating, getting dressed, making scrambled egg or a frozen, pre-chopped vegetable based curry! Also when filling my day with time passing activities; knitting, playing patience, doing jigsaws, reading, writing. The one thing I must mention is that energy is needed in this time to heal the body too. De-conditioned muscle needs time and energy to heal, more than a daily night's sleep will give.
Also my legs need practice walking. I am stretching my hamstrings in yoga, in putting a couple of plates in the dishwasher. My hip joints stiffen at the slightest weight bearing and more than a couple of minutes standing still. My yoga exercises are important, by sitting cross-legged, bearing my own body weight and stretching the spine.
Moving around the house will increase as the days, weeks and months go by. When this is nearer normal, or acceptable levels I will start to move about outside. I have had too many experiences over the years of walking around outside only to come home and collapse in an exhausted heap. During these times I have relied so much on others for day-to-day living needs. I am searching for a life where I can function inside and out of the house. Showing others that I can use my legs is not a priority; my priority is feeding myself, washing myself, dressing myself, enjoying hobbies and daily life. Once I have achieved that, I will encourage the outside world to enter into my life again and I will start to explore the one hobby I do still crave; going for quiet, peaceful, adventure-filled walks. (Oxymoron intended!)
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