Just another little fall
Just another little fall
In the kitchen I must use a stool on wheels. The Wife and I were cooking supper last Sunday and everything was getting a bit fraught. Not enough pairs of hands to prepare everything. I moved forward on my stool but a wheel got stuck in the grouting between two floor tiles. The stool stopped but I kept on moving. Next thing I was on the floor. Just another little fall I thought.
Lying on the floor and my right shoulder hurt. I’m not too sure what I did to cushion the fall. Everything happened in a blur.
The Wife asked the right questions
‘Are you all right? Is there anything I can do?’ she said nervously.
Feeling slightly shocked I said ‘I will be okay just give me a few minutes’.
I felt dazed. Was I really okay?
Just another little fall
As I slowly moved from horizontal to vertical I realised that I had hurt my right shoulder. I could move my arm and I could clench my fists so I hadn’t dislocated the shoulder. Phew, an enormous feeling of relief flooded over me. Nonetheless I had stretched things what ought not to have been stretched. My shoulder definitely hurt.
That night
Taking my shirt and jumper off was a painful process. Just lying in bed hurt. Whichever I side I slept on was painful. The next morning I tried to get out of bed but I couldn’t put any weight through my right arm and shoulder.
Getting dressed took even longer
My stiff and painful shoulder made the process of putting on a shirt and pullover tricky. I had forgotten how much twisting and turning of the shoulder is necessary just to get dressed. Normally I put my left arm into a sleeve first of all now I had to change it to my right arm.
Bad balance
MS has changed my lifestyle. I must use a Rollator or wheeled walker when walking otherwise I fall over. Now I tried to walk with my walker, ouch! I discovered, the painful way, I couldn’t put any weight through my right arm. Over the years the MS has forced me to make masses of small lifestyle changes.
A couple of days later
I made an appointment to see a physiotherapist. This frightened me when I thought about the consequences. Would she want to put my arm in a sling to rest the sore shoulder joint? A sudden ghastly thought; I can’t use a rollator with just one arm.
Wheelchair?
I have a rather expensive unused wheelchair. Was I now going to have to commission it? I had never used it in the house. Was there enough space for the wheelchair? This was all nightmare material. Just another little fall was growing into a big fall. Had a big change to my lifestyle arrived?
A couple of days later
I have not yet seen the physiotherapist but things are getting better. I think the wheelchair worries can be put to bed. The aches and pains seem to be subsiding, I just need to take things even more slowly. I must make sure I don’t fall over again.
Hi Patrick I use the Whitechapel Elizabeth line to home and found that if you can’t find anyone which is always the case nowadays you go to the tunnel about half way down what is a very long platform and there are usually LT staff lurking who will call them for you you then need to at one of the two adjacent disabled carriages. That said Ealing was called was called last week but there was no one or a ramp and as you know the gap is about 2m over the track this where we rely on the kindness of strangers but it’s still better than it once was christine
Hello Christine,
The odd thing is that disabled assistance on normal train lines is very good but it falls apart on parts of the underground system as bth of us have found out
Thank you for telling it like it is Patrick.
The only comment I can offers, and “suggestions” can be anathema, is heat pads.
Cheers
Dave
Hello,
Telling it like it is, that’s the reason behind the blog
Hello,
Telling it like it is, that’s the reason behind the blog