Part time diabled?

ouchpotato
ouchpotato Member Posts: 453
edited 20. Dec 2016, 14:42 in Living with Arthritis archive
So, most of the time I can walk short distances pretty well. It hurts, sure, but I have become pretty good at gritting my teeth and getting on with it, as we all are.

However, a couple of weeks ago I went with my children and grandchildren to see a Christmas parade - it was sheer agony. It is mostly my back and hips which hurt, and standing or walking after about 20 minutes is hell.

This brought up a dilemma I have been struggling with for a long while. How do you, and other people, feel about/react to a part time wheelchair user? I feel as if I have 2 choices - miss out on days out with the family, or suck it up and get a wheelchair for occasional use. Although I wouldn't go out in it by myself, it would have to be a self propelled as I would begrudge giving up every bit of independence, lol.

I'm 48, and thought this was a long way off yet, but it seems not.

Comments

  • hileena111
    hileena111 Member Posts: 7,099
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi
    I've had 2 hip replacements and just had a knee replacement 3 weeks ago.
    I'm on crutches permanently due to a fracture after my 2nd hip replacement. I was doing an NHS exercise and there was a crack. Fractured the greater trochanter bone which will never heal. So I'm in pain quite a lot of the time.
    I have a scooter. What about that? I wouldn't want to give up my last bit of independence either and have a wheelchair but a scooter to be used when necessary is great.

    Love
    Hileena
  • bubbles
    bubbles Member Posts: 6,508
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi there ouchpotato ( I love the name)

    Several years ago now, when the OT came to the house, she approached the subject of a wheelchair. I was quite upset by it to be honest and was in tears. But, I knew that it was a rock and a hard place and if I wanted to be out and about, then I would need one, there was no way I could walk any distance, without pain, angina, breathlessness...........I knew I could not self propel either. :roll:

    I did get one and OH managed to push me around, but, it became too much for him after a while and I bought a buggy that comes apart and goes in the car. That is so much better, I can go at the same pace as OH, who walks fast when the chance occurs.

    I have had some strange comments from people, "why are you in a buggy" ----oh, just for a laugh really........ :roll: :roll: Some people talk over you as if you are invisible. But, apart from the odd comment I am totally fine with it now.

    Most large supermarkets have their own buggies and wheelchairs (if the surface is totally flat, then I can be pushed in a wheelchair). You can hire them in most towns now, for very reasonable rates, to go shopping etc.

    Don't worry about age, arthur has no respect for age at all. It is your independence that is important and anything that makes life that bit easier is a boon.
    Keep us posted X Aidan
    XX Aidan (still known as Bubbles).
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I have a four-wheeled rollator complete with seat. It supports me as I walk and I can sit and rest when needed or at the destination. I have a lightweight wheelchair (with removable wheels etc.) for holidays. I recently bought a scooter to help me get out and about locally when the distance or activity is too demanding for the rollator.

    Obviously I would prefer not to need these aids but I do, they enable me to do more, go further, improve the quality of life and that is what matters. Like many on here I am full-time disabled, not picking and choosing when to be because there is no choice. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 29,336
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Ouch I am sorry, but think you are being very sensible and practical.

    I have an opinion too. You must get something, but whatever is right for you.

    A wheelchair can be folded and pushed by you until you have had enough. Can be bought for as little as £100. However, once you are in it, someone else is in the driving seat.

    A Rollator with seat, costs a little more, but is also fairly easily transported in vehicles and you are in charge of where you go.

    Finally the scooter. Now this one is the most expensive one of them and the heaviest for putting in cars, (My Mum had two, one really lightweight and one fabulous one which I couldn't lift!). It is however the most 'independent' of the options in my opinion.

    I suppose the 4th option would be not to go and I am very glad to hear you are not even considering that one! This is not about loss of independence, but maintenance of it.

    Let us know what you decide. :)

    Best of luck

    Love

    Toni xxx
  • ouchpotato
    ouchpotato Member Posts: 453
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thanks for the replies everyone

    Frogmorton, no...missing out is out of the question for me. I am a young nana, and I'm damned if I will miss out on trips to the zoo etc for the little ones. My youngest daughter is still only 12 so there is no way I am sitting these things out!

    Dreamdaisy, I have been reading about your antics with your scooter, it did make me laugh and I can imagine I would be the same!

    Bubbles, I was thinking of buying a second hand wheelchair just to see how I get on with it. I would only really need it very occasionally at the moment (although I am well aware this is likely to change)so while I am sorting it in my head I don't want a big outlay (I am a single Mum and even £100 is a lot of money to me). I don't think I am bad enough to justify a scooter yet, certainly not the expense, so I'm thinking a 2nd hand chair, which I can move myself, will be a good stepping stone (pun intended!)

    Hileena, I'm sorry about your fracture, that sounds awful! You poor thing.

    I still have my ex boyfriend's words ringing in my ears - whenever he saw a younger person with a walking stick he would mutter something about it being their 'benefit stick', used only to claim benefits...this was while I was using one btw...notice I said ex?

    I am going to register at a different surgery, but once you register you have to wait 10 working days before being 'allowed' to book an appt! So we're looking at well into the New Year, especially with the waiting times.
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Who told you that? We've just moved house so had to change practices and we had no problems.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • ouchpotato
    ouchpotato Member Posts: 453
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Sticky - the surgery website.
  • ouchpotato
    ouchpotato Member Posts: 453
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I am just struggling with the 'one minute I'm fine and the next I'm not', and reconciling myself with needing a chair on bad days. I guess I will feel like a fraud. Even today - I felt fine (as fine as an arthritic can feel anyway), then I walked up to the shop (2 minutes away). By the time I got home, I was n so much pain. My spine was on fire, my knees felt like they couldn't hold me up, and all i could do was lean on the worktop in the kitchen for ten minutes before I could even attempt to move.
  • ouchpotato
    ouchpotato Member Posts: 453
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Incidentally, the 'part time disabled' title was a tongue in cheek reference to how others might perceive me. x:roll:
  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 29,336
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    ouchpotato wrote:
    Incidentally, the 'part time disabled' title was a tongue in cheek reference to how others might perceive me. x:roll:

    Gosh what a thoroughly nasty individual Ouch!!

    You are so much better off without x:x

    love

    Toni xxx
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    ouchpotato wrote:
    Sticky - the surgery website.

    I wonder if that's just some odd rule of your new pracice. I just took a prescription with me and had no trouble.

    Re the wheelchair - I think most people feel a fraud at first. It doesn't mean to say we don't need one.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • bubbadog
    bubbadog Member Posts: 5,544
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I have 2 wheelchairs my posh one that I got with a grant from O.T it has legs that raise and a back that can recline back a little. Which I use when I go out. And I have a holiday one that is used when going on planes due to the fact it is thrown about when being put in the hold. Just brought a new one off Ebay because the other one got damaged. You can buy a new wheelchair on Ebay for as little as £50 maybe cheaper if you shop around on Ebay!

    I use a wheelchair when I go out and use a walker in the home, so you could call me a part-time wheelchair user!!
  • ouchpotato
    ouchpotato Member Posts: 453
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Sticky, it may well be. I'm really annoyed at having to change, but the Dr I was seeing made it impossible to stay - he's under investigation now by the police and GMC for gross misconduct. Basically he made advances to me and when I told him I was on a diet he put his hand across my boobs and told me not to get rid of them because they're fantastic (he used much more 'basic' language than that). Now I have to start all over again with a new Dr. I'm looking at well into the New Year before I get to see anyone.

    Thanks Bubba, hearing other people's experiences and viewpoints helps.
  • Slosh
    Slosh Member Posts: 3,194
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I am a proud Granny and my daughter insists that at 55 I am a young Granny compared to most at her children's school and I work part-time.
    Mobility? Crutches all the time, rollator for bad days, dinner duty at work, when my shoulders are too painful for the crutches, and I can walk a bit futher/slightly more quickly with it and earlier this year (with the encouragement of friends on here) I bought a lightweight, folding scooter that fits in the boot of my car.
    It wasn't an easy decision but was SO worth it. My two Grandsons (5 &6), think it's awesome and cool, my Granddaughter (18months), likes having a ride with Granny, or when she's in her pushchair the fact she can hold my hand. Best of all was being able to go out for a day in the summer with them all and join in.
    He did not say you will not be storm tossed, you will not be sore distressed, you will not be work weary. He said you will not be overcome.
    Julian of Norwich
  • ouchpotato
    ouchpotato Member Posts: 453
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Slosh

    I too am a proud Nana, and a young one too (48). I think my grandson would love it, haha...he's only 2 and a half so would see it as great fun, especially as he has a baby brother so often has to walk and his little legs get tired.

    I wouldn't be able to afford a scooter at the moment so it would have to be a wheelchair, and I think in the new year I will have to look seriously at it.
  • Slosh
    Slosh Member Posts: 3,194
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Some of the companies I looked at did offer interest free credit deals or there are places where you can hire them for short peroids which might also suit you. I looked at two different ones and in both cases the reps came out to me so I could try them out and there was no pressure to buy. It's also worth looking out on e*bay for second hand ones.
    He did not say you will not be storm tossed, you will not be sore distressed, you will not be work weary. He said you will not be overcome.
    Julian of Norwich