Wheelchair Fun

Okay, being realistic Leeds is probably a bit too much at the moment. I will stick to travelling locally until I can do that reliably and without payback before trying to travel further. It was fun planning though and means I have an idea where to stay and what trains to get for when I am well enough to go 🙂

Wednesday I managed 4 hours sitting in my wheelchair in the living room, and was fine. It was tilted and reclined, but still I was out of bed for 4 hours! I was even able to do a proper raid with my guild (Dragon Soul) for the first time in months which was awesome. They were very understanding of me when I made mistakes and stuff, and we got up to (but haven’t beaten yet) Spine. I hope to go to the continuation on Monday if I’m well enough 🙂

Thursday I had a wheelchair assessment with the district nurse. We thought the appointment came through a bit quick and it turns out she only does basic attendant chairs, so she can’t help me. She took my measurements though and has referred me to the proper team to try and get me a suitable chair. She’s put that I need proper support and a reclining chair, and what chair I have now so it should be good. I’m hoping to go to equipment services as they have all the different types of chair there and it would be easier to find something suitable. We’ve been warned that it will take a while but it will be much better in the long run.

The 15 minute appointment completely wore me out. Turns out talking about stuff that requires thinking is still one of my most exhausting things. I think it goes with physically being better but not so much cognitively. I was hungry though so had green Thai curry for lunch. I managed to eat it myself with a fork! I used a plastic fork (purple, of course) with some tubing on the handle to make it easier to grip, and it worked! My hand was spasming a bit but I just kept swapping hands and rested every mouthful, but I fed myself with a fork! Yay independence! 😀

I had to have a nap not long after. Johan went to the Autism North East committee meeting. He promised to be home before Lovely Carer was due but wasn’t. Luckily she waited around (she thought something was up as we normally let her know if Johan is going to be out). I panicked and felt completely helpless as I could hear her outside but was unable to go let her in. It’s shown it’s even more important to get a key safe so that carers can let themselves in. Luckily Lovely Carer and Johan calmed me down, then Lovely Carer helped me into pyjamas (I had been wearing a dress) then used the no rinse shampoo to wash my hair. I think she also washed some dishes.

I’m on my computer again now. I’ve played some Bejewelled and now I’m going to do Darkmoon Faire dailies in World of Warcraft. Then I think it will be back to bed as it’s quite late already. I’ve covered the ends of my armrests with penguin socks as they were slightly torn and the socks I can’t wear as they’re too small. I think they’re cute 🙂

The cleaner didn’t turn up on Wednesday. I am not happy with this as we didn’t get any warning. I sent an email but haven’t had a response, so we might need to phone. Lovely Carer did some of the cleaning the cleaner was meant to do but she doesn’t have enough time to do the bigger jobs like mopping floors and stuff.

We have finally had our cooker fitted! Once we found an electrician and Johan phoned them, they could come out the same day (Wednesday) and it only took about 10 minutes to do. It means I can have a roast dinner when I’ve done the shopping. It was so quick and easy and not too expensive (£45) that I feel a bit silly it took so long. It’s sorted now though 🙂

I’m happy that physically I’m still improving a bit and can do a bit more for myself. Hopefully this will continue.

There is a horse in the field next to our flat. This is not normal. If it’s still there in the morning we’ll contact the RSPCA as we don’t think it should be there. I want to go see it first though as I love horses and miss seeing them now I’m in the middle of Gateshead (at our old flat we were less than 5 minutes from the nearest field with horses, and people with a horse and trap used to go by pretty regularly).

Johan has fallen asleep on the sofa. He has not been having a good couple of nights. I wish I could help but I don’t know how 🙁

Latent Existence has started watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I think he’s starting to like it 😀 It is an awesome television show for kids and adults. I’ve also given Lovely Carer the link to the episodes as I think she will like it as well. I’m also thinking of watching it again- the episodes are on (US) Netflix so it’s easy.

Tomorrow we are meeting the carer who is replacing Lovely Carer when she comes tomorrow morning. I hope she’s nice. With Lovely Carer it’s been so easy as she understands me so well almost intuitively, but I can’t expect that from the new person so will probably have to explain how to do things and about ME and stuff. That’s going to be harder. Hopefully it will work out in the long run though 🙂

Ah Bah La La Bah

The title is what I’m able to say without massive amounts of concentration. My brain is a bit fuzzy so English is a tad hard 😛

Physically I am doing good today. I’ve been practising my sitting up and haven’t passed out or gotten silly dizzy or anything like that. My pain levels are bearable with medication (I’m trying to take just one tramadol again at the moment). I can transfer to the commode without falling off, which had been rather difficult the last few days. Yay 🙂

I’m very dozy and fuzzy and tired, but I was awake about 28 hours before getting to sleep around midnight/half past midnight. I woke up sometime after 10am so I’ve slept, just need a bit more to catch up with the bit I missed. Staying awake all night and all day happens sometimes so I don’t worry about it, I just try to get plenty of rest when I can sleep again.

Lovely carer is leaving the care agency :'( She is a good friend now so I will still see her, but it means I’m going to have a different main carer. I hope whoever it is is nice and can understand us. I am planning a party for lovely carer on Friday as it’s her last day and we’re her last call 🙂

Vicky was here until yesterday, and it was nice her being here. We spent Sunday night talking until silly o’clock in the morning as we lost track of time 🙂 We used to do that a lot and so it was good.

Johan is currently on my bed next to me, giving me the occasional squish and making me feel safe and happy. It is nice, even if my spoken English is a bit disappeared.

I am sending Johan to the cricket on Sunday. We are now about 25 minutes from Durham Cricket Club, so we have been intending to go since we moved. I’m not well enough yet, but Johan is going to see Durham beat Lancashire (I did put playing against but Johan made me fix it). It is Twenty20 so it’s very fast and only lasts 3 hours. I will see if a sibling can sit with me for it, but if not I should manage if everything is sorted beforehand. I could always try sleeping 😛

I am wanting to go to Leeds. It probably won’t happen this week, but I’m going to build up to it. New wheelchair means it’s just as easy as travelling to South Shields (at least until we reach Leeds train station) and I want to try my mum-in-law’s cooking (I’m not sure if she knows this yet so we should probably tell her :P). Johan’s family are really nice and I feel very at home with them. I think if I plan it well we should manage it okay 🙂

I have looked up the travelling to Leeds and if money is okay I should be able to manage it, with travelling with my wheelchair reclined (the Transpennine Express trains have wheelchair users in a separate bit- normally I dislike the segregation but it does mean there’s plenty of space) and a hotel right next to the station. We probably won’t do anything other than see Johan’s family while there, and I can rest lots so it will be good.

As my brain is being silly I’m not really keeping up with Twitter or Facebook, but that is okay. We are thinking of taking another week of respite in August so Johan can go see his friends at this open house thing. My social worker has found a care home so Johan just needs to check it’s suitable. We were originally going to stick with the same one as last time but the travel there is harder for me than travelling to Leeds so not the best idea ever.

Otherwise I’m just playing Bejewelled and Draw Something every so often, reading and immediately forgetting blog posts, and having lots of cuddles in bed. I like being able to have cuddles 🙂 I’m definitely improving, even if only a little bit.