Mobility

Yesterday afternoon was busy for me. I had to go to the bank, and stop at Chapters to pick up a crochet pattern book, then go to a Wal-Mart and a Zellers to get the yarn I needed for a pattern. All of these stores are pretty close together, and on a good day the entire trip should have taken me 45 minutes to an hour.

But...

As I was gathering my things to leave work, I fell. With my desk on my left side, I fell to my right a bit, dislocating my right knee, and crashing painfully into my chair. The chair caused me to twist some, and I dislocated my right shoulder and hip on impact. My left hip is still not healing, or feeling any better from weeks ago, when I must have done something to it, so I've been limping, favoring my left hip for a very long time.

I had to use my cane. This is usually not a big problem, as my right shoulder is still kinda good, and can take the added stress of cane use most days. But my left shoulder will never be able to take the added strain, so even after dislocating my right shoulder, I still needed to use it for my cane. And even after dislocating my right hip and knee, I had to use the cane for my left hip, so I at least wouldn't be limping onto my right leg (If I'd used it for my right leg, I'd have gotten about 5 steps before I turned into a puddle of jello). The little bit of lessened strain on my legs meant I was in about even pain in both sides. Between caning with my right hand, and carrying with my left, both of my shoulders were killing me after about 5 minutes of walking. I also find that when I'm using my cane, I use my core muscles a lot more for balance, and stability, and it causes my ribs to slide in and out almost constantly.

By the time I had the book, I was ready to go home and chop off all my limbs. But I'm stubborn, so I continued on. When I got to the yarn aisle at Wal-Mart I was wishing I'd grabbed the last electric scooter they had for my trip, but I have too much of that self-destructive pride in my blood... By the time I was through Zellers' yarn aisle, I barely felt steady enough to go down the escalator.

This pretty much confirms for me that I will be needing a scooter of my own much sooner than I can emotionally prepare for it. If I can't even walk with a cane while carrying a small book and 3 balls of yarn, I am quite certain I will not be able to push myself in a wheelchair. So that leaves a power chair or a scooter.

The entire trip kept me out for 3 hours, and my concerned hubby texted me asking where I was.

Only good thing is that everywhere I went people were kind enough to open doors for me, and not to stare at me, or comment on my age.

Anyone Watch House Last Night? ***Post Contains SPOILERS***

Hooray for recognition! I really hope he diagnoses more people with the different types of EDS, or shows the insane number of other things EDS can cause... Last night's episode was a bit off the wall as far as I'm concerned. Three different diagnoses: EDS, which caused 3 miscarriages over 9 years, which lead to compulsive hoarding, which lead to raccoon feces, which lead to Q fever. Sure, there is a certain logic there, but I'd like something perhaps a little more likely... It could still be quite convoluted from the lay person's perspective, but it would make me feel better not to be grouped with the "depression makes you irrational" group. There was also no talk of which type of EDS she had, which I'm also not too happy about.

Watching the show last night, they say "she has Ehlers-Danlos" and my hubby and roommate both give me a shocked look. I was strung out on too many pain killers, so I'm going to have to watch it again to see if I can pick up on any clues.

For the past week, I've been having increasing problems with both of my hips and my left shoulder (hooray for sex-related injuries!). My hubby told me I'm ready for a wheelchair. I told him even if I'm physically ready for a wheelchair, I'm not emotionally ready for a wheelchair. Which brings up some awkward news. I've finally been able to admit to myself that I need to let people help me. I can no longer carry the coffee urn full of water the 10 feet from the sink to office. I need help. I also finally said yes yesterday to the cashier when she asked "would you like a carry-out?"

Also, something weird with my left shoulder: after days of heat packs and ice packs and pain killers, I finally got some relief last night. I was laying in bed when I decided it was time to try stretching the huge knotted muscle under my shoulder blade. The only way I can do that without a masseuse is to severely dislocate my shoulder (in a nice, gentle, controlled way of course). So that's what I did. I dislocated it, pulled with all my strength to stretch the muscle, put it back in, let it rest, then repeated the process 3 or 4 more times. It feels a bit bruised today, but "a bit bruised" is a far cry from "somebody hand me a chainsaw so I can cut off my arm." If I could only do the same thing to my hips, I'd be happy.