Wheelchair or foot?

Obviously, the preferred method of transportation of those two is to do it on your own two feet.  You haven’t got to worry about steps, stiles, ditches and distance for a start.  They are there at the end of your legs to use at your direction.  Without exploring further there are resources  to hand like public transport – or indeed your own car.  At present, with a huge amount of support from family and friends, I am getting by but rapidly approaching the time when I need to make that mental jump in order to keep some form of independence.  I think there is some denial going on, in that having made the choice and purchase, I may then stop trying to get around by foot which will help speed up my decline.

But I feel I am now missing out.  There have been times in the past month when I could have joined in something Pip and the dog were doing but couldn’t because I couldn’t walk further than 100 yards. Take for example, when we went up to North Wales I could’ve joined in with a walk on the seafront in Llandudno.  Or a roll on the stands at Abersoch or even trundle up and down the little streets and slopes of Portmeirion.  I was unable to do any of those things not because of the weather which I admit wasn’t great, but I just didn’t have the ability to do them. Which of course meant that perhaps Pip didn’t do them because he felt he had to keep me company, or did not want to make me feel I was missing out on something. Which I was. Okay, it is an exception to be away from home and exploring, but I use that as an example.  Up until about two months ago I was able to get around a supermarket and do my own shopping, but I do find that very hard work now.  It is not just using my legs and cruising up and down the aisles, but finding a parking space close to the entrance, Then getting to the place where the trolleys are by which time the last thing I want to do is go shopping.  Roll on Ocado.

I am not trying to justify whether or not I need a wheelchair. I do. But it is a huge decision to actually go out there and buy something you never thought you would need.  I have been doing a bit of research and there is some amazing kit on the market and I had a remarkable demonstration by a very well informed and helpful young lad from “Spring Chicken”.  I understand the company was  set up by a woman who works in the City who has a father with Parkinson’s.  Frustrated by the inadequacies of what she was trying to find for him, she set off on her own and then began to market various types of chair that are light, self propelled, attendant propelled or electric and using the latest technology in batteries and materials.  The one I had a demonstration of, at home, was the Freedom 06 which is not exactly light at 27.3kg but is very neat in its design;  easy to collapse into a size that fits snugly into the boot of a car and has a 9 mile range, per battery.  There are other points in its favour, which I will not bore you with, but here is the conundrum.  If I want to meet a friend in Deal, for example, for a jaunt along the seafront and out onto the pier, then it would be perfect.  But how do I get there, public transport to Deal not being ideal from where we live?  So, to carry out the scenario, Pip could help me put it into the car (which is another issue, but let’s say it is now a hand controlled car which I have either found and bought, or had an automatic one of my own converted (this is assuming I have changed my manual car for an automatic one which is what it has to be in order to convert it).   That is all easy, if boring and time consuming to carry through.  So I have now arrived in Deal and have to find somebody to help me lift it out.  The friend I am meeting could do that, true, but let’s say I was going to do something completely independent, like shop for a birthday present, or take some air on my own or with the dog.  And this is assuming I have the leg power to get from the drivers seat to the boot.  I apologise for burbling on,  but this is an indication of the choices I have before me.  And aren’t I lucky to have those choices, I suppose, but I am trying to explain that it is not that straightforward.  Or am I making life unnecessarily complicated?  And all of the above is assuming I am still driving a car. That is another incredibly boring and time-consuming thing we have to sort out. When you have Multiple Sclerosis your cognitive skills are severely diminished.

I have just had a nasty scare, in that I pressed a button by mistake and I thought I had lost everything I have just dictated. With that in mind I am going to publish this now, as I’m sure you’ve had quite enough.