Time for a Catch-Up – November 2022

Hi everyone!

I thought I’d write a very quick catch-up just to let you know that I am still here, still keen to blog but suffering a bit from jetlag.  I have just returned from Sydney after a lovely three weeks there with my two children and my parents, visiting my sister and her family. This is a long-awaited trip – I initially went in March 2020 but the visit got cut short due to the start of the pandemic. It was so nice to finally spend time with her, my brother-in-law and my nephew.

I plan on writing a blog about my time in Sydney and, especially, the accessibility within the city and the suburb where she lives. Let’s just say that the accessibility has improved even since 2020 when I was last there, which was a very pleasant surprise.

Catch-up – on My Health

Not very much has changed in regards to my SPMS apart from it has, perhaps unsurprisingly, progressed. Well, it feels like it has. Mainly in regard to my walking, which is becoming more difficult and leading me to question even more about how long I can continue to get around my (Victorian) home. Unfortunately, it is an issue that has no clear answer due to the lack and cost of accessible housing in my area. I’d like to stay in the town that I live in as I have built a life here, have friends and family here and, most importantly, this is the children’s home.

I now have an FES device (Functional Electrical Stimulation), which helps to lift my foot from the floor, reducing foot drop.  It definitely helps me to feel more confident and secure when walking, but I think  a big part of my difficulty walking stems from the fact that I can’t actually lift my leg easily.  My left leg is particularly affected but I can feel my right leg worsening. I have to admit that I had three weeks off from my usual exercise routine when I was away, which obviously hasn’t helped.  My plan is to get right back on it as soon as I get over my jetlag – at the moment I am waking at 4am and need bed by 7pm and feeling very fatigued in between so I am hoping this happens soon!

I’ve also noticed that the amount of time that I can stand still has greatly reduced, which means that doing things like cooking and washing up are more of a struggle.  I’m on the lookout for a great ‘perching stool’ that I can have in the kitchen if anyone has any ideas? Ideally, one that doesn’t scream ‘I’m disabled!’ and look out of place in my kitchen.

Catch-Up – on My Work

I’m still working very part-time as a home-based speech and language therapist.  However, I have been pretty quiet since September and will be until at least the New Year.  This has been intentional – as my disability increases, I struggle more with work. For each child that I see, on top of providing therapy and writing up afterward, I need to move from place to place in my therapy room choosing items to use in the session and cleaning them after use.  I haven’t yet used my FES whilst working so, hopefully, that will help me keep going with it after Christmas, as I definitely need the small amount of money that work brings in.

Catch-Up – on Other Stuff!

I haven’t got a lot to talk about as I’ll chat about my holiday in my next blog. Now I am back, though, I am determined to get organised and start purging my house of things that we no longer need or use.  I have a lot of clothes (especially kids’ clothes), books, games and toys that I could do with selling, I have spurts of motivation where I put things on eBay or Vinted, I just need more of it!  I am really trying to be more frugal after my holiday, especially with Christmas coming up.

I am trying to save for a ‘mini-refurb’ of my bathroom; just updating the flooring, getting a new bath and repainting.  I looked into the cost of a more accessible bath and was floored by the price difference (almost £2000) between that and a simple bath – all because of a little door!  I decided that it is cheaper to buy a hoist if needed. A Disabled Facilities Grant is one option that I could have used, but they don’t approve this if you are likely to move within 5 years (the OT that told me about this already knows that I am).

Other than attempting to be frugal, I have mainly been reading and watching TV/movies.  I watched ‘Death on the Nile‘, ‘Where the Crawdads Sing‘ and ‘Operation Mincemeat‘ in the planes as I was travelling.  Murder on the Nile was enjoyable, Where the Crawdads Sing was ok (the book is much, much better) and Operation Mincemeat was really good.  I tend to love anything with Colin Firth in it though 🙂 I really enjoyed ‘The Good Nurse‘ on Netflix too and am catching up with ‘The Handmaid’s Tale‘ and the ‘Great British Bakeoff‘ on Channel 4.

Book-wise, some recent reads that I have enjoyed are ‘A Woman is No Man’ by Etaf Rum, ‘The Attic Child’ by Lola Jaye and ‘Who I Am: My Story’ by Melanie Chisholm.  I am currently reading ‘All My Mothers’ by Joanna Glen and loving it.

I now realise that I tend to like generational stories and family sagas!  If anyone has any books that they have recently enjoyed, I’d love to hear about them.

And that’s my quick catch-up 🙂 As I said, I plan on blogging about my holiday and also my FES device soon, so keep checking back if you would like to hear about Sydney’s accessibility and a device that helps with the dreaded foot drop.

‘Til next time