Feeling better

Thankfully we have moved on from the wonderful stomach bug. That was no fun. I also got a letter in the mail from the old Rheumatologist who informed me I was very anemic and my vitamin D is low. No wonder I was feel so horrid. He wanted to come in for an appointment right away, but he doesn’t know I’m waiting for the new doctor appointment in February. So I started to take Iron, Vitamin D3, and Vitamin C. I feel better so I think things are getting better.

So far the colder weather hasn’t bothered me too much. However I’m finding shopping to be increasingly painful as my feet hurt after about 20 minutes of walking. I also had fun with my muscles in my legs just aching. That’s something new I haven’t had before. I’ve been trying to stretch and rub my legs at night. Sort of hoping whatever the issue is it will fix itself.

All of these wonder issues with many hiding from view. You can’t see when my feet hurt or the pain in legs unless I hobble a little. I’ve gotten pretty at correcting myself as much as possible to straighten out limbs so they don’t look different. I had my left arm stuck for a long time unable to stretch out all the way. Lots of painful therapy visits to fix that, but it also taught me tricks that help me to prevent the arm getting stuck in that position again. So with the exception of issues like my arm the pain is mostly hidden.

I try not to get gas alone because I never know when my hands won’t open the gas cap. Getting groceries is hard. Besides walking many cashiers put too much into a bag. While getting soda 2lts to last awhile, I got six 2lt in the cart when a stocker told me if I took the whole box I would have eight. There is no way I can lift eight 2lt in a box without hurting. I’m not even sure if I could just do it and hurt later.

Now I know this sounds like a whining session but not really. I don’t often get down over the issues, I just find other ways around them. However I really want more people to understand what happens. Not only for me but for other people who have issues that can not be seen.

Picture seeing a mother with two kids you see her get out of her car. Walk to the back of the car and get out a wheelchair. See then sits in the wheelchair and the kids push her. You can’t help but wonder why the poor kids are pushing her.

There really could be lots of reasons. I know firsthand how a hard it is to roll yourself in a wheelchair. If I do my shoulder goes out, becomes very painful to move. Motorized wheelchairs are expensive and then there is added cost for how to transport and store the wheelchair. A solution is the travel scooters. Now these are also expensive starting in $500 range. My concern is the weight of getting them in and out of vehicles without extra costs of more equipment. Or course I am cable of walking just not as much as I want to and I refuse to slow down. So I’m saving up.

Just remember not to judge by the cover.