Monday, 3 February 2014
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
I'm a 50 something woman, living at home with my husband and 5 cats. Anyway, thats the state I'm in at the moment. Life hasn't always been like this, I used to be a fully paid up member of society, with a 'Proper Job', but then arthritis hit me with a bit of a bang and I found myself signed of work, with an old ladies disease, or at least, thats what I used to thing OA was. It isn't, its much, much more complex than that and it finds a way into even the younger and fitter people than me.
How does it effect me? Well, lets start with today a logical place to start after all.
I woke up at about 5 a.m which is when the pain medications tend to begin to work out of my system and the aches start to creep in. Bed is no longer a refuge and a nice place to be, no matter how tired I am, my body is telling me that I am stiff and need to move around to get the joints working again. My problems effect my lumber spine, cervical spine, hips, hands, wrists and knees. Sometimes a few other joints join in, just so that I know they are still there and haven't done a runner in the night, (fat chance, walking is painful enough, let alone running).
Anyway, back to the main story, I get out of bed, slowly, and painfully, trying not to make too much noise, as the husband is fast asleep beside me. I stand up and feel my spine click all the way up, like it needs some oil or something and my legs don't really want to hold my weight, which although far from being super model size (yuk!) is still almost within the exceptible range for my hight, 5'3". This is the start to most of my days and is far, far from exiciting.
Osteoarthritis, or OA, does slow me down and adds pain and stiffness to my life, but I try not to let it take over my life, as it would then be the master and I couldn't bere that, I'm far too much of a control freak, and anyway, with the painkillers I have life is still liveable!!
Sometimes, I will admit to feeling sorry for myself and wish that my old life would just come back, but I know that their are so many things that I can still do, I am lucky in lots of ways. I have help from a long suffering husband, who does so much that it makes me feel guilty. Still, I suppose he'd rather be asked to lift the roasting tin back into the oven than see his evening meal go rolling round the floor followed by a mad woman, screaming every obsenity she can remember.
I can still manage a bit of cooking, but its the lifting part or the holding of tools that I find hardist to do. Still these days a good look round the internet and shoping catalouges, can produce some wonderful results that make life so much easier. Theirs a thing that makes pulling ring-pull cans so much easier to open - that was something that I was finding impossible to do - its a good tool for anyone who who has trouble with these bloody awful things and finds that, when you manage to open the can, you need a complete change of clothing the kitchen needs a wash down and again the swearing vocabullary increases! Then their is the Jar opener, that, at the press of a button, opens the toughest jars in the universe. and the can opener that does the same and it doesnt cut your fingers off or break your nails. These things are great for anyone and I wish that I had discovered them years ago, it would have saved a lot of temper tantrums in this house!
Osteoarthritis, or OA, does slow me down and adds pain and stiffness to my life, but I try not to let it take over my life, as it would then be the master and I couldn't bere that, I'm far too much of a control freak, and anyway, with the painkillers I have life is still liveable!!
Sometimes, I will admit to feeling sorry for myself and wish that my old life would just come back, but I know that their are so many things that I can still do, I am lucky in lots of ways. I have help from a long suffering husband, who does so much that it makes me feel guilty. Still, I suppose he'd rather be asked to lift the roasting tin back into the oven than see his evening meal go rolling round the floor followed by a mad woman, screaming every obsenity she can remember.
I can still manage a bit of cooking, but its the lifting part or the holding of tools that I find hardist to do. Still these days a good look round the internet and shoping catalouges, can produce some wonderful results that make life so much easier. Theirs a thing that makes pulling ring-pull cans so much easier to open - that was something that I was finding impossible to do - its a good tool for anyone who who has trouble with these bloody awful things and finds that, when you manage to open the can, you need a complete change of clothing the kitchen needs a wash down and again the swearing vocabullary increases! Then their is the Jar opener, that, at the press of a button, opens the toughest jars in the universe. and the can opener that does the same and it doesnt cut your fingers off or break your nails. These things are great for anyone and I wish that I had discovered them years ago, it would have saved a lot of temper tantrums in this house!
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