My worst joint has always been my left hip. Yes how dare my RA not be the typical RA that starts in the hands so we know exactly what's wrong. Well now my hands are quickly trying to take over first place, but for now it's still my left hip. When it's your hip that's bad sometimes you have to use mobility devices to get around. So at age 35 I had to get a walker, oh yes it was one of those really sexy old lady ones with a little basket and a cushy seat. Obviously young and in the prime of life is not their target audience. I am not surprised but would we not pimp this out somehow, paint job some cool rims something. Nope the coolest one I could find was electric blue. Oh well not like I'm trying to pick anyone up with my sexy walker right.
I tried to move quietly into the mobility devices world, thank goodness this thing doesn't have pipes like my husbands harley, but you still have this very large device that works as a neon look at me sign. Well here's the funny thing with a walker I am a flashing neon sign, but somehow once I had to move into a wheelchair now and then I am suddenly invisible. Or maybe it's that people see it as a challenge, lets play chicken with the gal in the wheelchair who's going to move first. The worst part is when they look you right in the eye and then completely cut you off.
So I'm getting ahead of myself. Last summer my husband said we need to get you an electric wheelchair. I said no way are you kidding, I can walk just fine. He said yes but can you take the kids for a fun day at the zoo or take hikes or numerous other examples anymore...I did see his point but somehow this was a really hard step for me I could see the pros to getting one but did I really want to admit that I was at this point in my disease. To me somehow this seemed like I was admitting defeat.
I finally agreed with the threat of our insurance changing in a couple of years and many other factors now was the time to make that big step. Have you seen how many electric chair options there are now? Scooters, mobility chairs, electric wheelchairs, my head was spinning with choices...thankfully my salesman works on commission which reassured me he would get me the most expensive, I mean best possible model for me. I learned a few things during this endeavor. Number one is your insurance really doesn't care about your quality of life. You can be trapped in your house for the rest of your life and they don't care. Thankfully the times that my hip has given out on me has been in my own home, which helped make it a safety issue so the insurance company started to take us seriously.
So long story short and hopefully not to sporadic ..high pain level means somehow my thoughts just don't connect right. I did get an electric chair and a manual wheel chair. Because insurance companies don't care if you ever leave your house again or even go outside of your own home, we have to pay for any ramps ourselves. We also had to upgrade my vehicle as my car was to small to fit the chair into it, but the plus sides really outweigh the negative. I take my kids to the zoo again and so many other places that I just could no longer do. So it has been so worth it to take that leap into the world of mobility devices, now if I could just get them to pimp my chair I need to get Kounts Kustoms or something to help me out because it's just not cool enough for me yet.
I should have said first and foremost if you haven't done so yet get yourself a handicapped placard! Someone told me right in the beginning to get one and I am so thankful they did because it has been such an energy saver and I'm sure saved me from a lot of pain. No getting a placard is not going to make you pain free, but anything that saves us from a bit of pain is so worth it. You know those days you go to the grocery store with energy and by the time you are done collecting what you need, right before you get the registers the energy troll comes and just steals it all, you are practically crawling those last few feet. You look back going what the heck just happened to me and where's the semi that ran me down. Yes on those days you will be so happy that your car is parked closer. The other thing I have learned is when I have my wheeled friend with me (sexy walker or wheelchair) the handicapped spots will have a ramp to get you up on the curb. Well usually they will, I will save that rant for another post.
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