Day #7:
Well, let’s be honest. When you are diagnosed with any kind of illness/disease that limits your mobility or the use of your hands, it becomes a problem really quick. This is life with ALS. Though your hands or legs don’t work, your kidneys and bowels are still perfectly normal, and they continue to do perfectly normal things. Let’s just say that this was and is a continuing challenge!
With the loss of hand function early on, it was challenging to stay independent. I was grateful for scrubs – no zippers or snaps! I could simply untie them, do my business, and tie them back up. Pants were more of a challenge. I used a type of zipper pull for awhile that had a loop on it that I could slip my finger in to pull my zipper up and down. But, as with anything involving ALS, once you find a solution to a problem, your condition has changed enough that you can really only use it for a short time before the task becomes impossible. Before long, my zipper pulls were completely useless, and I had to wear pants or shorts with an elastic waistband. Eventually, I could only wear shorts because the pants were too hard to get up and down. I hated being in shorts all the time!
It would be a perfect world if you could always plan your bathroom breaks and never have any inconvenience. But, alas, such is not the case! Early on, I would be home alone and have to use the bathroom, but in my efforts to get there I would either fall, have an accident, or both. Once I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and lost my balance. I ended up on the floor wedged between the wall and the toilet. The worst part though, was on my way down I managed to rip the toilet paper holder off the wall and break the plumbing to the toilet. So I was laying there in pain, tightly wedged, with water running EVERYWHERE!! Oh, the memories!
There is an interesting dichotomy that exists with ALS. In one moment people can be singing your praises, and in the next you can be sitting in your own poop. It’s uncomfortable, but a reality! Thankfully it’s not an every day experience.
I can not express enough gratitude for catheters, leg bags, baby wipes, and bidets. In fact, I wonder even more now why bidets are not more common in America! All I can say is they are WAY more sanitary!
So, I hope I haven’t been too personal in this post… Just keeping it real.
#ALSAwarenessMonth #ALS #HopeIsNeverLost
Well, let’s be honest. When you are diagnosed with any kind of illness/disease that limits your mobility or the use of your hands, it becomes a problem really quick. This is life with ALS. Though your hands or legs don’t work, your kidneys and bowels are still perfectly normal, and they continue to do perfectly normal things. Let’s just say that this was and is a continuing challenge!
With the loss of hand function early on, it was challenging to stay independent. I was grateful for scrubs – no zippers or snaps! I could simply untie them, do my business, and tie them back up. Pants were more of a challenge. I used a type of zipper pull for awhile that had a loop on it that I could slip my finger in to pull my zipper up and down. But, as with anything involving ALS, once you find a solution to a problem, your condition has changed enough that you can really only use it for a short time before the task becomes impossible. Before long, my zipper pulls were completely useless, and I had to wear pants or shorts with an elastic waistband. Eventually, I could only wear shorts because the pants were too hard to get up and down. I hated being in shorts all the time!
It would be a perfect world if you could always plan your bathroom breaks and never have any inconvenience. But, alas, such is not the case! Early on, I would be home alone and have to use the bathroom, but in my efforts to get there I would either fall, have an accident, or both. Once I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and lost my balance. I ended up on the floor wedged between the wall and the toilet. The worst part though, was on my way down I managed to rip the toilet paper holder off the wall and break the plumbing to the toilet. So I was laying there in pain, tightly wedged, with water running EVERYWHERE!! Oh, the memories!
There is an interesting dichotomy that exists with ALS. In one moment people can be singing your praises, and in the next you can be sitting in your own poop. It’s uncomfortable, but a reality! Thankfully it’s not an every day experience.
I can not express enough gratitude for catheters, leg bags, baby wipes, and bidets. In fact, I wonder even more now why bidets are not more common in America! All I can say is they are WAY more sanitary!
So, I hope I haven’t been too personal in this post… Just keeping it real.
#ALSAwarenessMonth #ALS #HopeIsNeverLost
No comments:
Post a Comment