Taking things for granted, not being able to walk is not fun

[RB TexLa]

I've spent the last thirty minutes in my kitchen trying to and finally standing up. I have arthritis in my left hip, usually just pain that can radiate to my knee and ankle and sometimes a limp but never unable to support weight. I realize thirty minutes isn't really anything but a slight inconvenience and I'm not comparing it to anyone's actually disability, but lying somewhere unable to stand does make one think about the physical abilities we take for granted.

[riderinthestorm]

1. I'm hoping this isn't an emergency!?

Are you all right or is this (unhappily) the way things are?

Can you call on anyone for help? Hope you're feeling better! :hug:

And yes, I often wonder what it would be like to be disabled and how it would change my life so dramatically. Very difficult to imagine.

[RB TexLa]

2. Oh I'm fine, guess it's just something new to deal with

I've had it give before, but this was the first time it took time to get back up.

[riderinthestorm]

5. Alas. Hope the rest of your day is better. nt

[predfan]

3. in the last years of their lives, both my father and father in law were unable to walk.

I learned from them that any morning I can put both feet on the floor, stand up and go to the bathroom alone, I've received my blessing for that day. Beyound that, is gravy.

[MsFlorida]

4. agree with you

and hope you feel better very quickly. I was in a car crash about a year or so ago (time just flies when you are having fun), just came back to work...

Anyway, hip was cracked that they didnt find initially at first and a whole host of other injuries including a very broken (as in crushed) right arm, cracked open head, etc etc.

some mornings it is ever so difficult just to get up, but i do it anyway and am thankful to be able to get up. I'm just thankful period.

Sending warm thoughts your way. one day there will be a way to fix this arthritis thing.

[flashl]

6. Hope you are fine and feeling better. nt

[demnan]

7. My mother has arthritis of the spine

and every movement she makes is painful. She is wheelchair-bound and sometimes she just can't move. I really feel sorry for her. If she didn't live with my two brothers, she would have to be in a nursing home. She is 86. I am sorry for you.

I have moderate arthritis of the knee and take glocosimine for it. Have you tried that? I also take calcium every day. If I keep to this regimine then I am relatively pain free. I also try to walk some everyday to keep the joints moving.

[RB TexLa]

8. I take glocosimine, fish oil and the calcium

also cooking with olive oil is supposed to help.

[stillcool]

9. I know what you mean...

I was in a car wreck..fractured pelvis as well as other broken bones..sometimes my arthritis leaves me flat on my back. It sure changes my perspective...sometimes the less I have the more grateful I am.

[MADem]

10. You should get a LIFE ALERT if you don't have one already.

Or keep a cellphone ON your hip. You may go down and not be able to get back up.

Can't your doctor help you at all? Maybe it's time to consider hip replacement. It's a daunting operation, with a not insignificant recovery, but I have relatives who SWEAR by it. I have one relative who is bionic--both hips, both knees and a shoulder, mid eighties, who walks with a spring in the step with no trouble at all.

You shouldn't be suffering like that. It's not character building, it's just debilitating.

[RB TexLa]

11. I had a cellphone. It's no where near the point of buying a new hip

and not wanting to spend the money on one yet either.

No character building, I'm just cheap.

[MADem]

12. Well, cheap is fine--but don't CHEAT yourself.

I'd talk to people who have gone through the operation, if you can find them. The "quality of life" difference in some is profound.

I don't know if that would be the case with you, but life is short. Don't suffer any more than you have to...

[hyphenate]

13. Been there, done that

One day I spent almost an hour sitting on the floor, trying to get to my chair. There was nothing solid enough for me to hold onto to get myself up.

More than once, actually, from the kitchen to the office. It more or less has stopped when I use my cane, but yeah, I'm still quite capable of falling and not being able to get up. One day, I came out of an elevator at the hospital and fell right there. I was swarmed by people helping me to get up, and someone even provided me with a wheelchair.

It's difficult at best when you just feel helpless like that. I told someone that I didn't feel any kind of embarrassment anymore, because you just can't help it. Shit happens. I fall down and go boom. Que sera, sera.

[otohara]

14. My Ankle is Collapsing

I had polio and now experience all sorts of pain and weakness. my doctor said, oh Otohara, you better do something or you'll be walking on your ankle. The visual of that prompted me to get this new super duper expensive brace. Hope it helps keeping me on my feet - the thought of not being able to walk is scary indeed.

Getting old surely does suck.

[tulip]

15. Understood........

I understand. I spent alot of time in a wheel chair. It was hard to adjust to and I hated the look I got from people I knew who saw me for the first time in my chair or scooter. I can walk ok now but I never take for granted the little things that use to annoy me.........like standing in line at the grocery store or putting gas in my car. So I know exactly what your going through. I may not have the ability to walk later in life so I am enjoying it now.

[Pastiche423]

16. 30 minutes?

Try twenty one years.

[RB TexLa]

17. I know, that was why I said

I realize thirty minutes isn't really anything but a slight inconvenience and I'm not comparing it to anyone's actually disability, but lying somewhere unable to stand does make one think about the physical abilities we take for granted.


:hi:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3277992&mesg_id=3277992

[Pastiche423]

18. Was that supposed to make me feel better?

[RB TexLa]

19. No, it was just to let you and everyone know I was not comparing my minor

inconvenience to anything real.