Meet the Girls

I thought I should introduce you to the four ‘ladies’ that I am increasingly dependent upon for daily living (and that doesn’t include Sally, without whom my life would be virtually impossible). They are, in no particular order Daisy, Ivy, Madge and Molly.

Molly has been introduced to you previously – she is the Segway-based mobility device that arrived at the start of lockdown and about which I have spoken at length in previous blogs:  https://livinginhope.net/lets-talk-about-molly/

She has proved to be troublesome at times (hence her name ‘Molly’ because she needs molly-coddling) and has provided moments of sheer terror when I have misjudged a situation and she has spun around unexpectedly. But she has also given me moments of exquisite joy, especially on the beach, where I have been able to experience a freedom of movement denied me in everyday life.

However, I fear the time has come to part with Molly. I am no longer able to stand up from her without assistance and, as the strength in my arms diminishes, I find her less easy to manage, especially on steep slopes. She is clearly well aware of her pending banishment and has decided to go on strike, refusing to lift two of her stabilising legs – a fault that dogged us when she first arrived. Sally will be glad to see the back of her as she has never really trusted her. I, however, will be sorry to see her go. Her departure will feel like a lost opportunity, as I never really got the best out of her.  Covid restricted the places we might otherwise have gone while I was still strong enough to enjoy her properly.

The good news is that I can still venture forth into the places that Molly might have taken me, because we also have Madge (a Magic Mobility Xtreme X8). The name gives you some idea of her pretentions as a serious off-road operator and she doesn’t disappoint. (Re-read that last sentence with Jeremy Clakson’s voice in your head 😂). She is wider than many wheelchairs, with chunky off-road tyres like a quad bike and the manoeuvrability of a rhinoceros, which means she is definitely not house trained. But give her a patch of mud or a rocky path and she is as happy as a pig in muck.

Ivy (an Invacare TDX SP2) is my chair-about-the-house choice. Because the seat rises I can get off her unaided, unless I have raised the seat so high I need a ladder to climb down, and so she accompanies me to work meetings as well, as she allows me to  use the accessible facilities without needing help. (It is amazing just how often questions of toilet access dominate my thinking). She is also highly manoeuvrable, which makes her an ideal companion in tight spaces.

The last of the quartet is Daisy (a ‘walker’ typically used by elderly folk up and down the land). Until early June I used a stick when outside the house but all this came to a juddering halt when I took a nasty tumble on the driveway and spent the afternoon in A&E as a consequence. As usual Sally was on hand to record the event for posterity. I will spare you the rather gory image of blood flowing across the paving blocks, but this one below gives the general idea 😂.

The fall knocked my confidence significantly and I have taken to using Daisy both indoors and out for getting around safely when I am not using a wheelchair. It is sobering to think I have taken to using a walker some twenty years sooner than my mother did; but she was stubborn and only deigned to use one after she had broken her hip for a second time. Maybe it is possible to learn from the past after all.

Addendum: My daughter Emma,and son Mark are running the London Marathon in October to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy UK who fund research into this poorly understood condition. If you are interested in sponsoring them you can link to their Just Giving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-and-emma-run-london2022