Well this post was supposed to be live a lot sooner than it has ended up being. Where I thought I had set a time for it to go live on my page, I apparently didn’t (silly brain fog!). Sorry guys, I hope you enjoy it now it’s finally arrived.

American Experiences. livingwithjhs.com

So, in America, I had the experience of being in a wheelchair. Admittedly, it was electric one and only used while going around a supermarket all the same. What did I do, you may ask? Funny story really….. I got attacked by a bear.

Got you! No, what I actually did was fall out of a minibus onto a slanted rock I hadn’t noticed hiding in the ground. Now I have a high pain-threshold but boy did it hurt! It hurt so much I initially thought it was broken. After sitting for a while with a bunch of ice on it, it was decided that we should go to A&E (or the emergency room as it’s called in America) to get it checked out. Turns out, I pulled the ligaments really badly and if it wasn’t for my HMS, I would have broken it. Hallelujah for HMS, (for once). Anyway, that resulted in crutches and a lovely brace. Santa Fe wasn’t kind to me that day and resulted in me missing the following days with the trek group because they were all off on long hikes, sad times! Despite that, I found my own things to do and some of the group joined me to keep me company.

Anyway, back to the story at hand: the electric wheelchair in the supermarket. Don’t get me wrong, it was 100% fun and I couldn’t stop laughing for the first 10/15 minutes of being in the supermarket but the novelty soon wore off when I began to feel like I was just in everyone’s way all the time. I couldn’t move around with the same fluid ease that I’m used to – well fluid might be a bit exaggerated (certainly on flare-up days) but it just wasn’t easy at all, and people certainly weren’t helping to make it easier either. On top of all that, it just felt like the whole shop floor plan was not catered towards those people in wheelchairs… I honestly feel for those who don’t have a choice in their wheelchair use because things certainly aren’t made easy for you.

However, this small experience of this has helped fuel my determination to stay out of a wheelchair as long as possible. Now I know that’s easy for me to say right now because I’m the most stubborn person you’ll probably ever meet, especially when it comes to my condition but I know that I’m just not happy succumbing to this inevitably before my time. Yes, I’ve been told that some point in the future I’ll be in a wheelchair… I mean when I was first diagnosed back in 2013, the medical professionals predicted I’d already be sat in one right now but like I said… stubborn! When my time comes, my time come and I’ll come to accept that but right now, I don’t need one. And for those who do? I’m sorry, I genuinely feel for you in the hardship that you must go through on a daily basis.

For now, I’m just going to leave this picture here… It might give you a good giggle, with my lovely pink sock! (Don’t worry, the food wasn’t all for me!)

Wheelchair.jpg