Have Wheels, Will Travel

Hi,

To start; this week's ratings:

Sleep: 4
Pain: 3
Migraine: 5
Fibrofog: 2
IBS: 4
Tiredness: 5

As you can see, for Mum this week has been a bit of a doozy.  She's been out of her normal routine due a week's holiday from work.  The week started with a mini break to Oxford, but unfortunately Mum feels like gradually as she has relaxed she has declined into a "dude" (her words) of a migraine which lasted all day Saturday.

However, whilst in Oxford and struggling to manage even twenty minutes of wandering around antique shops (and never one to be put off shopping for long) Mum had a brainwave.  Dad arranged for them to rent a wheelchair so that she could manage to spend the day mobile but not exhausted within a few minutes.

It proved to be a hit; they managed a good few hours of wandering around shops and Mum managed to both be out for a period of time and to enjoy herself; as shopping and related activities can be very difficult when Mum can't manage to walk around for long at all.  The chair was such a success that they've bought one to keep in the car, we are really hoping this will improve the quality of time Mum can spend out and about.  This is especially since we in Wales have had what feels like the unprecedented luxury of two vaguely sunny days in a row.

Perhaps anyone else has tried a chair or other ways of managing getting around more comfortably?

Mum is hoping the chair is temporary, and is quite concerned that she could become reliant on it.  Does anyone have any advice for her on that?

As for me, when the chair arrive my brother and I attempted a wheelchair obstacle course around the house - trying to get into the kitchen and to the front door without crashing.  Much easier said than done, but I am the proud winner.  We have a lot more respect for people that use these chairs on a daily basis - although its helping Mum a lot, they're still not at all easy to manoeuvre.

Have a good week, and let us know your thoughts.

Dee and Amy