The Rich Tapestry of Life

Trinidad Art.



It is amazing how time flies by these days; a day is over so quickly especially now it is getting dark sooner.

Can smell the delicious aroma of mince pies wafting from the oven, mince pies full of currants and raisins and mixed peel.

Feel in the mood to eat a few, they are particularly nice warm out of the oven, hope that I will be able to hold them ok.

Hope I do not smash them to pieces, which do happen as the feeling in my fingers is bad, often grip too hard.

Mathilde, my physiotherapist was here at 2pm to supervise my exercises, after 20 minutes hard work, I am happy for her to relax and rotate my arms and massage when needed.

I always notice the benefits of a session with Mathilde, and it is not just the exercises.

We get on well and she teases me mercilessly, which I enjoy, so does she, we usually have fun doing the exercises.

This Thursday there will be no physiotherapy, as it is the appointment for the important fitting of the adaptation on to my electric wheelchair.

I am excited about the idea that I can start to sit up again, am very aware that it will be extremely tiring.

Will have to build up the time that I sit bit by bit, do not want to do anything that would cause the reopening of the wound.

It so0unds very obvious that I need to be careful, but it is not obvious enough that pressure sores can happen easily.

Really need to be aware of how long I am sitting and hope that I will not be tempted to extend the times because I am too impatient.

The reason the pressure sore healed is because I did not sit up, this would have put too much pressure on my bottom.

Even the Roho cushion would not have been able to cure the open sore; once it is open you can not sit up until the sore has healed.

Last year my pressure sore first showed itself as a red patch, then it opened, but each time, about 3 x that it opened before last year August it also healed up.

Then in August last year, the pressure opened again and this time it was a deep wound, one that I did not want to see, eventually Ton, the nurse from the RCA stopped showing me the photos.

Well my new resolution is to be optimistic about sitting upright, it feels a wee bit scary but that is because it is so long ago that I could sit up properly.

The idea of sitting and going outside is overwhelming, hope that I can cope on Thursday, will try to concentrate on the important aspects.

Which is the feeling that my life will be richer if I am not physically isolated in the bedroom everyday and all day.

Here ‘s to life in all it’s variety and wonders and even the downsides are all part of what a friend once called ‘ the rich tapestry of life ‘.