Thoughts on cross country wheelchair racing

It should be made an Olympic sport... No, really, I'm serious. There is a surprisingly high level of fitness required just to push a bloody chair along a footpath. I should explain. It was so nice yesterday, I asked Jude if she would like to go for a walk. She would, so we did. All the way down to the reserve I usually walk to & back. I was feeling it muchly by the time we got back. You see, I have found out that footpaths have a very gentle slope towards the road & as chairs have castor front wheels, a certain amount of pressure is required to keep the chair on the straight & narrow. I felt like I had had a full body workout by the time I got home, but Jude enjoyed the outing even though she was too tired for her lunch time feed. Apparently, its OK for her to do that every once in a while, so it was a reasonable trade off I thought.

Today, her best friend Di phoned to see if she wanted to go for a walk. Di is always good value. She is an old Patchwork friend of Jude's, a very talented artist, a loyal friend to both of us & a sensible straight talking lady. As she is somewhat older , we loaded Jude into the powered chair. her self confidence has taken a bit of a battering, so she asked me if I would come along too. Just as well. I have noticed that her right arm is getting very weak, but I didn't realise how much. It's now next to impossible for her to operate the joystick with it. I checked & it was an easy thing to swap it to the left hand side, but even though she has a little more use of her left hand still, it wasn't easy for her. Well, you have surely tried to do things with your off hand & you must know how difficult it is. It ended up with her doing what Di laughingly called donuts on the foot path. It ended with me driving the chair home for her. Once again, she was that tired she skipped a meal.

I know there is a variety of joysticks available for her chair but we need to think very seriously as to if it is actually worthwhile to keep it here. For the little bit she goes out. I think a conventional chair may be easier to manageI need to talk to the occupational therapist to see if a chair with bigger wheels might be easier to manage. The other thing worthy of consideration is the possibility that the outings may not be worth the toll it takes on her in the form of exhaustion & missed meals.

Spring time is always a time of hope & growth. All the plants & seeds that I have planted have germinated despite my hamfisted agricultural efforts. We have the Webb Ellice Trophy safely within our grasp despite, what to me, was a somewhat lacklustre game despite the nail biting second half, The oil recovery from the MV Rena is going well & the weather is holding off, the weather is lovely at the moment & the washing is coming in from the line with that sweet fresh smell that only a sunny day & a gentle breeze can give & I'm making headway with the gardens. Surely a time for renewed hope & optimism. I'm certain that if I tell myself that enough I will end up believing it.