Since I left hospital, there are many things, that I have discovered that I am not able to do … or to do properly, anyway. I have found ways around most of them! How many day-to-day things do you think that you do with two hands? Things that you do not even think of using two hands with, you just do them! Let me tell you – almost everything!
As mentioned in my book – these included getting dressed, tying my shoes and something as simple as putting my watch on! Well … getting dressed, just took me a little longer than it does you. Tying my shoes – well they only get tied when they come undone. I slip my shoes on and off, all the while my laces are done up. When I have to ‘tie’ my laces, I generally have my shoe on my lap, and not on my foot and I tie the lace so that it will not be too tight when I actually slip it on my foot. As mentioned in my book, I used to get others to help me put my watch on, until I discovered that if I put it on my right wrist (because I had always worn it on my left wrist before that) that I could do it myself.
Once I returned to ‘normal’ life, I have found many, many things that I cannot do anymore. Or rather I can not do, in the way that we were initially taught to do them by our mothers!!
Things like doing the vegetables for tea. I cannot use two hands to chop and peel the potatoes and pumpkin. Or to chop up the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini mix that I make up! Well, this just takes me a little longer, than most, because I still do it.
Things like typing. I have written my book, it started out as having more words than this book does, and through editing, a lot of words have been cut out. But I still typed all of these words, initially, with the one hand. It would have been so much easier and quicker if I had of been able to use two hands.
Typing my book was a long process with only one hand to use, but it has helped me with my typing skills.
I am much faster at typing now!
Writing, hanging clothes (have you ever tried hanging clothes using only one hand?) and just general ‘everyday’ tasks, I have had to adjust the ways that I do these things. But most things are possible and it just takes a little time and ingenuity, to work out ways of achieving what I want, when faced with hurdles.