Life with wheels..

I haven't blogged recently, I haven't really felt I've had much to share. Things have sort of been spiraling downwards for Miss M.E. (11) and it's often hard to talk about. 

In the weekend, however, there was an occurrence that made my blood boil. (Gotta love an infuriated mother blogger, right?).  I'm sure many of you who struggle with mobility will have had a similar thing happen......  Miss M.E. (11) had mustered all her energy and decided that she would try to go out of the house, for the first time in weeks, to one of her favourite shops in her 'prior-M.E' life. I loaded up her wheelchair, and we headed to the mall where her favourite teenage clothing shop was. The seasons and fashions had changed since she was last there, and there was lots of new stock. But do you think she could fit her wheelchair down the aisles without hooking clothing off the racks accidentally? Not a chance. The items were all mounted the whole height of the walls, and predominantly inaccessible. Each aisle would require backing out of as we would hit a stand loaded with clothing jutting out across the paths. People were everywhere, but no one offering to help - poor Miss M.E. (11) was awfully embarrassed.... I showed her a pretty top and suggested she tried it on before we left, so that at least she had found something - but after waiting for a long time in the queue for the changing rooms, it turned out there was someone (able-bodied) in the disabled changing room.... she had to reverse her wheelchair out of the queue and line herself up to the side to wait... It all became too much, she was absolutely shattered and begged for us to leave. We left empty handed and thoroughly discouraged.

I stopped off at one of the cafes in the mall and asked if they did anything dairy and gluten-free... nope, she couldn't even eat. Finally made it outside where I was able to buy her some caramelized nuts for her efforts, which she had gratefully. She arrived home aching and in pain, her legs throbbing from being in the wheelchair, and collapsed into bed exhausted.

I imagine it will be a very long time before she ventures out to the shops again.....

If she is well enough in the future, perhaps I will encourage her to write a letter to the store....