Tools to Get the Job Done

We use tools everyday and don't even think about what we would do without them.  In the horse world without a good hoof pick, a stall fork and the right saddle, bit and bridle a horse person would be ineffective.  As a less able bodied person without the right tools you cannot even function.  Occupational Therapy helped link this all back together and gave me the tools to ensure that I could function each and every day in my new world.

The main tools I use to help me during the day are - My dressing stick, which I can use to pull up pants, take off socks and to assist me in getting dressed. 

I also use an aid to get my socks on.  Since I am unable to bend at the waist due to my surgery and the brace I have to rely on either the hubby or my sock aid to get my socks on every day.  It is an amazing tool because it looks so odd, yet is so dang effective.  You essentially slide the sock over the device and drop it down and slip your foot in and pull the sock up with the long straps.  Works like a charm!

Last, but not in any way least is my "Reacher" which really does save my bacon daily.  I cannot bend so anything and everything that I drop ,which seems to be many things everyday, I need assistance in retrieving.  Well, the hubby was starting to roll his eyes when I would call him and say "it has fallen and it cannot get up!"  He will retrieve my cane, but I need to pick up the rest of the stuff and the reacher does the trick.  I have two of them, one up stairs and one down stairs and they have been great.

To help me get around I have my cane and a 4 Wheel Walker that I use.  My cane is the mainstay getting me around the house and when I go out in the world I take my walker.  A little shout out to the Hubby who got me a very cool cane that has multi-colored butterflies on it.  It is very colorful, and matches many outfits (that is what he thought when he got it for me).  I have received many compliments on it since it is so happy and colorful and much better than a generic gray one. My Walker is deluxe and it is a little more hip than the one I used in the hospital at first which I an thankful for.  If I had to learn to use a walker 30 years before I expected to at least make it cool and hip.  So, when they ordered me the 4 Wheel variety and it was "Red" I was a happy lady.  You know it is really the small things when a walker makes you happy :).

Lesson Number 6 - Always get the right tools for the job, even if you plan to later give them away or sell them when you no longer have a need for them!