Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 117

Quick question about manual wheelchairs

Is it normal when you first use one to have to course-correct constantly so it doesn't pull to one side?

I rented one for a week in the hope of being able to do some stuff without completely wearing myself out or getting overuse injuries, but it pulled so strongly to the right that using crutches was actually less tiring than wrestling with it on literally every turn of the wheels. I had Layla try it out to see if it was just me, and she had the same experience. (Yes, from the same medical supply shop that told me to use my crutches in a way that would cause nerve damage.)

Also, how fast can you go in a standard, lightweight, self-propelled wheelchair once you get used to it? I couldn't get mine to go above a snail's pace, but I wasn't used to it and I also couldn't get a rhythm going because I had to haul it back to center constantly or it would veer off to the right. I'm assuming pretty fast as people use them to play rugby!

My office chair handles better than their wheelchair.

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No one expects the diarrhea sound effect

As I am currently on crutches, multiple people have recommended an episode of the podcast Outside, Can We Please Kill Off Crutches?, an informative and entertaining exploration of the history of crutches and their pros and cons.

That podcast mentioned that there was an earlier one about the dramatic story of how one of the podcast hosts broke his leg diving into a waterfall, He That Is Down Need Fear No Fall. So I listened to that. It was a compelling and moving survival story, which I saw was part of their Science of Survival series.

That is obviously catnip for me, so before starting some exercises I was going to do on the floor, I turned on one somewhat at random, figuring it was a high-quality podcast on a topic of great interest to me, so any of them would be enjoyable. The one I selected was Dangerously Delicious, about poisonous mushrooms.

I should mention at this point that once I'm down on the floor, I can't get up without a hand-hold as I can't put any weight on one foot, and I had slithered to an open area without any hand-holds to do my exercises.

I began my exercises as the podcast launched into a rather melodramatic second-person account of picking mushrooms. It was a different narrator than the others, and I didn't much like him but it was an intriguing topic and also, as mentioned before, I was now a captive audience.

I continued exercising and listening as "you" serve your friends a death cap risotto, then begin showing symptoms.

"A wave of nausea sweeps over you," the narrator intoned. "You rush to the toilet to vomit."

A graphic vomiting description followed, making me consider dragging myself back to turn it off. But surely that was it for the vomit...

"HURRRRRGH! BLEEEEEGGGH! HURRRRRRGH!" SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH.

Yes. The podcast had vomit sound effects. I stopped exercising and listened, grossed out and amazed, as they were followed by the sound effect of a flushing toilet.

Oh well, I thought, at least that's over. Though why in the world would a podcast do a vomit sound effect...?

"Another wave of nausea strikes, even worse than the last!" declared the narrator. Incredulous, I listened to a second round of lengthy vomit effects, complete with splashes and flushing toilet.

Appalled at the thought that the vomiting might continue in real time, I began to drag myself to the computer. But before I could reach it...

"And then you feel a rumble in your guts! You barely have time to sit on the toilet before diarrhea spews out of you!"

And then there were graphic, highly realistic diarrhea sound effects.

Just. WHY?

The toilet was once again flushing as I pulled the plug.

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Little Orthopedic Boot on the Prairie

I am going to a close friend's wedding next week. The theme is "Little House on the Prairie," and bride and groom will wear fancy prairie-style outfits. Guests can wear whatever they please. I will be on crutches and wearing a giant black boot that makes me look like Mecha Robocop on one foot, and a hiking shoe on the other.

I actually own all the outfits mentioned in the poll, with the likely exception of the prairie one.

View Poll: What should I wear to a prairie wedding with a boot?

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So I saw the podiatrist...

I saw the podiatrist today. He took some more X-rays. My ankle isn't injured (at least not insofar as an X-ray turned up). The second and third metatarsals are snapped through, and the fourth is cracked. There's under 1mm displacement on the second metatarsal fracture and none on the others, so he thought the treatment would be the same regardless of whether there was Lisfranc involvement.

I have a prescription for forearm crutches, which I couldn't pick up today as the medical supply store is closed on Mondays, but hopefully soon. No PT till my 2-week follow-up. No weight-bearing on the foot, but taking the boot off to sleep and ice it is OK, using it for balance if I'm not putting any weight on it is OK, resting the heel on the floor is OK. I got ordered to spend more time with it elevated.

No painkillers other than NSAIDS (I did get told my max ibuprofen and naproxen dosages) and I'm still in the boot, but I think I'll be OK if I don't have to sleep in it. I just now realized that I forgot to ask about a prescription for ibuprofen gel, which is not OTC in the US. I guess I can call him if I need it.

The doctor was entirely reasonable, but partway in, when he left to check X-Rays, Ian, my friend who was sitting in, realized that he'd left the temporary disabled permit application in the car.

"I'll just go get it," he said.

"NO. We'll get it afterward," I said.

"But this doctor is obviously fine," he protested. "You don't need me."

"He's fine because you're here," I said.

I don't know if that was true or not, but Ian stayed put, the doctor continued to be fine, and we got the application signed afterward - they had some in stock at the front desk.

Cut for more photos.

The foot pics still aren't half as dramatic as it actually looks in real life. And the same with my hair. Just imagine my bruises twice as dark and my hair twice as colorful.

I have a mottled green-and-brown sweatshirt that I like to wear because everyone comments that it matches my hair. Now my bruises match my hair!

( Read more... )

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Core and back exercises that don't require feet

I'm pretty well set up with upper body strength exercises, thank you very much to all who contributed. But I'm a bit lacking in core and back exercises/stretches that don't require feet. For instances, I can't do planks or bridges because they require weight on the feet. Please rec me stuff along those lines, no feet required.

Also, I have added a tag so those of you who want to skip foot stuff can blacklist it if you have a paid account.

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Life on crutches

Walking with armpit crutches is exhausting. Though on the plus side, my worry that my overall level of fitness would go to hell due to lack of exercises was hilariously wrongheaded - if anything, I am liable to get much stronger by the time this is done (and/or some added overuse injuries.

I went to see Captain Marvel yesterday with hederahelix at Mann's Chinese, which involved plowing through a gigantic crowd of oblivious tourists, people attending a street fair I hadn't known was happening, hucksters in costumes or with an albino boa, and aggressive Jesus freaks holding HELL IS HOT and YOU WILL BURN signs and carrying crosses (easily carried ones, not actually crucifixion size or weight - missing the point, Jesus freaks!). I kept having to stop and rest, and by the time I got to tickets I was literally dripping with sweat.

That was when I discovered that Captain Marvel was no longer in the IMAX theatre I'd gone all the way to Hollywood and braved the skeevy madness of the Walk of Fame for, but was in 3D. I can't visually process 3D and it makes all scenes using it visually incomprehensible to me. So I had to go all the way back, through the oblivious tourists and the hucksters and the super lightweight cross-bearers, and then to another theatre. On the way a huckster dressed as Pennywise startled a group of tourists, one of whom collided with me and nearly knocked me down.

This was all additionally complicated by the fact that hederahelix was driving us in her car (in retrospect she should have just driven mine as I realized this exact second, oh well) which had two broken door locks so both driver and passenger doors cannot be opened from the inside.

(The movie was no Black Panther, but it was very fun. Loved the Carol & Fury & Goose show.)

Then I got home and found that my homemade bread had gone moldy. I consoled myself by getting the cats high and getting hederahelix to photograph my foot so I could cadge some sympathy.

This morning I went to the farmers market, but was so exhausted by the time I got there (and also concerned about shoulder/wrist overuse injuries) that I bought some berries, carrots, and oranges and called it a day. Then I realized that I had to walk all the way back, but now with a weight. I was debating asking some random shopper for a ride to my car when a helpful homeless guy who I'd earlier given some money spotted me and carried my backpack to my car for me.

I got there and back by taking off my boot, driving with my left foot, then putting the boot back on. Unfortunately, when I tried to get over a curb, I tripped, went sprawling, and landed directly on my broken foot. So I may have some additional degrees of dislocation now. ARRRRGH!

Also some of the berries got squashed. I decided I had better eat those immediately, before they went bad, and polish off most of the raspberries as well in case they had hidden crush injuries. However, I bought three boxes, so I have plenty left.

Cats are very put out that I am no longer walking around the house cradling them in my arms like a baby (Erin) or letting them leap on to my shoulders from a standing position (Alex). They are consoling themselves by taking up permanent residence in my lap.

But here's the most interesting thing I've learned. Having a very visible and presumed-temporary disability, at least for me and so far, makes people be extra-nice. Strangers are helpful or offer stories about their own broken bones. If I decline help with thanks, they don't have a problem with that. Not a single one of the MANY people to whom I have now told the story of how I broke my foot has blamed me, even though insofar as there is any blame to be placed, this was 100% my fault.

Having an invisible disability, again at least for me, mostly made people be absolute assholes, openly disbelieve me, and tell me to my face that it's all my fault. If I declined help with thanks, they often got angry with me and then blamed me some more.

Having a visible disability of the sort I currently have is no picnic (fucking curbs, I hate them), and I'm sure the fact that mine signals "temporary" makes a big difference. All the same, all else being equal, if I had to pick a permanent one, I'd take visible over invisible every time.

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Not-really-gory photos

Do not click unless you are in the mood for "Wanna see my broken foot?" Cut for photos of bruised foot (and a cat). ( Read more... )

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Anyone Can Bake: 1929 Royal Baking Powder Cookbook

After helping a neighbor clean out his apartment for a move and bringing him homebaked bread as a consolation, he gave me a cookbook that he'd unearthed from God knows where. It's a complete delight, and unlike many old cookbooks which are only good for windows into the things people used to eat that we now find unutterably gross, or for enjoyable reading of recipes way too complex or unusual to actually make, this one's recipes look both good and extremely simple.

I am going to try some. I assume baking powder is basically the same now as in 1929, i.e., I can just do the recipes as written?

Cut for a whole lot of photos. ( Read more... )

Anyone Can Bake[image error]

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Farmers Market Month: Conclusion

I am bringing Farmers Market Month to a premature "to be continued" as yesterday I broke three bones in my foot in a bouldering accident.



I'm now in a boot and on crutches, I can't put any weight on my foot, and both shopping and cooking (along with everything else) has become 100% more difficult. I'll rerun it later on when it's possible to walk and hold stuff in my hands at the same time.

It was an awesome experiment, up there with KonMari in terms of how much fun I had with it and how it changed things about my life in positive ways. Though I have to say that the best bit of it had nothing to do with literal farmers markets, but was learning to bake bread. I love baking bread! Last night I repurposed my rolling office chair as a wheelchair, scooted around the kitchen, and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich with my very own bread that I'd baked the day before. It was very comforting.

Tips on dealing with crutches, baking bread, exercising with one foot, and/or totally random comments welcome!

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Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should (and Shouldn't) Cook from Scratch, by Jennifer Reese

What it says on the tin. Reese kept hearing Michael Pollan various people make complaints about how terrible it is that people buy things, especially food, instead of cooking them from scratch like they did when everyone ate potatoes and buttermilk every day in the good old days.

So she decided to see for herself if that was true, by doing head-to-head comparisons of things bought and things made - everything from bread (make unless you have a truly great bakery nearby, it's delicious and easy) to goat milk (buy, your neighbors will hate you if you keep blatting goats in your backyard) to maraschino cherries (buy, home attempts resulted in concoctions of even more hideousness and inedibility than the store-bought versions.)

She intersperses recipes (mostly pulled from an assortment of other cookbooks rather than original) with often hilarious accounts of her attempts at everything from cheesemaking to beekeeping, to cost-benefit analyses of cost, hassle, and whether the hassle is worth it. I found her voice and style charming - she's slightly hapless without being incompetent, i.e., her results probably map fairly well to mine. She's also very upfront that she's writing for the kind of person who is both interested in and capable (financially, timewise, etc) of actually doing at least some of the things she's discussing.

Though I often had completely different ideas of what's too much hassle and what's worth it, her analyses did give me a solid idea of whether I'd find trying something at home to be worthwhile. Bread, for instance, is a pretty big hassle if you have a demanding office job, and not worth it if you're not much into bread anyway. If you work from home, enjoy making it, and appreciate good bread, it's 100% worth it. But much as I love cheese, the process of making it sounds too fiddly and gross, though Reese found it mostly worthwhile. On the flip side, she thought homemade rice pudding doesn't come out any better than the store-bought version, and so is not worth it. HERESY.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should (and Shouldn't) Cook from Scratch to Save Time and Money[image error]

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