CIDP and Me - Shack Wacky

I ended up with an unexpected week off of all appointments this week. That's right - no physio, no doctors, no IVIG - crazy. So, what to do? Well, for a start, take my home exercises up a notch by increasing weights and time on the bike and standing whenever someone was around to spot me. Housecleaning also featured prominently as I had time and energy to really go at it. I think I spent so much time sitting still and watching Netflix or reading over the past  year that I am no longer able to do that for long, especially during  the daytime, so I had to find things to do. I decided to throw caution to the wind and expand my horizons in the kitchen.

I divide progression into two categories - the physical with an ultimate goal of walking unassisted and functional with an ultimate goal of doing all the things in the house that I once took for granted. I did not make any great physical strides this week, but I made some significant functional progress. On Thursday I baked a cake. By myself. It was a pumpkin spice cake made with squash that I baked, also by myself. I used my grabber to turn on the oven and to get the spices and ingredients that were out of reach. I set everything that I needed on the table and took my time. It worked out well - I even made icing. When all was finished I carefully replaced the spices in the cupboard and decided to try something else - dishes. I now know how little kids must feel helping with dishes. I am able to reach for the taps and into the sink albeit a little awkwardly. I did it though - washed a load of dishes in the sink and got them safely into the drying rack. Putting dishes away in the upper cupboards is beyond my grabber's strength so I left them to drip dry.

With that accomplishment under my belt I decided to brave the coffee pot. We drink coffee from an Italian stove top moka pot, not a regular drip machine. The moka pot screws together and must be quite tight to work. I found on Friday that I could unscrew the pot - yay! Unfortunately when I put it back together and settled it on the burner, I did not get it tight enough so the coffee did not really work out. Sigh. Not being one to take defeat lightly, I decided to try again on Saturday afternoon and it worked! You have no idea how fantastic it is to be able to make my own coffee again. It is very exciting to me. Finally, I put my new found skills to work and made chilli for dinner. I not only cut everything up, I stirred the pot and added the spices. Scott did help by opening the cans, which was appreciated as I'm not sure that my hand strength is up to the can opener.

My conclusion about all of this - I am now almost entirely independent in the house. I can dress, clean and feed myself like a grown up. If only I could get downstairs to let the dog out...