I wasn't exactly tall to begin with at five feet five inches I was average for a woman but tall enough to maneuver through adult chores. Today my five year old granddaughter is taller than I am sitting in this chair.
As children grow there are more things they can reach and do for themselves until one day they can independently access all the things around the home they need. It's a gradual process that enables everyone, children and parents, to gradually adjust to the increasing abilities the children acquire. A child will also climb to reach items higher up, my days of climbing have come to an end. In my case the ability to climb slowly diminished the exact opposite of how children learn to use their body and therefore it was almost a smooth process for me to make adjustments in what I could reach in the beginning. Suddenly, my ability to stand and reach for items was taken from me and I had to quickly adjust to life from a seated position. It's a strange feeling to suddenly lose a couple of feet of height and have to figure out how to manage from this vantage point..
I've made the adjustments in most areas of my home. The kitchen has been the most frustrating. The upper cabinets are useless to me and sit empty, although they still need wiped down from time to time and I can't reach them to do that. My dishes are stored in the lower cabinets where I can get to them.
Cooking is downright dangerous. The knobs on the stove are on the back of the cooktop which means I have to reach across hot burners to turn them off. My stretched out arms are the same height as the burners which means I'm always trying to find the right spot so as not to burn myself. I'm too short from this chair to see inside pans instead I have to remove hot pans from the stove and place them on my lap (on a pot holder) to stir the food.
Baking is just as hard. The counters are the same height as my shoulders, add a bowl and even straining my body as far as possible will not give me a view inside a mixing bowl. A kitchen chair becomes my prep space for now.
The sink is another frustration. From a seated position you are much further from the cabinet and have to reach into the sink to wash dishes or turn the water on. I keep a towel handy for the water that runs up my arms as I rinse and stack the clean dishes. Too many dishes and my back aches from the strain on my body in the contorted way I sit to accomplish this task.
Yet, there is no time of year more frustrating than spring when I want to do a thorough spring cleaning. Removing curtains, washing windows, getting in all those nooks and crannies, moving furniture around....I have yet to figure out how to do all this on my own.
I have always been fiercely independent and it's been hard to accept the limitations this disease has placed on me but it's this time of year I have to accept the help offered from family to accomplish these tasks. It's been four years now, swallowing my pride and asking for help hasn't gotten any easier.
