Me and my mate MS

I went four years ago for a mammogram when I was still living in Buckinghamshire right next to Stoke Mandeville Hospital when I was still in a manual wheelchair. This was when I first experienced the difficulty receiving treatment being a female in a wheelchair, my limited movements in my upper body and hardly any core stability caused a real issue.  When I had to place my breast in between the plates I was unable to lean far enough forward for a complete mammogram X-ray to be taken. The report that went back to my GP showed it was not conclusive as only a partial mammogram was conducted. At the time I was refused any assistance. Move on to the back end of 2021 and lots of organisation by my Doctor and I went to the Breast Screening Clinic at Portsmouth hospital and saw a Consultant who went and spoke to the Radiographers who confirmed that due to me now being in an electric wheelchair I would be too tall for the machine. I asked the consultant if I could have an ultrasound as I kn...

Yesterday I went to my local hospital for a Neuro Rehabilitation appointment and saw Mr Paul Bolaji. I wasn’t quite sure how he could actually help me due to my lack of mobility as all the physio I now have has to be passive although my standing using the tilt table at the Chilterns MS Centre once a month makes a huge difference as my body actually gets to do what it is designed to do. Hubby came with me to the appointment, and actually it made a really positive impact on my mental health, why? Well we spent just over an hour talking and laughing. I explained to him that although my limbs were not much help to me these days I was still able to talk and talk and smile and laugh. He loved my positive mental attitude, he told me he could learn so much from me about how to deal with the well-being side of MS! Mr Paul Bolaji wanted to know more about the MS group we started down on Hayling Island especially the additional activity of singing. It turns out he is in the process of developing ...

As I sit here and watch the news about the increasing prices of fuel and hear the latest comments by people in the know who say people who’s fuel costs that equate to 10% or more of their disposable income are considered to be in fuel poverty. Well guess what folks I realise I am one of those 10%, I didn’t choose to be in poverty! Unfortunately I do claim benefits not because I want to but because I have to. As I mentioned in my previous blog Hubby is responsible for 127.5 hours of my care and gets £69.70 each week. However with that comes a caveat of not earning more than £132.00 a week. I claim Disability Living Allowance which is not means tested and is there to assist with the additional cost incurred when living with a disability. It is also broken down into two parts one being the care component and the other is the mobility. The care component is £92.40 per week and the mobility component is £64.50 per week. I also claim EESA which I get paid fortnightly and is £235.20 and I am ...