They see me rollin'

I’m still dealing with what I’m now thinking of as Leaky Pipe Syndrome. Thankfully I haven’t had another full bleed, but I keep randomly streaking. Yesterday I finally managed 48 hours blood-free and resumed one of my treatments, only to streak at the end of the day and be forced to start all over again. Previously we wouldn’t react so strongly to just a little streaking, but my recent history of Big Dramatic Bleeds makes everyone anxious so we’re being very cautious. I have to keep reminding myself to Be Very Chill and not do anything to elevate my heart rate, which these days basically means not doing anything at all exerting. I am not enjoying being so limited and feeling this fragile.

Today I got my first experience using a motorized cart at Shoprite. I really wanted to actually go food shopping instead of trying to figure out what I needed online, but I also knew it definitely wasn’t safe to do that much walking. So I swallowed my pride and grabbed a motorized cart. I did feel awkward about looking perfectly healthy while puttering around on a scooter though, so I kept my oxygen on the whole time even though I didn’t really need it once I was sitting. I figured no one would question the girl with the nasal cannula. I managed to only run over Katherine’s foot once, and though I ALMOST knocked over a couple displays, nothing ACTUALLY ended up falling. Using the scooter ended up being a weird combination of fun, annoying, and occasionally slightly terrifying. Those things are harder to drive than you’d think!

Katherine has been amazing through all of this craziness. Since I’m mostly incapacitated, almost all the household tasks have fallen to her. I can put together a shopping list and zoom around on my scooter picking things out, but she’s the one shlepping it all home and putting everything away. Not to mention cleaning, and laundry, and just about all the things that keep a household going. I feel terrible about not being able to contribute much, but she does it all without complaint and reassures me that she’s happy to take care of things. I’m not sure how I got so lucky!

Of course, she did get entertainment value watching me almost take out an entire cereal display with my scooter, so maybe it’s a fair trade. Here’s the photographic evidence she took of my Shoprite experience. Maybe next time she’ll get video!