Hooray for showers!

I had a meeting with an OT the other week. As is becoming the norm, she gave me a whole list of things that would be helpful for me, but said that they didn't have funding to give me any of them*. Except for yet another not-skin coloured brace, one size fits none. Then, she had a brainwave. We still have lots of bathboards in our budget, do you have any problems in the shower?

I used to love showers. A long, warm shower at the end of a hard day was one of my favourite things. But over the last year, it'd become almost impossible for me to have a shower in our current set up, with a shower over the bath. On most days getting in to the bath was about do-able, but climbing back out when everything was slippery was decidedly treacherous. Combine that with my propensity to faint at the sight of hot water these days, and my inability to stand still for any meaningful length of time, and you start to understand the number of bruises, popped out joints and concussions I accumulated.

The picture shows a white plastic bath board over a white bath.
The tiles in the bathroom (not mine!) are yellow and blue.

It had got to the point that I was showering maybe once a week, and only with a lot of help, swearing and the aforementioned bruises. Noone (not GP, rheumatologist or physio) thought this was a good enough reason to refer me to OT. I was referred in the end because I "bend my hands in ridiculously disgusting ways", to quote the physio.

Yesterday the bath bench arrived. It is very white (one of two NHS regulation colours, the other being not-skin-coloured) and a bit ugly, but hey. It will make transferring in and out my easier, and will mean I can sit down for most of the shower. Privacy, safety and cleanliness, all in one lump of white plastic. And all for like £30. And the mrs is pleased...it's a much easier way to shave your legs than trying to balance like a stork!

* Some really good ideas though - I bought the beautiful device below, a Breville hot cup, on her recommendation, because I keep dumping the contents of just-boiled kettles all over myself. Means I can have a cup of cherry tea even when I'm not being supervised by the mrs. Yum =)

The picture shows a black and blue kettle-type object,
that dispenses water into a cup placed under a spout,
rather than needing to be poured.