Taking It Easy: Doing Things with Minimal Effort

 Hello everyone who still may be here!

Everyday activities are becoming more difficult because of muscle pain and hand edema for me. So for the first time in my life I am become less physical. My question is what do you say to yourself on bad days and when negative intrusive thoughts about the future of your mobility threaten to overwhelm? Some days I get tired just thinking of working through my soreness to do my housework, so I'd appreciate some suggestions on motivating myself to "keep going."

I need a mobility scooter that folds and/or comes apart and that I can handle myself and haul in my car's trunk, rather than on a rack on the back of the car.

I've had a Featherlite from No Boundaries for four years, and it's finally wearing out. I like it as a scooter, it's easy to haul and to ride, but it's had electrical problems from day one. I spent its first few months alternately riding it, hauling it to warranty service centers, picking it up unfixed from said centers when No Boundaries wouldn't pay as much as the fixing places required for servicing (one said, "What they're offering us wouldn't cover what we'd charge to open it up and look inside"), and shipping the motor end to/from No Boundaries. It's worked well for three years now, until recently, when we've had to replace front wheel-motor screws. But this weekend, in the middle of Baycon, it got a short somewhere in the electronics, and just won't go.

So I'm shopping for a new, or new/used one, but I'd rather have one with a good reputation for reliability. And again, it also needs to be something I can manage alone. No part should weigh more than about 30 lbs, and it needs to be able to fit in the trunk of a big-trunked car.

I'd love your recommendations. Are the No Boundaries Featherlites made more recently more reliable than they were in 2004? Are there better brands? Do you know anything about the Buzzaround?
http://ucanhealth.com/product_deta…

How about the Superlight 3?
http://store.a2bscooters.com/b3els…
http://www.comforthouse.com/scoote…

If you don't know about specific models, can you point me to an advice/review website that might have information?

Thanks. :)

Mary

As much as I like to cook from local foods, and from scratch, on my gimpier days, I'm really fond of Trader Joe's -- meat came marinated and cut up, I just needed to cook it; corn tortillas; can of black beans, some green onions; salsa; and pre-grated cheese blend, and yo, I've got tostadas.

Woot.com is briefly selling bottom-end mobility scooters for $400. Won't last. They never do.

For sewing, some folks have suggested electric scissors for me, and some have suggested a rotary cutter.

My primary issue is that even when my RA isn't flaring, too much cutting makes my wrists swell badly, and I develop fluid cysts on them. My partner says he'll "do all the cutting," but I have the feeling that'll slow down my learning.

I like the idea of electric scissors, but wonder if they might be too vibratey.

Suggestions?

I was thinking online jobs like data entry or even html/css based website design would work well for me. I have fast typeing speed and know these codes but do these jobs really exist? Has anyone ever found a real job offering of this? Do any of them hire people without job experience, I'm self taught.


thanks

I've finally decided that I am going to ask my doctor to prescribe a scooter. I don't think that part is going to be too difficult.

The hard part, though, is which one? If you have one, did your doctor specify a model, ask you what you wanted, what? Is there anything you'd change about the model you got? Pointers?

Thanks!

Wrist Splints Helpful for Inflammatory Arthritis
Mon Nov 15, 2004 03:24 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For people with inflammatory arthritis affecting the wrist, using a wrist splint can reduce pain and improve strength, Canadian researchers have shown.
Previous reports suggested that wrist splints may improve symptoms but at the risk of reducing dexterity and the performance of some functional tasks, the authors explain in the medical journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.

For the past two or three years, I've been using rigid wrist splints whenever my wrists get even a little puffy or aggravated, or when I know I'll need to use my hands a lot. They make a huge difference for me.

Now that my hands aren't awful, I find myself wanting to learn needlepoint again. I can knit some and crochet some, but both of those seem like they'd cause my wrists to inflame.

Last year around this time, when my hands weren't in too-bad shape, I did a lot of sewing at once, and ended up needing cortisone injections in my wrists afterwards.

I don't want that again, but I want to make beautiful things.

How do people with rheumatoid arthritis in the fingers and hands do needlepoint without aggravating it?

Thank goodness Someone started this community. *L* I'm constantly trying to find ways of doing various tasks with the least expenditure. I have friends that wonder why it can take me ALL DAY to do a few loads of laundry!

So, what is the most challanging chore for you?

Mine is bathroom cleaning - there's a lot of bending over and balancing involved. Some of the new products at the store are starting to make it easier - but I'm still encountering a lot of harsh chemicals (skin's a little sensitive - don't like my fingers bleeding after housekeeping).