Why do I use Wheels?

Today, 12th May, is ME Awareness Day.  So I thought it would be a good time to explain why I use wheels to do agility.

I have not always been ill.  Prior to the onset of ME I was very active, and enjoyed many outdoor hobbies such as riding, cycling, gardening, swimming, walking and....

Well, you get the picture - I led a normal busy, active life.

This is me on my daughter's horse with some junior Pony Club members - probably around 2010:

Unfortunately Myalgic Encephalomyelitis stole my active life in March 2012.

Suddenly I was unable to work, or to function normally.  I kept expecting to "get back to normal" but every day I felt drained!  I just couldn't bounce back and kept asking "Why?"

Sadly there are few medical answers for ME and no realistic treatment options, so I was just left to get on with things.

And, this is how I still am!  I run out of ooommmphfff very quickly.  I also make myself permanently worse every time I try to push my boundaries!

For the first year of ME I was still able to walk enough to train my terrier Patsy. It was our first competitive year, and I attempted to send her away from me on course, so that I could take short cuts!

I even used this rather loud fleece, with the idea that dogs see blue and yellow best, and maybe she'd understand me better!  It was a marginally successful tactic!

As the year went on, I recovered less and less quickly after each competitive round, and with my abilities declining, I faced the very real thought that I might have to give up agility altogether!

That's when I thought of using wheels.

At last, I could move quickly again, and I could once again "walk" the dogs each day.

Psychologically, this was an incredibly scary move, yet the scooter gave me back a sense of freedom - one that I thought I'd lost forever!

To be honest, using wheels has opened my world back up again!

Don't get me wrong I can still walk.  Yet I've found, if I walk more than about 600 paces each day that I make myself very ill.  So, I use a wee gadget called a Fitbit to monitor what I do.  This seems nerdy, but it has helped me to stabilise my health.

Now, when it comes to wheels,  I've discovered that there are various types of wheels, and that really a little red granny scooter does not feature highly in the wheels credibility league!  

So....  after much debate, and with the realisation that my health was still not improving... 

... I finally got some SERIOUS WHEELS earlier this year!  

My new Aztec Scooter can go places that the wee red Rascal never could.  At last I can get out through our trees again.  I used to walk the dogs here each morning before work, but since becoming ill, I had been unable to do so.

The dogs love this too and I often pack coffee, nibbles and a book when I head out to the trees. 

I guess there are parts of my new life that I've come to love.

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Thank you for taking the time to read this.

More links to blog posts written for #May12BlogBomb can be found at:

http://sallyjustme.blogspot.com/2014/05/May12BlogBombLinks.html

PS... And a more recent video of me doing agility with Finn can be found in this post:
First Proper Competitive Outing for Finn.

PPS - Check here for another update at the end of 2016.  An improvement in my health means that after 3+ years using wheels, I am now on my feet again. Not quite recovered, but doing better:
More than a year!