And now scooters

The news of the week is that Botox has not worked.  If anything it has made things slightly worse, so I think it is back to the drawing board.  I am really disappointed, but perhaps the consultant did not put enough Botox in my saliva glands.  So a trip back to Airedale Hospital to the Max Fax clinic is probably needed, sooner rather than later.  I wonder what entertainment waits for me. The more I get involved in treatments the more I think medicine is an inexact science, rather, a suck it and see approach. If one drug does not work there is always another but I am rarely given any indication of the success rate.  Whilst we are on this topic there seems to be a prescribed standard quantity regardless of body size or tolerance. It seems that I usually have to take twice the recommended dose for drugs to work.  Isn't this where a patient centred approach can make a difference?  In other words, knowing your patient!  All I want is to speak properly, have more control over my bowel and bladder and stop dribbling, because these are all degrading with an accompanying loss of dignity.                                                                                                                                                                                 Apart from the Botox, I have been persuaded by Liz to try out motorised scooters in Harlow Carr Gardens and Bolton Abbey Strid Wood.  This was a difficult proposition; on the one hand, it makes life a lot easier, but on the other hand, tells me I am declining faster than I had hoped.  Anyway scooters are free at both venues!  They were similar machines but the Bolton Abbey one was much faster. On my first try at Harlow Carr Gardens I managed to back into an advertising board otherwise everything went well and gently. Once you are in one of these vehicles everybody looks down on you. Once we had converted my scooter into a tank with bits of wood for guns, which was Seth’s idea [my 5 year old grandson], life was fun.  I was not thinking about disability but being a tank chasing the grandchildren and speeding up the trolley now and then.  It was great fun and my persuade me to use a scooter again but next time Liz will be the target!