TannieSpace

geekery, drawing and then some

Posts about ra-warrior

Visited the podiatrist (and took some photos on the way)

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I went to visit my podiatrist for the first time, after my rheumatologist referred me, due to ongoing pains in my toes despite lack of arthritis (actual inflammations). I had to take of my shoes and walk around a bit, and she did some pushing and pulling and feeling in general.

At one point I had to press up and down against her arm with my feet, which didn't go very well. I have a lot less strength in my feet than I should, to the point where she expected me to trip over my own feet almost constantly. I don't because I pay a lot of attention to how I walk so I don't trip (which in turn eats up lots of energy too). She suggested getting a good physiotherapist and luckily for me I already got a referral for that yesterday. In the end, it turns out I have inflamed nerves and I'll get inlays to help relax my feet a bit so the pain goes away (a little). She made it clear that it won't do miracles, and I chose to go ahead with it anyway.

It appears we got my RA under control, and I have all these side-things that make me hurt anyway. Heads you win, tails I lose...


Doing some DIY in the kitchen.

img img For a long time some (most) of my kitchencabinets have annoyed me. I cannot imagine why today, kitchen-makers still default to shelves for the bottom cabinets. Shelves below the waist, so if you want to get something out, you have to kneel down, and dive in. With my knees, often plagued by pains and swelling because of the RA, this quickly became such a painful event that I rather left everything on the counters than store it in the cabinet. Not precisely the most handy thing to do.

But no more! Today we fixed my two main cabinets with drawers. I could have replaced the front bit as well, having 'real' drawer-fronts, but I chose to use the old door instead, saving a bit of money along the way. The installation went smoothly and using the doors worked as expected. So now I have fancy drawers, instead of messy shelves. I still have to put all the stuff back, and probably move around a few things for easy access, however, I already feel thrilled about it. The access has become much easier, I don't have to lean over or around the door anymore and I don't have to sit on my knees either.

This will make it so much easier for me to access things. I still have to do the bit by the kitchen-sink (those yellow things), the cabinets there need replacing and I will replace them with similar ones as these. I already found a kitchen-sink-cabinet with a drawer and have eliminated enough stuff from under the kitchen-sink (only frequently used cleaning-supplies, the infrequent used supplies have their place in the hallway-closet) to have a pretty good idea that a drawer will also work. I think they come with one, at the bottom, but possibly also with another (half) one halfway. Either will work great!

Have already started saving for it, it'll take more time and money to get that bit done, but after that, I'll have redone the entire kitchen :)