Monthly Archives: August 2025

Yet another set back for this wheelchair gardener!

Just as I was starting to get up for a little more time as my pressure sore on my right ischium was healing – my flipping wheelchair broke!  Arrrrrrgh!   The left hand part of the frame/castor clamp has sheered so the castor will not work as it is sitting at a jaunty angle.  I have no idea if this can be repaired or if I have to get a new wheelchair (supplied by NHS) so I have no idea how long this will all take.  I do have a very old (39 year old) wheelchair as a spare but it isn’t quite the same height etc as my new one so I am reluctant to use it as I am having to do lots of transfers on and off the bed and loo and my ischium is still very delicate and I don’t want to bash it during a transfer.  Harry has managed to do a temporary fix so I can still use the broken chair around the house but I have to be very gently with it so I can’t even go into the conservatory or patio in case it gets caught between the slabs  in the grouting.  My shoulder is still very painful and all this bed rest is not doing it any favours.  For now  all I can do is just keep the houseplants happy.  The irony is that I was using a perfectly good 15 year old wheelchair but the NHS said it wasn’t fit for purpose and scrapped it  – haha it was the brand new chair that broke!

Break of a castor clamp/frame on wheelchair.
Break of castor clamp.
Broken area of wheelchair clamp for  castor.
Broken area on the clamp for the castor.
Part that has sheared off the clamp for wheelchair castor.
Broken part.
Bolt and washers on a temporary wheelchair repair.
Temporary repair.
white fluffy flowers on spirea

One major low of gardening with a disability.

I garden daily as I not only have a front and back garden, but also a houseful of plants, a conservatory, and a patio with loads of plants in them.  This takes a lot of work and therefore time.  With any disability you have to pace yourself so as not fall ill or make your disability worse.  One of the symptoms of Sjogrens disease is fatigue and another is pain.  In Scotland usually I am trying to get as much done as possible outside on good weather days, and concentrate on the indoor plants when the weather is inclement.  Do too much one day and you will regret it for the next few days.  This used to work well but these days I can only do so much at a time and have to pace myself so the jobs soon mount up.  These last few weeks have been awful as I have a pressure sore on my right ischium.  Being paraplegic, with no feeling or movement below the bra line, means I have to check my skin daily for signs of pressure sores or indeed anything else going on with my skin.  Even though I check every day I did not recognise this particular sign (dry flaky skin) as the beginnings of a pressure sore.  I did catch it early, but is still means that I now have to have many hours of bed rest!  NO GARDENING!  I can get up for a few hours per day and have to lift my behind many times to relieve the pressure on my ischium.  So as you can imagine I haven’t been able to prune some of the shrubs that have finished flowering, dead-head, weed, do slug patrols or generally keep the garden tip-top.  The patio has grass going to seed in every crack and the flowers and weeds are seeding all over the place.  I had just bought a few plants and haven’t been able to plant them out yet.  I have been up just enough to keep up with watering the house  plants, conservatory and patio.  It is sooooo very frustrating.  I will definitely have to get  continuous help with the gardening in future as I just can’t do it myself anymore.  Harry has helped with the dead-heading  but he doesn’t like gardening AT ALL and he is busy with his own hobbies.  So I am off to find someone who is reliable, knows a bit about actual gardening – not just mowing the lawn, likes gardening, and won’t charge too much.  Wish me luck.

white fluffy flowers on spirea
Spirea japonica ‘white gold’