macular degeneration, macular, diagnosis The Attack of the Dishwasher – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

The Attack of the Dishwasher

I left the dishwasher open last evening…..see it coming? Good. I always knew you guys were smart.  Went out to the kitchen in the dark and fell over it. I am glad all I did was boo boo my leg. Afterwards I had the thought I could have fallen on the dishwasher and torn the door off. It could have been $600 or $700 for a new dishwasher. Now THAT is an ouchy.

This is actually a very minor boo boo. I was lucky! Many falls and head-level injuries result in the need for medical attention. I also see I need to moisturize my legs and shave more thoroughly…but that is a different page! In the words of Hill Street Blues: “Let’s roll and, hey, let’s be careful out there. ”

The short version of this lesson is “Don’t do that!” The longer version is “don’t leave obstacles in your own way, don’t fumble around in the dark and work on your strength and balance so you can recover and not destroy expensive appliances.” I did not follow advice on the first two out of three.

American Federation for the Blind has a nice article called A Checklist for Environmental Safety. The article highlights things like having good light and keeping chairs – and dishwasher doors! – pushed in.

A study done in 2011 was the only study concerning mobility-related accidents experienced by people with visual impairment I found. It had the catchy title of Mobility-Related Accidents Experience by People with Visual Impairment. The authors were Manduchi and Kurniawan.

The article reported previous research had established the visually impaired are at a higher risk for injury from falls than the general population.  (Do I even have to say it????? Duh, really? And yes I know some research does debunk ‘common sense’ but my boo boo suggests we don’t belabor the obvious.)

These authors decided to study head-level accidents.  Turned out 13% of the blind experienced head-level accidents at least once a month! This was in comparison to 7% taking falls. Those with dogs fared better overall than cane users.

Another interesting finding?  Those who traveled more outdoors did not appear to be having significantly more head-level or falling accidents than those who left their houses less frequently.

Bottom line on this? Watch out for stray furniture – and dishwasher doors – that jump out of nowhere to trip you, but while you are doing that, watch your head!  It may be the dishwasher is in cahoots with the cupboard door. Watching what the dishwasher is doing, you may discover the cupboard door is launching an attack!

Also, outdoor hazards did not prove to be any worse than the ones indoors, so once in a while it might be nice to get outside.

I intend to go outside to play more very soon. The orientation and mobility guy just called. He is visiting in three days!?? Yippee!!!!!

written 7/31/2016

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