I Finally Got My Custom Knee Braces!!!! Im So Fucking Happy I Just Wish It Didnt Take This Long To Get

I finally got my custom knee braces!!!! I’m so fucking happy I just wish it didn’t take this long to get it authorized. I’m so lucky too that my insurance covered them because otherwise they’d be ridiculously expensive. They were 3D printed to match my legs so they fit so perfectly. Getting used to them is hard because they make my leg muscles have to actually work rather than just going along for the ride and my joints don’t hurt as fast during the day. Walking is so much better now. I’m so fucking happy omg. I’m so thankful to my sports medicine doctor who wrote the letter that was hugely responsible for getting my insurance to approve them.

Now I need custom fit braces because of the significant size discrepancy between my thighs and my calves. Every pre fabricated brace I have tried or wanted to try didn’t fit me in so many ways. Either they didn’t go big enough to fit my thighs or they fit my thighs but were too big for my calves or they wouldn’t sit right on my knees or so much else. But I finally have amazing braces that fit perfectly and actually stay on my legs and for that I am so thankful.

These braces have made such a big difference in how active I’m able to be and how I’m able to do physical therapy. With these braces I can actually get my knees and legs closer to where they need to be without the same kind of pain and instability that I have without them.

Now I’m working on getting a disabled parking placard because while walking is easier it’s still hard because of my joints and fatigue and also because of my POTS and just everything else that’s wrong in my body. So I have an appointment with my gp to work on the paperwork and then I’ll go from there to apply. I’m so happy that I’m finally able to get even just some of the help I need and for that I am so grateful.

Okay so I’m heading back to school after spring break and my trip was AMAZING like seriously I loved it but wow I’m in so much pain now from everything we did. I had rest time and most days were laid back but damn even still. I made the mistake of bringing neither my crutches nor my braces with me because I thought they’d be a nuisance rather than helpful but I have definitely come to realize that any potential level of nuisance-ery is far less than the helpfullness of them. I hopefully won’t make that mistake again.

On another note screw the stairs you have to take up to a plane sometimes. Those are so wobbly and steep and long. And oh my my knees wanted to CRY.

I LOVE WHEN THINGS ARE ACCESSIBLE

I LOVE WHEN I DIDNT KNOW SOMETHING WAS INACCESSIBLE AND SOMEONE SHOWS ME HOW IT COULD BE SO I CAN MAKE IT THAT WAY

I WANT PREGNANCY TESTS WITH MORE THAN ONE INDICATOR FOR BLIND WOMEN! I WANT AUDIO DESCRIPTIONS JUST AS MUCH AS I WANT CAPTIONS! I WANT WIDER WALKWAYS IN PUBLIC SPACES! MORE WARNINGS ABOUT TRIGGERS IN MOVIES BOTH EMOTIONAL AND FOR THOSE WITH SEIZURE CONDITIONS! THERE’S SO MANY MORE THAT I CANT NAME BECAUSE I SIMPLY DONT KNOW THEM YET but i’ll be damned if someone asks “who even needs that” and gets away with it just because they think a change that someone else is willing to make and actually has nothing to do with them, is somehow a personal affront against them.

having to rotate like a sardine in bed because laying in one position for too long hurts

disabled/chronically ill people in general do not have the same number of usable hours as ableds. i can't meet my friend tomorrow because i need to wash my hair, and i can't meet them the day after because i need to do a load of laundry. i can't meet them thursday because i have an important appointment on friday, and if i overdo it on thursday i'll have to cancel friday's appointment. then i can't meet them on saturday because i'll be recovering from going out on friday, if i even manage to make it out the house. the old 'we all have the same 24 hours in the day' saying does not apply to us.

hate how obnoxious abled people get the moment i so much as vaguely imply any part of my disability might possibly be permanent

i understand that the mere concept scares you shitless and your feelings are valid etc but fucking keep it to yourself, yeah? maybe read a book about how not to be an ableist cunt while you're at it