As I come to the end of another year and another one waits on the horizon, it’s time to look back and forward all in one post. Cool, right? Yeah, I didn’t think so neither. So let’s get on to it.
2017 has been a great year. Considering how bittersweet 2016 was, it’s been a big improvement. As I moved into adulthood in January, the amount of help and support from my local Council changed dramatically. I went from nothing to something all because I didn’t tick the ‘complex medical needs’ that child services didn’t have. As soon as I turned 18, I qualified for everything under adult care. Since then, a conversion of our old outhouse to a little flat for myself, with a wet room, is underway. It’s on course to be finished early next year :).
I’ve also been able to be out and about on a weekly basis, with a one-on-one carer. I even managed to get a certificate in independent cooking. I am also a regular blogger for a local community organisation that helps people with special needs experience life, work, and different activities in the countryside every week.
Arthur-wise, it’s been a mixed bag. I graduated to “big boy medication” called sulfasalazine, which has been a success. I also started using a walking stick this year, which has been a great help when I’m out and about. It hasn’t all been great though, with some particularly nasty flare-ups, both times in my knees. It was debilitating, but every year can’t be without it’s rough edges.
And now it’s time to look forward to the New Year, 2018, the year I will have a little flat to call my own, a year I will have my own fully adjustable bed, a year where my independence grows yet again. But it won’t be without Arthur troubling me, although that’s no surprise.
So, here’s to 2018! Happy New Year!
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(Any opinions expressed in Charlie’s blog are not necessarily shared by Arthur’s Place. Nothing that you read in Charlie’s blog constitutes medical advice.)
