Know when to walk away, know when to roll

Grappling with my need for accessibility devices

This week, I was invited to share a little about my life with Long COVID over at Public Health Action Network. The result was an essay titled Fallout, a reference to the eerie feeling I have on the rare occasion I’m able to leave home: like I’ve tumbled, disoriented, out of a fallout shelter. In the essay, I shared that after walking 200 feet to the neighborhood market in early January, I triggered a miserable week of migraines and fatigue. For days after my oh-so-brief outing, I lay in bed with an eye mask on, doctors on speed dial and medications on rotation, unable to work.

Since last summer, I’ve described myself as homebound because I’ve been unable to leave my apartment without triggering symptoms this way. But over the last month, I’ve begun to ask myself: is it accurate to say I can’t leave home at all? Or would it be more accurate to say that I can’t leave home walking? After all, I do now have days where I sit up for several hours, working on this newsletter. Does that mean it would technically be possible for me to sit in a chair and go to the store? In other words, do I need to start thinking about getting a mobility aid, like a wheelchair?