Looking for debt advice

Tuesday_Tenor

lolls89 wrote: »

At the moment my arm sits at 100 degrees and I can move it to 80, but I was the same at first and couldnt move it at all.

I am so grateful for your post, after a couple of weeks of feeling a bit down and sorry for myself, it's very motivational!

If your experience goes anything like mine, you'll immediately find that in the water you can do 110 to 70 degrees, which you're very aware of as something you've not done since before the accident. It's thrilling! Then just doing your exercises in the pool will take you to 120 - 60 degrees! Which in turn motivates you to do the exercises 'back on land'! Hope so, anyway!

Enjoy the freedom of movement, work on you current limits, but don't overdo it.

Also, being able to swim with the rest of your body, while your stiff arm just floats/dangles, will also do you the world of good, generally.

For kitchen tasks, ask the physio or Occupational therapist if the can give you a non-slip table mat to use on the kitchen work surface. It will really help at the stage where you can hold something on the work surface, but not very firmly.

Best of luck!

lolls89

Tuesday_Tenor wrote: »

The orthopaedic consultant was very open and honest with me about not being sure what to do for the best; there were pros and cons to 2 different approaches to treatment. The choices were:
A) No surgery, but with a chance that it wouldn't heal well or quickly, particularly the broken off bits, as on the X-ray they seemed well distant and mis-aligned from where they should have been!
Surgery to pin it, which in theory should mean better positioning for better healing BUT he was concerned that surgery might itself cause nerve damage, or even, worst case scenario, too much might disintegrate and he be unable to pin it at all. In which case he would, there and then, have to do joint replacement surgery:eek::eek::eek:. And shoulder replacements are not so 'off the peg' as hip and knee replacements so a more complex operation.:eek:

There was a day or so to decide. He conferred with the other two consultants, one of whom definitely WOULD do the surgery, one of whom definitely WOULD NOT. So we were still in a 50:50 situation!

However, when he started talking about seeing how it would heal naturally, and if there wasn't a good result, it might come to doing a shoulder replacement later on, but in a more planned, non urgent, way, that definitely seemed like a good way to go. I wasn't keen on the idea of surgery to pin it, anyway, but would have agreed if it was CLEARLY the way to go, but in my case it wasn't.

As it was, all turned out well.

One other thing I did, not relevant in your case as it applies for the initial bone healing stage. I researched the use of comfrey, the traditional 'bone-knit' plant, as my neighbour has loads in her garden.
Finding some slightly controversial articles I decided not to take it internally but did use it for poultices (when someone else was around, I couldn't tie or stick them on onehandedly!) and massaging. No idea if it helped, but as it's been used for thousands of years I thought it was unlikely to do much harm.

Two years on my arm is about 2% less flexible that the other one - not something I notice in daily life! Oh, I'm a female tenor, by the way, and I couldn't do my swimsuit up at the back for ages ; the staff in the pool helped me if there was no one in the changing room! That was quite an extreme test, which I was very pleased to master eventually! I also needed a front fastening bra for a while!

Anyway, I know the swimming really helped me get the range of movement back. Midday was quiet in our pool, I avoided weekends with loads of boisterous kids, and I let the staff know about the fracture and why I was pottering about in such an odd way! Hope it helps you too.

Tuesday_Tenor wrote: »

If your experience goes anything like mine, you'll immediately find that in the water you can do 110 to 70 degrees, which you're very aware of as something you've not done since before the accident. It's thrilling! Then just doing your exercises in the pool will take you to 120 - 60 degrees! Which in turn motivates you to do the exercises 'back on land'! Hope so, anyway!

Enjoy the freedom of movement, work on you current limits, but don't overdo it.

Also, being able to swim with the rest of your body, while your stiff arm just floats/dangles, will also do you the world of good, generally.

For kitchen tasks, ask the physio or Occupational therapist if the can give you a non-slip table mat to use on the kitchen work surface. It will really help at the stage where you can hold something on the work surface, but not very firmly.

Best of luck!

It's great that they gave you an option. I can't even imagine the pain you were in whilst it was healing!

It's a very scary prospect a joint replacement, I wonder how many surgeries are done that could be avoided like your situation.

Yes I'll definitely avoid weekends, the last thing I need is a kid dive bombing on my arm haha.

That would be an amazing feeling to be able to do that, I don't know if I'll get anymore extension as my physio says it's my metal work restricting me but as your story shows, they don't know everything do they?

I'll be sure to ask about those mats as well.
Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me your experience.

lolls89

Debt Free Wannabe tasks I have done so far today;

• Rang my mobile provider to set up a free line payment plan to pay off arears, so no bills whilst I'm paying that off
  
• Rang the debt recovery company to change the DD from £50 a wek to £11.50. They also said they would clear the debt for 190 if I can pay that amount in the next 7 days, which unfortunatly I don't think I'll be able to.
  
• I have started doing online surveys (are Valued Opinions reputable?)
  
• Started my meal planner for next week, hopefully along with changing supermarkets, being a bit more organised will save me a few more pennies

Also my partner is on about paying our bills at a paypoint in a shop, does anybody knows how this works? And is it useful to help keep on top of the bills?

Thank you

lolls89

lolls89 wrote: »

Also my partner is on about paying our bills at a paypoint in a shop, does anybody knows how this works? And is it useful to help keep on top of the bills?

Thank you

Does anybody know anything about paying bills like this?
If he can't keep on top of DD's I can't see how this would help?

Thank you

Thrifty_Pixie

just a note...if your partner is taking his car off the road for a while make sure he SORNS it, otherwise he will still need to insure it.

good luck

glasgowsaver2011

lolls89 wrote: »

Right so far this weekend we have cut the sky down to £36 a month for phone, broadband and tv. (I would have totally got rid of it but my partner wouldn't let me :mad:)

I have found out he no longer has life insurance or home and contents (:eek:) so I have used a price comparison site and have managed to get these for around £9 and £10 a month.

Orange won't consider lowering my contract until I'm up to date with my bill.

My partner is going to pt his car off the road for the time being so that will save on petrol, tax and insurance.

I done my shopping this week using mysupermarket but it was still £60, I just can't seem to get it down, has anyone got any tips?

I am so grateful to everyone on here who has replied, it's really made me open my eyes at were we are going wrong.

If he sold the car that would be great.

Shame you cant convince him to use some of the great free internet services for films and sport...

belleandthebudget

This might seem a little weird but if I had to mash potatoes one-handed I'd put the pot between my knees/on my lap (obviously not while super hot!) so it didn't slip. Or put a damp dishcloth underneath it on the counter to help it grip? I do bits like this when I'm cooking and talking on the phone at the same time.

Really sorry to hear about your injury it sounds like a terrible thing to go through. Could it be that your confidence has been knocked a bit by the experience? People find ways around things with all manner of injuries and disabilities. It's pretty amazing how we can adapt.

I'm sure in time you'll find ways to manage every day things that may seem out of reach right now. Maybe your physio could suggest some work arounds if you asked them about specific situations you're struggling with?

Best of luck! You seem to be making great first steps in sorting out the finances.

judi24

Got to say I have done the swap from Asda to Aldi and It is great - I can still shave a bit off my shopping but I would regularly spend £100 a week in Asda and no spend £100 every 2 weeks with a top up of fruit and veg inbetween - happy with almost all thier products so far!!!


Also thinking about your mashed potato issue - can you bake the potatos and then scoop inside out and mash with a fork? didfferent actions that might not need as much strength as mashing in a pan and peeling - just and idea!

lolls89

glasgowsaver2011 wrote: »

If he sold the car that would be great.

Shame you cant convince him to use some of the great free internet services for films and sport...

It's not worth selling at the minute as it needs to much work doing to it, at least putting it off the road will save us a bit of money month to month.

We use the internet for films and sport, none of that is on our sky package. We only have a basic SKY package plus kids tv, but our broadband, and telephone is £22 of the £36 and were in contract with the broadband for 12 months.

lolls89

belleandthebudget wrote: »

This might seem a little weird but if I had to mash potatoes one-handed I'd put the pot between my knees/on my lap (obviously not while super hot!) so it didn't slip. Or put a damp dishcloth underneath it on the counter to help it grip? I do bits like this when I'm cooking and talking on the phone at the same time.

Really sorry to hear about your injury it sounds like a terrible thing to go through. Could it be that your confidence has been knocked a bit by the experience? People find ways around things with all manner of injuries and disabilities. It's pretty amazing how we can adapt.

I'm sure in time you'll find ways to manage every day things that may seem out of reach right now. Maybe your physio could suggest some work arounds if you asked them about specific situations you're struggling with?

Best of luck! You seem to be making great first steps in sorting out the finances.

Thank you, I'm fine to just use the microwave stuff for the time being, it doesn't cost as much and there's no waste, but all these little tips are going to be so handy!

Yeah my confidence has been totally knocked, I've gone from being a really good hairdresser to not being able to write my name without looking like a 3 year old done it.

My physio isn't really bothered about stuff like that at the moment, she's told me just to take everything slowly and just focus on my exercises, and she's more focused on me being able to bend, straighten and turn my arm.

judi24 wrote: »

Got to say I have done the swap from Asda to Aldi and It is great - I can still shave a bit off my shopping but I would regularly spend £100 a week in Asda and no spend £100 every 2 weeks with a top up of fruit and veg inbetween - happy with almost all thier products so far!!!


Also thinking about your mashed potato issue - can you bake the potatos and then scoop inside out and mash with a fork? didfferent actions that might not need as much strength as mashing in a pan and peeling - just and idea!

I am quite looking forward to my little walk around aldi at the weekend. I've got my meals planned for this week but I'm thinking about planning for the newt 2 weeks or month as, like you, quite a few people on here seem to do one big shop and then top up.

Another fab idea, thank you.