Julie Helen:  A visit to the GP reassured me as I wait for new wheelchair

I remember my GP, who retired when I was in my mid-twenties, gave me great advice that I am ultimately responsible for my own health. The buck stops with me.

I have what would be considered a chronic health condition because I have cerebral palsy. It means I interact with our health system regularly. Especially if I need something ‘disability specific’, I get a big knot in my stomach.

I need a new wheelchair, I haven’t got a new one in seven years when the recommended time limit would generally be three to four. I have procrastinated to a ridiculous degree because my past experiences have been generally very difficult between long waits and professionals either not listening to me or assuming they know better than I do about my body. Particularly in Cork, there is limited choice in what equipment will be funded.

I must fit into a box that someone else decides is the right one for me.

Simply put, I hate to be made feel like a disabled person. Yes, I have a disability, always have, always will. I will always need help and support. I have learned over the years what works and doesn’t, I’ve earned stripes I never asked for, but I would never give them back, they make me who I am.

I recently visited my GP to get a referral for the seating assessment, which will eventually result in a new wheelchair. My GP, Dr Paul, is superb. I needed him to help me access the system. The whole occupational department who look after seating in the public system will be entirely different to my last interactions, so much so, nobody could find me on the system, and although in theory I can refer myself to the service I need, it holds more weight if I ask my GP to do it.

The last time I visited Dr Paul, I was on a particularly low ebb. I was barely able to shuffle along. In the surgery, there is an intercom system for the doctor to call patients from the waiting room. Paul collects me each time. It allows him to hold doors for me but he can also observe my mobility on our short stroll to his room, to get a sense of how I really am.

On my latest visit he had a student in his room too, learning from him and in turn from me. An opportunity to be someone who can have an impact on how doctors of the future view disabled people and the experience of disability is a privilege I take seriously.

I know Dr Paul checks my walking because it is always the first thing he talks about after watching me. This time, he complimented how well I was moving and I felt like crying with relief.

Day to day, I’m trying very hard to keep my fitness up, I’m trying to balance walking and standing and being able to get tasks done in my wheelchair. I feel pain and discomfort every day and at times it’s hard to gauge if I am making any progress at all. To hear someone I trust reassure me meant the world to me.

My doctor would never say something he didn’t mean, and has often commented on how under pressure I seemed.

We had an easy conversation about needing a new wheelchair and all that it entails and the plans to maximise the good movement I have now as I am sprinting towards 40 years old. The relief I felt after my visit reminded me that a check-in with a GP can be a great help and put a pep in my step!