When I was in hospital, they said an Occupational Therapist would come and see me once I was home. At first I couldn’t even say the word – it seemed like a tongue twister to me! I had no idea what they did, or that they could help me at all.

Once she came out to the house I changed my mind completely.

Mary was just brilliant. I showed her around my home and showed her how I did everything I needed to do. From getting up in the morning to making meals. From doing household chores to even things like switching the TV on.

We then sat down and she went through how I could do some of these things in an easier way.

Sometimes it was a case of just being organised, other times she had an idea for a gadget that could help me.

These are some examples:

Bed leaver – this really helps me get in and out of bed without needing my carer so much.

Pick up grabber – I call this my litter picker, as it’s just like the ones you’d see Council Workers with picking up litter from the side of the road. I use it to save me bending down to pick things up that I’ve dropped.

Bath stool – I often avoided having a bath and had a shower instead. But to be honest I really prefer a bath. It was just difficult getting in and out. With the bath stool, I am not sitting on the floor of the bath so it is now so much easier. I already had a grab rail above the bath which was good – at least I was doing something right!

Riser chair – I didn’t really think I could get one for my front room, and certainly didn’t know where to get one from.  I sometimes found it really hard to get up out of my chair. With this one, I press a button and it lifts up the back of the chair, and helps me get up. It is just like the ones in hospital – but looks much nicer!

I’m so glad Mary came to see me. She came back to see how I was getting on. To be honest things are much easier. I don’t think I was seeing the wood for the trees. She helped me see the easy way of doing so many things that I was making so difficult. The mobility aids she suggested were great. Not everything worked for me, but most of it did.