<p>As some of you know, I broke my leg very badly two months ago and then injured my wrist during physical therapy a few days later, which made it impossible for me to walk at all for many weeks. I am finally at the point where I can use crutches well enough to travel to public places fairly easily, and I would love to be able to do some of my own errands rather than constantly asking my family for help.</p>
<p>But…what do you do about the inability to carry all but the smallest things when using crutches? A backpack won’t work in a store because using it could be construed as concealing merchandise, and I don’t want to get busted for shoplifting.</p>
<p>If you have used crutches, did you ever figure out a way to shop for medium-sized items, such as a half-gallon of milk or a book or a package of printer paper?</p>
<p>How about one of those baby sling-pouch things that rides in the front? I think you could pack a fair amount of small items in those things. A friend of mine is still carrying her new baby in one and he is pretty huge. You might need to alert the store staff that you are going to be using the sling to carry items to checkout so it doesn’t look like shoplifting.</p>
<p>Other than that, all I can think of is… use the crutches to get to the place in the store where they keep the motorized carts, with baskets, that you can use. When you check out, tell the cashier you need someone to help you carry your items to the car. You can call stores in advance to find out if they have these carts. </p>
<p>I understand the desire to be independent again, but you also need to be careful about trying to do too much or carry too much and risk a slip and fall and another injury. How much longer do you have to be on crutches?</p>
<p>I don’t think you will have any problems with using a backpack. Just be sure you keep receipts. Walmart and some other large stores provide motorized wheelchairs for those who need them. You might also call your local malls to see if they have the same service. I have had my share of walking on crutches and it is no fun. You have your choice: try to support you weight on your arms or put your weight on the crutches and risk nerve damage.</p>
<p>Actually, I do the major twice-a-week grocery shopping using an online grocery store (Peapod, for those of you in the DC area) that delivers. You point and click, and the food shows up the next day (during a two-hour delivery window that you specify). Wonderful concept. </p>
<p>But every now and then, we run out of something when it’s not time for the next delivery, or we need something that Peapod doesn’t carry and that’s so small and cheap that it would be silly to buy it from Amazon and pay for shipping.</p>
<p>A few days ago, I picked up a prescription at the pharmacy in our local supermarket. This was not a problem since I could pay at the pharmacy counter and then stuff the little bag with the pills into my purse. But it was immensely frustrating to realize that I was in need of a box of envelopes – something that Peapod doesn’t carry – and that I couldn’t buy it even though the stationery aisle was only 20 feet away, simply because I wouldn’t be able to carry the box to the checkout stand. I was too embarrassed to ask an employee to go to the trouble of unlocking a motorized cart for me and teaching me how to use it just so that I could buy one item. Maybe that’s my problem!</p>
<p>The baby sling would work. But then, you’re stuck with a baby sling that serves no purpose…unless you would contemplate a late-in-life visit from the stork. :p</p>
<p>I’m 51, so I think the stork is on permanent vacation.</p>
<p>Of course, I could give the baby sling to my daughter as a hint after I’m done with it, but she would probably strangle me with the straps. No way is she going to provide me with grandchildren until she’s finished college and had a substantial amount of time to devote to a career.</p>
<p>But anyway, if you put merchandise that you haven’t paid for into a baby sling – or a backpack – or your coat pocket, you’re shoplifting, aren’t you? I thought all merchandise had to be out in the open until you have gone through the checkout.</p>
<p>What about those stretchy mesh shopping bags that people carry to the store when they don’t want to use the plastic/paper bags that grocery stores provide. You could stitch on a shoulder length strap so that you could sling it across your chest and it wouldn’t be slipping down. Also the mesh leaves the items visible so that you wouldn’t be accused of shop lifting.</p>
<p>Ask someone in the store for help. There’s lots of people who will help IF you ask but we’re all too shy to offer because people can be so touchy!</p>
<p>Ask someone in the store. I have three blind people in my family and I have this solid advice from them. Politely ask if they need help, and if they say no, don’t take it personally. I have yet to have someone get offended when I’ve offered to open doors, lift bulky objects from high shelves (I’m tall), retrieve luggage from overhead bins, or even – on occasion – assist someone in a wheelchair read food items in a grocery store. Just remember that “no” just means “no.” It doesn’t mean that your offer isn’t appreciated.</p>
<p>I was on crutches for about nine months, and a cane for longer. I always did the backpack thing. It was a pain in the neck to keep stopping and leaning a crutch somewhere to reach the backpack (esp when crutch fell) but it worked. No one ever questioned my reasons for doing so; it was pretty obvious. I think having a sling or mesh in front of me would have been harder to work around, easier to reach, but more in the way where it was.</p>
<p>Also, as i got more adept, in stores with shopping carts, I got good at putting one crutch in the cart, and leaning on the other and the cart to get around (now many stores have those motorized ones, but they didn’t when I was disabled.)</p>
<p>I so much feel for you, Marian. One of my legs was broken really badly (needed a couple of operations and a lot of hardware) and the other had a cracked bone I could walk on, but it hurt a lot when I did. Also, I was working around the lingering effects of a concussion. I think that losing the wrist would’ve made me nuts!</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m sending lots of good wishes your way; it will get better, but it sure doesn’t feel like it when you’re in the middle of it!</p>
<p>I was on crutches/cane last summer for several months after breaking my ankle. One thing I did was use the motorized carts garland mentions, but I also used a backpack (leave the top open, and consider wearing it backwards as if it were a baby sling – easier to get stuff in/out). Also, I have a long shoulder strap on my purse, so if I was only getting some small items (e.g. not too heavy), I would take one of those red plastic hand-baskets, thread my shoulder strap through the handles of the little basket so the “business end” of the purse was behind it, and drape the shoulder strap over my head. The strap went behind my neck and the basket settled in front of my chest, so I could crutch down the aisles and put small things into it. (If there were too many or heavy items, it would hurt my neck and shoulders, so this is only recommended if it’s a few small things.)</p>
<p>I’m so sorry for your double misfortune. What I learned from personal experience with walking assists is that some combination of your own ingenuity (like the mesh bag! sounded good) and attitude adjustment about
asking peoples’ help will get you through.</p>
<p>Asking family for help is different emotionally than asking strangers or working people in stores for help. With family, you don’t want to tire them out with a full day of requests. But in a store, the working person is paid to help you as part of their job. The stranger-volunteer will feel good about themselves when they help you (see below). Either way you’ve only asked them once in a day or a week or a lifetime. So go ahead.
What I mean by them “feeling good about themselves to help you” is based on something my H read. A psychological study showed that Person #1 had better feelings towards Person #2 after doing them a favor, because the doing of it released happy-endorphins in Person #1. Meanwhile, you’re in the position of Person #2. My H decided after reading this that he’d ask people around him for the smallest of favors (at work) and they’d end up liking him more. He (like all of us) always held back from asking others, thinking they’d feel inconvenienced and like him less. The opposite is true.
Food for thought. He says it works. And if he wants to warm somebody up, he asks them for a small favor. After they do it, they like him better and are warmer to him. Go figure. It works.</p>
<p>I own a small independent retail store. You could <em>call</em> us and we’d shop for you and have it ready. We would even carry it out to the car so you didn’t need to come in and pay. If you came in without calling, I’d find a staffer to run around the store and get what you need.</p>
<p>I don’t suggest trying this at WalMart – or at Stop and Shop – but at the independents our <em>thing</em> tends to be helping people out.</p>
<p>most stores have motorized chair-scooter-type things with a basket attached. That’s what I relied on when I broke my knee and was on crutches, in a humongo cast the lenghth of my entire LEG, during one of the hottest summers on record…</p>
<p>I would also suggest the scooter idea; my D loved using it at the grocery store after her surgery when she was 11. Also, some drug stores will even allow you to rent a motorized scooter for a few months (to use at home)…my Mom was looking into one after her back surgery a few years ago…not sure about the cost, though. Also lugging the thing around would be a problem unless you had a van and got a lift installed in it.</p>
<p>Marian,
Slightly OT but you mentioned shoplifting. From a legal standpoint, you haven’t shoplifted until you have left the store with the merchandise without paying for it. (I’m a former prosecutor and this is the law in my populous state.) In any case, I believe that many store employees would be happy to help out if you just asked. Best wishes for your recovery, and if you live in a cold weather state, please be careful with our slippery slopes.</p>
No way is she going to provide me with grandchildren until she’s finished college and had a substantial amount of time to devote to a career.</p>