I have a confession to make: I am a registered nurse.
I usually only reveal my healing super-powers in a crisis. If someone is choking, I’ll perform the Heimlich maneuver. If someone has a fish hook stuck in their thumb, I’ll remove it. If someone is injured, I’ll render first aid – stuff like that. My nursing career has made an unbelievable trajectory and though I now teach clinicians from home in a virtual classroom (when I’m not reading, writing, and wandering, that is) I still display many of the traits unique to a creature of the operating room.
For example, I think 65-68 degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal indoor temperature range. I have a fondness for loose-fitting smocks, draw-string pajama bottoms, and sensible shoes. I tend to take Dearest’s pulse whenever we hold hands. But most damming of all: I visit medical shoppes for my travel accessories. Take it or leave it as you will. I just thought I’d share some of my favorite travel accessories from the medical supplies closet.
Nurses have worn them to prevent varicose veins for decades. Doctors prescribe them to prevent blood clots in patients with compromised mobility. The traveler can wear them to prevent foot and ankle swelling on long flights. The G forces of take off and landing can cause blood to pool in the extremities. We usually use our hands enough keep fluid circulating and can massage them easily enough. (By the way, you might not want to wear rings on flights. They can get pretty tight.) But there is little to do about swollen feet other than getting up for that long relaxing stroll to the lavatory. I have short legs and even I can’t massage my own feet when I’m folded into an airline seat. Not that my seat mates would appreciate my health consciousness if I could. Compression stockings used to only come in bone white. They had texture of corrugated cardboard. Thank goodness things have changed. Now you can select from an array of understated neutrals or vibrant colors that look perfectly normal. Modern fabrics are able to hug firmly without feeling like sandpaper. Ahhhhh – feels so good! I have a knee-high pair in black that look cute with my light-hikers and walking shorts.
2. Carpal Tunnel Support Gloves
This one is especially for wander-writers. Even if you don’t have problems with your carpal tunnel normally, when traveling, you might. Air planes have that tinny tray table that you can’t adjust. You have to keep elbows in tight and hunch over your keyboard at acute angles that are not friendly to your wrists. In spite of the name “laptop” that computer was never intended for balancing on your lap during long layovers. You don’t need a super-stiff pair as travel accessories. I don’t like the kind with a metal splint inside. I like the ones that are all spandex with two tracks of foam rubber on either side of the carpal nerve. As an added bonus, they kind of have a steam punk look. I know several writers who wear fingerless gloves as part of their creative ritual. Why not see what that is all about and get some nice wrist support in the bargain?
This is my favorite! For many years, I coveted one of those horse shoe shaped travel pillows for long flights. How I longed for comfortable sleep in the air to combat jet-lag. But I just couldn’t get around how bulky and hard to pack they were. I tried an inflatable one, but with the changes in cabin pressure, it would over fill and start to leak air at the seam or deflate and go soft if the pilot made any in-flight adjustments. Just as I was about to nod off, I’d have to let some air out or blow more air in. For the short stretches that it was properly and comfortably inflated, I discovered that the thickness behind my neck pushed my head forward. Combined with the stingy angle of pitch in modern plane seats, this meant my head kept falling forward. That’s when it hit me- I could use a cervical collar! This little gem can be found among the medical supplies in most pharmacies. It wraps loosely around your neck, secures with Velcro, and supports your head in all 360 degrees! It has a much lower profile than any travel neck pillow I’ve ever seen and is made out of soft but firm pillow foam. this makes it rollable, crushable, foldable, and stuffable. And if a flight attendant should ever offer you a seat upgrade because of your apparent infirmity… well… it’s not your fault he or she misinterpreted your travel accessories.
Read ~ Write ~ Wander
~Angie
(all photos by me. It’s amazing what you can do with a delay timer.)
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