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Home / Thoughts / Sean's Thoughts / Bathing

Bathing

Written by Sean on Friday, November 4, 2005

One of the things I really enjoy doing is soaking in a very hot bath, with plenty of bubbles, and a good book. I can disappear in the tub for a good hour. Always a bit of a refuge from the world, an opportunity to relax, and be focused only on me, without outside interference. I was looking at myself in the mirror when getting in the tub earlier, and as usual, my thoughts were going ’round and ’round (and no, I wasn’t admiring my dangly bits!).

Looking at myself, I couldn’t help but notice how my back isn’t straight. Bit of scoliosis, bit of lordosis, not that it bothers me, just an observation. And I was looking at my lower back, considering my prefered level of injury. I put my thumb on the spot, thinking "X marks the spot".

Stepping into the bath (our bathroom isn’t accessible!), in the very hot water, I was thinking I couldn’t enjoy such hot water anymore, not in the same way anyway. Between sweat glands going below the level of injury and lack of sensation, such hot bath wouldn’t be good for internal pressure, and what’s the point if you can’t feel the bath? Perhaps a japanese style bath where you can sink down to the shoulders would be good, but then, getting out of it would be murder!

I then thought that too often, people assume that all wheelers have fully accessible bathrooms, with roll-in showers, and the whole nine modified yard. That’s really not the case, not in the majority of cases. In fact, I don’t know a whole lot of people who have such "nice" bathrooms. Most people I know have to make do with what they have. Including having to get in the tub, fighting gravity to get back out.

And so my luxury retreat from the world gave me a bit of thinking. Thinking that perhaps this luxury wouldn’t be one I’d go for so often, were I in fact a para. And life goes on, no end to my bathing in sight, sadly (?).