It does work!

This morning I woke up with a killer headache/migraine. So I knew today was a 'no driving' day. Most days I have are 'no driving' days, but I do still own a pick up truck and will drive short distances around town some times. But I really needed to go grocery shopping and get a few staples. So after I stayed in bed till about 8 and got rid of some of my headache, I got up, fed the dogs, ate some peanuts, then J and I walked down to Shaws. I think the walk was actually good for my headache, as now I don't have one. Either that or chowing down those peanuts and getting about 16g of protein down in less than 2 minutes had something to do with it. Dunno.

James is having one his 'would rather smell the roses' guiding days, so we weren't walking as fast as I would have liked, but that was probably good too as S said I need to slow down a lot to better process my environment anyway. I usually walk very fast and James guides very fast when we are going somewhere he wants to go (he used to guide fast all the time but lately he's slowed down a lot and has some really pokey days), but not today.

So 1st we went to CVS, as I was trying to find out if they would take back some of my old medication that I don't take anymore. And thankfully they do as otherwise I have no idea what to do with it all. My body tends to reject drugs after a while so I end up switching meds a lot and end up with half full prescriptions of stuff laying around that I really shouldn't have in the house. So I gave them all of my old meds. The pharmacist was very nice about it.

Then we were off to Shaws. It was before 9am, so the store was rather empty which was good as I stress less then. I remembered to not look up and focus on my focal points and trail along the aisles. James is a big help with that as that is what he is trained to do anyway, I don't remember the technical term for it, oh yeah, shore lining. When we walk on the sidewalk he shore lines with either the curb or the grass line, when we're in stores he shore lines with the aisles. It also helps that James has learned to glance down each aisle before going across the lane (he figured that one out on his own by 2 ways- 1 if he doesn't chances are we would walk into on coming traffic as I never did look before today, and 2 I many times tell him to 'turn' or 'here' at crossings so he knows to stop slightly and tell me there is a crossing) so that was a big help for me remembering to glance at every intersection.

We got everything I needed, checked out and then meandered home. I am somewhat worried about J and his enjoyment of this job now as he was barely pulling like 2# of pressure instead of the usual 5# to get home. I told him "Let's go home" and he didn't even get excited. He knows where home is, he usually gets a cookie when we get home, but he acted like he didn't even care. So will just have to see. I really hope I get accepted to GDF and get on the wait list for a new guide as if J keeps this up I don't want to force him to do something he doesn't enjoy.

ed to add:

Later J and I went to Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, the post office and Pet Co with my gram and all were doable. It helped that gram was there and that we went on a Wed when stores tend to be less crowded, but I also stuck to the system and it went ok. Also James seemed like he was having fun, so that was better than this morning.

One thing I am finding myself doing though is in a new store I'll stick to the system until I see the item I'm looking for, then I forget everything and bee line to that item. I don't think I'm supposed to do that, it's supposed to be straight lines and 90' turns. So have to break that habit.