What If Your Body Charged You By the Hour?
By Millie Malone Lill
Millie Malone Lill
What if your body charged you by the hour for anything you do? You know, when you hire a lawyer, they keep track of exactly how many hours or even minutes they spend working for you. If you have PPS, your body does much the same. Depending on how severe your PPS is, the rates can change.
Standing to cook costs me a whack load of energy money. I can't afford more than about 15 minutes of this and to pay for this time, I must rest for at least half an hour. Making my bed has become so very exorbitant that I have paid someone to do it for me, using actual dollars which are much easier to come by than energy dollars.
I almost went bankrupt, energy dollars wise, over the holidays. I love being with my friends and family, eating together, visiting, exchanging gifts, but it is very expensive in energy dollars. I am a very social person. I belong to several groups, like a book club, my Red Hat Society, and the Brunch Bunch, plus I have a large family that I like to keep in touch with. Add in the energy dollars cost of just living on my own and you can see that the holidays have been pretty spendy.
How do I pay for this extravagant life style? With great difficulty, that's how! I wish I had a credit card that used energy dollars instead of US currency, but so far that seems to be unavailable. Energy dollars demand cash on the barrelhead, so to speak. I also wish I was a bit less optimistic about how many energy dollars I have on hand at the moment.
A good friend I haven't seen in a long time asked to come for an overnight visit. Of course, I was so thrilled that I immediately said yes. We had a great time. I made a pot of chili and a pan of cornbread, invited two other friends over to enjoy the evening. It was great fun. By the time the visit ended late the next afternoon, I found I had zero energy dollars left. Fortunately, I do live alone. No one cares if I take a three hour nap in the afternoon to recoup the energy dollars I've splurged with. I regained enough to make it through the remainder of the day.
Then came Christmas. My Christmases have changed dramatically in recent years. I used to think you could not celebrate Christmases with fewer than 20 or 30 people, at least a quarter of whom must be children. There should be wrapping paper flying, kids squealing with joy, lots of food, a big Christmas tree and a house decorated to within an inch of its life.
That was then. This is now. I can no longer get into anyone's house with my wheelchair. Steps are the bane of my life since my hip has gone AWOL. Getting them all together here is hard, too. My kids are now grandparents and my grandchildren have kids of their own, jobs, in-laws, social obligations. So now I plan one family gathering, usually after the Christmas rush. Christmas Eve is spent with my bestie, opening our small gifts and enjoying a meal together, something carried in, not cooked by either of us. Then services at my tiny church.
Christmas Day is a quiet day, a day spent resting, refilling my spirit with energy dollars. It is not the same as it used to be but it is still good. My neighbors, family and friends make sure I have plenty of goodies to keep me fat and sassy.
All of this is to say, please conserve your energy dollars to the best of your ability. Life goes on at a slower rate, but it still goes on. Instead of flinging your energy dollars hither and yon, be a little bit frugal with them. If someone offers to help, let them. Use their energy dollars instead of your own, because those without PPS have way more than we do and can get more of them far easier than we can.
Published in Polio Perspective December, 2025
More stories by survivor Millie Malone Lill are easily available in Survivor Stories. Look for her name in the Index.