September 2, 2006
This morning Gary told me he forgot to ask LETA if they would drive their bus up our driveway, a concern, Gary said, because he can’t get up it or down it himself (it is very steep). Then he amended that, saying that he could get down it one way or another, but that might cause other problems. “Yeah,” I agreed, “they’d have to scrape you – ” “Off the side of the bus,” Gary finished.
So, we will have to check after Labor Day into whether the bus will come up the drive.
Another hitch in the plans. Gary looked at the brochure on LETA that arrived in the mail today. Apparently, even though you make your request for them to pick you up at a certain time, they may come up to fifteen minutes before that or after that due to the popularity of the service. This is making Gary reluctant to use them to go to therapy.
Well, you’ll have to stay tuned to see how this plays out.
We had another wet run this morning, Gary again doing the transfer to and from the shower bench by himself with the board (me supervising). I even left during part of the shower (staying in hearing range), knowing it wouldn’t be for long so it wasn’t really so I could do other things but just so Gary could feel like he was on his own in there (I was in the small bedroom and I admit to jumping when I heard a clunk, though I immediately realized it couldn’t have been caused by a body hitting the floor – he’d dropped the bottle of soap). He called me back to get the soap, and also(as a safety precaution)when it was time for him to lean way over to his side on the shower bench , and then again to wash and dry his lower legs and feet (though it is theoretically possible for him to his legs and feet himself, since he can’t bend forward because of the flap restrictions, it is “too much work” (Gary’s words) to do so – I believe I explained before what this would involve, so I’ll spare you ;-)). I stayed after that and supervised his transfer back to the wheelchair (the shower curtain trick worked, by the way – he was able to push his chair out of the way, cover it with the curtain, and then retrieve it after the shower, and it didn’t get wet).
We guess that it is because of the angle he has to have the wheelchair in in order to do the shower transfers as opposed to the bed transfers, these are still quite a lot of work for him, especially the one back to the chair (maybe because in addition to the other factors it is slightly uphill); he said that at this point he would definitely not be comfortable doing this transfer with me not in the room. Being naked also adds to the difficulty of the shower transfers – his skin, unlike his trousers, tends to stick to the board. Maybe we’ll have to powder the board (or him).
When he was in the chair I got his ted hose and pants and shoes on him, then left him to finish his dressing and grooming. He told me afterwards that he can now get his shirt on in one minute. He said if he could do that with his pants, then he’d really be cooking. Then he added, he'd like to be able to get his pants on, period.
Related to that, we got our final bill from UAB hospital today. $100. We think they should pay us (and a lot more than that, given these ongoing flap restrictions!). (If I remember right, I think the total cost of Gary’s stay at UAB was close to a half a million dollars – fortunately insurance paid for all but a couple thousand.)
Our outing for the day was to the grocery store. I have made a point of staying in the background when we are at a counter (like at the fish counter or the deli or at the checkout line) and “forcing” people to address and deal with Gary (and to let him get the practice of paying for stuff ;-) – I don’t know if it’s true, but I thought I noticed a tendency when I was right there next to him for people to address me. Now, since he’s a man and we still live in a man-centered world, this would never happen if he were able-bodied (this I know from our outings together when he WAS able-bodied), so I have to conclude they are behaving this way because he is in a wheelchair. So I figure the benefit is two-fold – Gary gets to exhibit independence, the other people learn to deal with someone handicapped.
This morning Gary told me he forgot to ask LETA if they would drive their bus up our driveway, a concern, Gary said, because he can’t get up it or down it himself (it is very steep). Then he amended that, saying that he could get down it one way or another, but that might cause other problems. “Yeah,” I agreed, “they’d have to scrape you – ” “Off the side of the bus,” Gary finished.
So, we will have to check after Labor Day into whether the bus will come up the drive.
Another hitch in the plans. Gary looked at the brochure on LETA that arrived in the mail today. Apparently, even though you make your request for them to pick you up at a certain time, they may come up to fifteen minutes before that or after that due to the popularity of the service. This is making Gary reluctant to use them to go to therapy.
Well, you’ll have to stay tuned to see how this plays out.
We had another wet run this morning, Gary again doing the transfer to and from the shower bench by himself with the board (me supervising). I even left during part of the shower (staying in hearing range), knowing it wouldn’t be for long so it wasn’t really so I could do other things but just so Gary could feel like he was on his own in there (I was in the small bedroom and I admit to jumping when I heard a clunk, though I immediately realized it couldn’t have been caused by a body hitting the floor – he’d dropped the bottle of soap). He called me back to get the soap, and also(as a safety precaution)when it was time for him to lean way over to his side on the shower bench , and then again to wash and dry his lower legs and feet (though it is theoretically possible for him to his legs and feet himself, since he can’t bend forward because of the flap restrictions, it is “too much work” (Gary’s words) to do so – I believe I explained before what this would involve, so I’ll spare you ;-)). I stayed after that and supervised his transfer back to the wheelchair (the shower curtain trick worked, by the way – he was able to push his chair out of the way, cover it with the curtain, and then retrieve it after the shower, and it didn’t get wet).
We guess that it is because of the angle he has to have the wheelchair in in order to do the shower transfers as opposed to the bed transfers, these are still quite a lot of work for him, especially the one back to the chair (maybe because in addition to the other factors it is slightly uphill); he said that at this point he would definitely not be comfortable doing this transfer with me not in the room. Being naked also adds to the difficulty of the shower transfers – his skin, unlike his trousers, tends to stick to the board. Maybe we’ll have to powder the board (or him).
When he was in the chair I got his ted hose and pants and shoes on him, then left him to finish his dressing and grooming. He told me afterwards that he can now get his shirt on in one minute. He said if he could do that with his pants, then he’d really be cooking. Then he added, he'd like to be able to get his pants on, period.
Related to that, we got our final bill from UAB hospital today. $100. We think they should pay us (and a lot more than that, given these ongoing flap restrictions!). (If I remember right, I think the total cost of Gary’s stay at UAB was close to a half a million dollars – fortunately insurance paid for all but a couple thousand.)
Our outing for the day was to the grocery store. I have made a point of staying in the background when we are at a counter (like at the fish counter or the deli or at the checkout line) and “forcing” people to address and deal with Gary (and to let him get the practice of paying for stuff ;-) – I don’t know if it’s true, but I thought I noticed a tendency when I was right there next to him for people to address me. Now, since he’s a man and we still live in a man-centered world, this would never happen if he were able-bodied (this I know from our outings together when he WAS able-bodied), so I have to conclude they are behaving this way because he is in a wheelchair. So I figure the benefit is two-fold – Gary gets to exhibit independence, the other people learn to deal with someone handicapped.
posted by Peg Daniels at 8:01 PM
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