September 30, 2006

Speaking of annoying new habits (see yesterday’s entry) but from a different quarter, Blackjack has taken to hooking his paw under the “cat barrier” (door) and practically shaking the thing off its hinges if I don’t get there early enough (in his mind) in the morning to feed him. The first time that happened, I ran out there with my heart in my mouth, not knowing what was making all that racket – I thought someone was trying to break in. I told Gary that if this starts happening while I’m fast asleep, I’m going to have to tie all Blackjack's paws together, like a roped calf, before I toss him on the other side of the cat barrier for the night. Gary said I should be sure to stuff a gag down Blackjack’s throat as well. Good point.

This afternoon we did a little transfer practicing. Gary went back and forth three times between wheelchair and bed, me with my hands on his hips, giving as little help as possible. Turned out I didn’t help him at all. He tried changing his technique a little, and his latest hypothesis is that it is better for him to aim his nose toward the inside of his knee when he is swinging his upper body for momentum, and then to do the twisting motion (provided by the way he is pushing with his arms, no ab twisting possible) after he’s got his butt in the air. Before, he was aiming his nose toward the outside of his knee (which is what they told him to do at Shepherd), but he thinks this other way gets his butt up higher.

We also went a bit further down the driveway, and this time I didn’t need to provide any braking power at all. Gary says even when it becomes “safe” for him to go up and down the driveway himself, he doesn’t think he’ll be getting the mail on a regular basis – too hard of a process.

Gary came up with a new balance exercise: petting a kitty while sitting on the bed. Tigger likes that one.