October 28, 2006
We tried a few things differently with the shower routine. First, since he’s been practicing transfers where I’m supervising, only sticking an arm out when it looks like he might have lost his balance a little or is a little close to the edge, we decided that trying to do that kind of transfer to his chair from the bed while naked would be a lot easier than for him to do the transfer using the transfer board. So, we tried that, me holding his hips because this was his first such “naked transfer.” But I didn’t give him any help on it – no lift or twist – so if he’s comfortable with it next week, I will just supervise him on that kind of transfer.
Also, we decided to turn the shower bench ninety degrees so that Gary’s back is to the controls instead of him sitting sideways to them. This allowed him to get his wheelchair in a similar position to the bench as he has the wheelchair to the bed when he makes those transfers. It then looked like a depression transfer – without using the transfer board – to the shower bench would be pretty easy, although since this was his first time doing it and particularly since he was naked, I aided him by hanging onto his hips. On the way back, I aided him by putting my hands on his sitting bones, because the transfer was an uphill one. He hasn’t been practicing any uphill transfers since Shepherd, so he’ll/we’ll either have to add that to “things to do” or he’ll just get used to them slower by practicing them once a week in the shower. He couldn’t do these depression transfers with the bench facing the way it had been, so I am glad we had the idea to change the position of the bench – these depression transfers are a heck of a lot easier than the transfer board transfers.
We watched more of Brooke Ellison. I find it less traumatic now. I am still extremely glad Gary isn’t quadriplegic. I certainly know I couldn’t have handled his care alone. When we started the movie tonight, Gary said he wondered if they’d show I.C.s and the bowel program. I said I bet they wouldn’t. I was right, and Gary said later he bet they weren’t going to, either. And he said that he wished they would. They give some idea of the time it takes for the girl’s “maintenance,” like her mom having to get up at 4:15 am to get the girl to school on time, and they did show things like the mom bathing her and brushing her teeth, but Gary thought they should show ICs and bowel programs – he wanted it “more realistic.” I told him he’d have to wait until I wrote “his” movie. We’re trying to figure out a good ending. Traveling to his first math conference as a paraplegic?
We tried a few things differently with the shower routine. First, since he’s been practicing transfers where I’m supervising, only sticking an arm out when it looks like he might have lost his balance a little or is a little close to the edge, we decided that trying to do that kind of transfer to his chair from the bed while naked would be a lot easier than for him to do the transfer using the transfer board. So, we tried that, me holding his hips because this was his first such “naked transfer.” But I didn’t give him any help on it – no lift or twist – so if he’s comfortable with it next week, I will just supervise him on that kind of transfer.
Also, we decided to turn the shower bench ninety degrees so that Gary’s back is to the controls instead of him sitting sideways to them. This allowed him to get his wheelchair in a similar position to the bench as he has the wheelchair to the bed when he makes those transfers. It then looked like a depression transfer – without using the transfer board – to the shower bench would be pretty easy, although since this was his first time doing it and particularly since he was naked, I aided him by hanging onto his hips. On the way back, I aided him by putting my hands on his sitting bones, because the transfer was an uphill one. He hasn’t been practicing any uphill transfers since Shepherd, so he’ll/we’ll either have to add that to “things to do” or he’ll just get used to them slower by practicing them once a week in the shower. He couldn’t do these depression transfers with the bench facing the way it had been, so I am glad we had the idea to change the position of the bench – these depression transfers are a heck of a lot easier than the transfer board transfers.
We watched more of Brooke Ellison. I find it less traumatic now. I am still extremely glad Gary isn’t quadriplegic. I certainly know I couldn’t have handled his care alone. When we started the movie tonight, Gary said he wondered if they’d show I.C.s and the bowel program. I said I bet they wouldn’t. I was right, and Gary said later he bet they weren’t going to, either. And he said that he wished they would. They give some idea of the time it takes for the girl’s “maintenance,” like her mom having to get up at 4:15 am to get the girl to school on time, and they did show things like the mom bathing her and brushing her teeth, but Gary thought they should show ICs and bowel programs – he wanted it “more realistic.” I told him he’d have to wait until I wrote “his” movie. We’re trying to figure out a good ending. Traveling to his first math conference as a paraplegic?
posted by Peg Daniels at 8:09 PM
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