Dec 16, 2006
Gary said he thought about why the swimming was such an emotional experience: suddenly, all the deadweight from nipple level down, which is so difficult to move around on land, was floating, weightless, moved easily.
This morning he tried doing his bowel program on the commode chair for the first time. It took him about twenty-five minutes, his minimum time for doing it the other way. He found it easier to do it “the old way,” lying down, what with all the leaning he has to do in the sitting position, but we expect he’ll get used to doing it this way and will eventually prefer it. He got a little redness in his booty area from using the chair so ended up going back onto the bed and proning to give the area a little relief. Turned out that he had forgotten he was supposed to do weight shifts every fifteen minutes while on the commode seat, and he didn’t do one. Not sure if that would have made a difference.
He next greased his own flap, me watching to make sure he got vaseline on the entire area. It will take a little practice, but he does it pretty good, using the feel of the seam and “memory” on the places where the seam isn’t obvious to the touch.
Next came the new task of dressing in the chair. Partway during his getting his pants on, I heard this big “whoa!” come from the living room where he was. I raced around the corner from the bedroom, and helped him sit back up in his chair. He had lost his balance while leaning over the side of the chair and had been afraid he might slip out of it. So, I stayed with him while he continued to try to get his pants on. He gave up after about twenty, twenty-five minutes, and I tugged them on the last little bit over his booty – he’d already spent forty-five minutes dressing. He wonders if dressing in the chair will ever be easier than dressing in the bed. He could sure use a third arm! Two for depressing, the third one for pulling the pants up while he is in that depressed position.
So, we had gotten up about eight, though Gary had done his IC at seven (we had supposedly slept in, though I had still, for some obnoxious reason, again woken up at five and hadn’t gone back to sleep for quite a while; the elephant, at least, hasn’t been here the last day – we’re hoping he/she is off visiting relatives for the holiday and won’t be back until after we leave ;-)). Gary’s morning then was: eat breakfast in the nude while in the chair, go to the bathroom using the commode chair, get dressed in the chair. It was just about noon when he finished with these three tasks. This is reminding us of our first day in the Transitional Living Apartment.
Debra Talley, my friend from RS Fanfic, is coming about 12:30, and we will go out to eat to Mellow Mushroom Pizza (I’ll bring my rice), and then we are going to go to a movie at the same place Gary and I went to last time when we were here. We are going to see “Stranger than Fiction.”
***
Debra saved me a lot of effort and time by stopping at an Indian grocery store on her way to our apartment and picking up 60 lbs. of Basmati rice for me. That should hold me awhile ;-). We went to the pizza place and Gary and Debra ordered small pizzas. They said the pizzas were very good. We ate and talked for a while, which is always enjoyable with Debra, then headed for the movie. We all liked the movie – I found it very creative and different and funny, sometimes in a dark or tender way. Debra characterized it as “quirky.”
After the movie we headed back to the apartment and said goodbye to Debra. (She said it had been very enlightening to watch Gary do his transfers and watch me break down the wheelchair, to actually see what I had been talking about on the blog). I took a very short walk while Gary did his IC, and then he wanted to “practice” in the double bed in preparation for this evening. So he transferred into the double bed and padded himself off for proning. I checked him, and he did it pretty good, just not leaving quite enough of a gap between the quad pillows that go below and above his knees. The he said he wanted to pretend it was 3 am and time for his IC when he would have to get out of the prone position and into the side position. I went into the other room, and I hear him say, “Oh, damn, it’s 3am and I have to do my IC.” Funny guy. He said he thought the repositioning he had to do was easier to do on the double bed than on the hospital bed, so it is a “go” for him to sleep in the double bed tonight. The only drawback for this from my point of view is that I had unmake and remake both beds, because I had my bedwarmer on the double bed and now it would have to be put on the hospital bed. This makes five times I have had to make a bed since last Sunday. I am getting pretty sick of that task ;-)
Gary said he thought about why the swimming was such an emotional experience: suddenly, all the deadweight from nipple level down, which is so difficult to move around on land, was floating, weightless, moved easily.
This morning he tried doing his bowel program on the commode chair for the first time. It took him about twenty-five minutes, his minimum time for doing it the other way. He found it easier to do it “the old way,” lying down, what with all the leaning he has to do in the sitting position, but we expect he’ll get used to doing it this way and will eventually prefer it. He got a little redness in his booty area from using the chair so ended up going back onto the bed and proning to give the area a little relief. Turned out that he had forgotten he was supposed to do weight shifts every fifteen minutes while on the commode seat, and he didn’t do one. Not sure if that would have made a difference.
He next greased his own flap, me watching to make sure he got vaseline on the entire area. It will take a little practice, but he does it pretty good, using the feel of the seam and “memory” on the places where the seam isn’t obvious to the touch.
Next came the new task of dressing in the chair. Partway during his getting his pants on, I heard this big “whoa!” come from the living room where he was. I raced around the corner from the bedroom, and helped him sit back up in his chair. He had lost his balance while leaning over the side of the chair and had been afraid he might slip out of it. So, I stayed with him while he continued to try to get his pants on. He gave up after about twenty, twenty-five minutes, and I tugged them on the last little bit over his booty – he’d already spent forty-five minutes dressing. He wonders if dressing in the chair will ever be easier than dressing in the bed. He could sure use a third arm! Two for depressing, the third one for pulling the pants up while he is in that depressed position.
So, we had gotten up about eight, though Gary had done his IC at seven (we had supposedly slept in, though I had still, for some obnoxious reason, again woken up at five and hadn’t gone back to sleep for quite a while; the elephant, at least, hasn’t been here the last day – we’re hoping he/she is off visiting relatives for the holiday and won’t be back until after we leave ;-)). Gary’s morning then was: eat breakfast in the nude while in the chair, go to the bathroom using the commode chair, get dressed in the chair. It was just about noon when he finished with these three tasks. This is reminding us of our first day in the Transitional Living Apartment.
Debra Talley, my friend from RS Fanfic, is coming about 12:30, and we will go out to eat to Mellow Mushroom Pizza (I’ll bring my rice), and then we are going to go to a movie at the same place Gary and I went to last time when we were here. We are going to see “Stranger than Fiction.”
***
Debra saved me a lot of effort and time by stopping at an Indian grocery store on her way to our apartment and picking up 60 lbs. of Basmati rice for me. That should hold me awhile ;-). We went to the pizza place and Gary and Debra ordered small pizzas. They said the pizzas were very good. We ate and talked for a while, which is always enjoyable with Debra, then headed for the movie. We all liked the movie – I found it very creative and different and funny, sometimes in a dark or tender way. Debra characterized it as “quirky.”
After the movie we headed back to the apartment and said goodbye to Debra. (She said it had been very enlightening to watch Gary do his transfers and watch me break down the wheelchair, to actually see what I had been talking about on the blog). I took a very short walk while Gary did his IC, and then he wanted to “practice” in the double bed in preparation for this evening. So he transferred into the double bed and padded himself off for proning. I checked him, and he did it pretty good, just not leaving quite enough of a gap between the quad pillows that go below and above his knees. The he said he wanted to pretend it was 3 am and time for his IC when he would have to get out of the prone position and into the side position. I went into the other room, and I hear him say, “Oh, damn, it’s 3am and I have to do my IC.” Funny guy. He said he thought the repositioning he had to do was easier to do on the double bed than on the hospital bed, so it is a “go” for him to sleep in the double bed tonight. The only drawback for this from my point of view is that I had unmake and remake both beds, because I had my bedwarmer on the double bed and now it would have to be put on the hospital bed. This makes five times I have had to make a bed since last Sunday. I am getting pretty sick of that task ;-)
posted by Peg Daniels at 5:42 PM
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