Apr 1, 2007

We’re in bad shape at the moment, as Gary says – and I wish that were an April fools joke but it isn’t. It is Sunday morning, and we still have half the trip to go. After my bit of driving yesterday, I was in significant pain with my knee. When Gary got into bed last night and I got a look at his flap, I was appalled – it was a bright angry red and looked very dry along the right side of the flap. You may recall I had thought it looked quite inflamed after the first night of our drive to the conference and no better the second night. It seemed to improve during the conference, but not go back to pre-conference condition. Last night it looked so bad I really don’t think he should be sitting. And this morning, while slightly improved, it is still pretty bad – which would seem to mean the driving is making it worse. I guess something about the seat, the way it puts pressure on this area, is giving him the first stages of a pressure sore.

So what this means is we are going to have to lay the passenger seat down so he can lie on his side or put him on the floor for today’s journey. In other words, little to no driving for him. Which means I have to do it which means my knee is going to be cursing me. The way the van has been modified is just not good for me – my legs can’t get comfortable while driving. (And another thing, I didn’t realize that the non-ramp door would be so difficult to open and close. Joe and Dolores’s van simply requires that you start the door to close and it automatically shuts on it own. Our van’s door I have to heave closed, and often it doesn’t close hard enough and I have to do it again. This has not been good for me!)