Hope Slings Eternal

 

Today Wednesday and usually every Wednesday morning my staff, home health person, gives me an enema and a shower like clockwork. Three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Today, that did not happen because I don't have an operational lift or patient lift is what they're technically referred to. Sling is put on me in my power chair by staff then lifts me up and puts me into the shower chair and over the toilet where I do my business when I'm done I roll over to the shower and give myself a shower. Bear in mind I'm very fortunate that I can do that more or less on my own. My showers completed my staff then puts the sling around me again and hoists me into my chair where I am on my own to the next session. So, without the left arm pretty much stuck. I weigh way too much for some of the try to manhandle me, one person that is, into the shower chair and so on and so forth. So the day I've been trying to focus on remedying this problem.

You will remember from yesterday's reading that I found the left was brought to my home but the sling was not appropriate for my needs. I had the idea if we could just somehow wed the top of of the liftwhich will accept my sling which works to the left I purchased yesterday we can have a functional piece of equipment. By the same token if I could find a sling that would work on the new left we would then have another functional with. Today, this morning when I was trying to talk my health staff into Jerry rigging a kind of solution I ended up breaking the old lift (see earlier blog postings about Mark the destroyer). The section freed up a piece of equipment that now my brother has taken home to where he can work on it in his shop and try to bring these two pieces together. If it can be done by brother will do it I have total faith in him. I don't know other options I have opened to me.it's now 7 PM in the evening and have not heard back from her brother and I certainly don't want to push him in his work. My sister-in-law is deathly ill so my brother has enough to juggle on his own without a nagging little brother.

Wouldn't it just be neat if there was a facility or place a person could go that has all this equipment that you could just rent for one hour or two and get your needs met. That does sound kind of weird. But seriously if we weren't in the middle of Covid why couldn't I just go to a long-term care facility someone could insert the mini – enema and then have my shower. I noticed be expensive probably maybe have a deal where I could take my home health person with me to do the work. Again, it would be expensive beyond what largely happensbut at least it would provide some relief.

Right now I'm in the discomfort aside from just low-level anxiety/worry. I think everything will work itself out, one or the other, life usually goes that route. We will have to see what the morning brings…