Friday, May 16, 2025

Friday's finish

 I think I briefly mentioned this before but across the street from our apartment complexes they Taylorsville Senior Center and it's like kind of a full service operation for seniors of course. One of the things they offer is a lunch a hot lunch every day except the weekend and quite frankly their food isn't all that good except for a few items which I find difficult for anyone to mess up too significantly. But over the last couple of months I've been paying more attention to the menu which is published monthly and we keep a menu tacked up in the laundry area on it's bulletin board. When something seems unusually appetizing shows up I try to keep track and then take the meal on. I noticed last week that friday, today the meal was going to be meatloaf! I love meatloaf and I suppose there's probably wasted mess it up but overall I'd take that risk. I think the menu stated it would be meatloaf, whipped potatoes and gravy and whatever green thing they chose to service the seniors with. So I stuck it on my agenda that I was going to go to the senior Friday lunch for meatloaf. Excite me these days but a possible meatloaf lunch was one of those that did and I just sort of hung around the apartments all morning waiting for 11:15 which is the one they start serving at the senior center.


I was actually in the process of putting my black watch cap on and putting rubber bands on my long sleeves to hold them up when I hear a knock on the door. I wasn't sure but I was almost sure who it was. Earlier this week when I met Kelly who was the occupational therapist Aid she indicated she would be coming sometime this week to see my strategies to get it and out of bed as well as possible address. I kind of thought today was the day but I wasn't really sure all I knew was that I was going to see her before she left for a week's vacation which I knew would be next week so finally the day had to be the day and of course. I yelled come in and it was Kelly the occupational therapist associate class assistant. She apologize for being late she had some issues with some of her other clients earlier and was just getting free of a long-term patience earlier on. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was on my way out for lunch. I guess I could have done that and got my meatloaf but it didn't seem right Kelly had really had a bad morning and was openly excited to be here to work with me it's kind of Spooks me. I tucked my desire for a meatloaf lunch to the back of my mind knowing that I was not going to get done in time to get a lunch. That's okay not a big deal. I just kept my mouth shut and acted like I totally remembered today was the day that we are going to exhibit by disability lifestyle. Of course Kelly is enamored with me things I do so many incredible independent items. That's okay with me I always like a little hero worship so rare anymore. It's difficult for me to transfer from my chair to my bed but I'm fully clothed. Immediately I took my shoes off and saddled up to the bed. I explained to Kelly about how close I had to be to the bed how I worked the mattress down and pulled the arm off of my chair so I can transfer over. Then I did show her how I hung up on the trapeze and how I used it to pull myself over till I lost balance and hit the bed. She was impressed I was impressed that I was able to do the transfer with my clothes on it was a little difficult to hang around the bed and that's even more difficult to transfer back Kelly helped with that actually tugging on my shorts to help plus me over to the bed. She was excited though and told me to keep on doing what I was doing because I was doing great sometimes that's just good to hear…


Thursday, May 15, 2025

Busy days

It was a semi busy Thursday and that's okay. I spent a good part of the day in the apartment just because it look like it was cold and yucky outside but when I went out check it out it was not too bad at all. In fact I even went over to the market to pick up a few things. Did they start out as usual at 6:00 a.m. when I finally decide to get up. I've been watching the clock for almost an hour when I woke up around 5:00 a.m. and I just couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't really have anything to do this morning except social coffee until I was contacted by the wounds care specialist. She was worked into my schedule yesterday when the other individual looked at me and looked at my leg and indicated I needed to have a wound care specialist look at it take care of it and I was impressed this morning when I got the text that she was coming over. I was able to fit her in before the coffee group which kind of impressed me. The wound care specialist was kind of a plain change she knew what she was doing but she wasn't too impressed with my wound and gave it some basic dressing I think she was less impressed with the fact that I didn't have a bunch of stuff ready at hand- - but I thought that she would provide- - to work on my wounds. Basically I've been using Melissa skill set and going after my wound with a lot of hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol we had the couple of other cleansing articles but not like what she was looking at are looking for so that was kind of strange. Now I want to get those items in so I'll have a good storage part of those benefits in case I have more wounds.


The coffee group was pretty much the same as always maybe four or five of the regular folks that just keep showing up couple of folks will stop by and get a cup of coffee but not really become part of the group and a lot of the old group just do not show up anymore. I have a sneaky suspicion that a lot of it is just plain bigotry by some of my friends here at the facility. I think a lot of these guys stop coming when a large portion of the Hispanic residents started showing up for coffee social which I think is just totally bizarre and weird. I cannot believe that these folks are that shallow but that seems to be the case. So I guess we will live by on our five regular folks until the disband the coffee group all together. I don't know if that will happen I don't know how much management relies on the benefit that coffee social renders are Grant makeup as far as a way to reach out to seniors and to increase their socialization. That is pretty clinical but I also sure that's pretty much the way that it is.


Perhaps the best part of my day was when I got a text from my granddaughter indicating that she and her boyfriend were coming over to visit since they hadn't really been at the breakfast for the last couple months. It seems that Jasmine had cooked a couple of banana breads I'm wanted to bring me over a couple of loaves. She made Mini banana bread rolls and I got two regular and two Walnut covered l o a v e s they were quite good. Jasmine and I did a lot of visiting while Jackson as usual worked on cleaning up the apartment he mopped and swept the floors and picked up a bunch of other stuff around the apartment which is really appreciated. We talked a lot enjoy each other's company and finally I sent them on their way and I was going to enjoy banana bread and fried chicken from the market …




Wednesday, May 14, 2025

More spring Blues



 It was another long cold, dark wet and somewhat windy day to be out in the elements and I was. I had a follow-up appointment at the medical center that I really needed to be to buy 10:50 a.m. this morning which meant that I was going to have to make sure my home health person got here earlier than usual so they can have all my materials and stuff done and out the door in time to catch the bus for the trip over to the Intermountain Healthcare facility which is actually relatively close. Melissa did get here about an hour earlier than usual and that helped a lot got the business done got dressed and threw on my stocking cap in my jacket and hit the road. I was not in too much discomfort but it was relatively unpleasant. I even put on my jacket halfway. Fortunately this appointment was just a follow-up appointment and it went smoothly though they did pull blood to check my medication levels and stuff to see if I needed to have more. I did grab lunch at the hospital cafeteria- I've always loved hospital food. Today I got sauerkraut dog with onion rings. This was kind of a mistake but not a bad one entirely they used good hot dogs.

The trip home is uneventful was able to get into the apartment turn on the heater and start relaxing. My occupational therapist aide came later on she was running late but it was a good meeting and she provided a number of exercises that I would need to be doing which might help me increase my ability to be independent . Before I would have written OT suggestions as just silly things like shrugging my shoulders, turning my head one way then turning my head again the other way as much as I could the reason my hands over my head like I'm raising an imaginary barbell and other similar exercises there was a bunch of them she gave me a hand out with these written on that I need to be doing daily now. Like I said there is the time I would have seen this and just laughed the whole thing off as a scam almost but now I have a much more open mind and I think these things, if done appropriately, correctly could make a difference especially in the area of developing better body core strengthening as well as some balance things and other options she wants to get into as we go along. I'll be meeting with her again I believe on Friday where we will look at how I get in and out of bed and such that should be really interesting. I usually do this naked I've tried to do this with clothes on and it doesn't work very good but it should give the OT something to consider now. This person is quite sincere about these exercises and I will do them for my own benefit then hopefully that'll be enough. The OT was impressed with my arm bike as well as my Rickshaw out on the patio except for it's sort of been taken over by one of the backup chairs. And she was impressed with my backup chairs. I think she's going to be okay I think the whole OT thing is going to be really productive for me and making myself better than i was…


Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Tuesday chills

It was cold this morning rolling out the door but it was spring cold not winter cold which makes it big difference I suppose. I chose just to wear long sleeves a stocking cap and jacket that I can throw across my shoulders if the temperatures get too cold. I was kind of counting down the Sun but that wasn't an issue for today lots of clouds fortunately very little moisture in the fall of rain there has been a little bit of wind I could spend the last couple of days. We are certainly being thrown back to the very beginning of Spring versus the nearest summer like spring whether we've been having a late. I did the usual run around after the meeting. Over to the credit union then over to Taco Time enjoying all my regular items particularly the soft shell taco that I had for lunch. Of course it was probably more calories than I should have ingested but I was appreciative of being able to go out at least play like I was going to work. I took the bus all the way home as opposed to going over a couple streets for the train. I'm sure by taking the bus that added 45 minutes to an hour to my travel time but that's okay but waiting was chilly. I'm thankful for the wrap I carried. It was certainly not a blanket that's acting like what to a certain degree she kept the coldest of the breezes away from my neck and cheeks. I was totally glad to be alone when I finally rolled in the door. I went right over and turned on the heater and got ready to start by arm bike workout. I still had significant amount of time before my 3:00 show started on NPR. I got myself situated I should have taken time off to you know hit the toilet but I didn't, this kind of came back to haunt me during my pump but I got through the 30 minutes without issue. That's 60 Minutes this week so far quite a long ways away from the 200 I would like to have gotten in but if I can just get a hundred minutes in this week I will be happy.


I did take time to fill out the electronic information sheet that the physician wanted me to do before the appointment tomorrow morning. I hate these things I don't know why we have to do it every single time we go to the doctor's office. I guess at least it's electronic and that's not nearly as painful as it would be if you had to do paper pencil. I really think that it doesn't matter at all. If I showed up and complained about having a problem trying to figure it out they'd say oh that's okay no problem we'll get it. So it's kind of a joke but I filled it out anyway it's set to go. I just I'm counting that Melissa will get here early I'll get the business done and be able to take off for the bus. I'm sure I have more than enough time to get over to the doctor's office on the third floor. I think it's just a checkup that I'm going for I sure hope so I hate it when they get all serious and fatal on me. Let's just hope for the best.


Monday, May 12, 2025

Workout

 I'm exhausted tonight. I worked out for the first time in about 3 or 4 weeks on my arm bike. I stopped turning the bike when I did something to my arm like sprained my muscles or tore him or something like that caused a lot of bruising and such remember? Anyways I kind of been putting off the complete arm bike routine. To be honest I think I was kind of scared / spooked about getting back in the physical regime not really sure how healed I am. I have not seen the doctor or even the physical therapist for that matter. That's kind of hoping I would but maybe on Wednesday when I see the doc for a checkup that I'm going to maybe I can bounce something off of him or her and I'll figure things out maybe. That's kind of hoping my OT would be on top of it since you sounded so Dynamic when we visited earlier last week. So, I only did 30 minutes because I didn't really want to push myself I kind of want to ease myself back into my routine. It may be a couple weeks before I'm back to 200 minutes a week and today I did 30 minutes on the 1st level or the level of which I think is the hardest because it's got all the hard minutes on it that I know it's hard to explain. So hopefully maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get some time to be on the bike again but I'm not sure. I called this evening or this afternoon and indeed we're going to have a meeting tomorrow so I'll be going into Salt Lake early on not getting back till middle of the afternoon. If I don't dowdle anything as soon as the meeting's over which will be 12:00 p.m. I'm sure I can deadhead it back to the apartment in time to do my workout if that's really important to me. I don't know if I'll be able to make 100 minutes this week I still have time since I have 30 minutes behind me already two more days of 30 minutes each and then just 10 more minutes would give me the hundred minutes.


I must admit it felt good to get back into the arm bike push against resistance if that makes sense at all. It hurt my left side a little bit not too much however so I couldn't tell whether it was residual from the trauma that my arm had are the fact it was weak from none working out it's hard to tell. I was worried that 30 minutes wouldn't be enough to have an impact on me but I think I'm wrong there since I am feeling pretty tired right now as it's almost bedtime should be nice if it's going to assist with some sleep. Today was a very blustery warm day and it's the last warm day we're going to have and sometime it sounds like. I mean it's not going to get cold but it's going to get back into the 50s which will feel cold to me so I'll be back in long sleeves and find my stocking cap. I mean I don't plan to look like old man winter I'm certainly not going to look like a beach bum either. Hopefully the sun will be out and that'll make the difference as I cruise around the train station and the other place is going to my meeting. Interesting to note the train will not take me to the library as usual. The city / county is infinite wisdom is working on tracks remodeling right now so the red line which is the line I use will stop at the courthouse which means they'll do a bus Bridge they say I'm not sure exactly how close that will give you to the library but if I'm early enough I'm sure I'll be just fine.


Sunday, May 11, 2025

Sunday blustery Sunday

 Today was perfectly beautiful with a perfect sunrise on an almost summer like day. I wanted to be sure that I was on time this morning for breakfast with Mark Anthony over at the restaurant so I worked on getting up at 5:30 as opposed to 6:00 a.m.. I'm totally glad that I did because I was using almost every minute of that early time getting ready. As much as I hate to admit it I'm losing my ability to dress myself readily. There's a time when I could cross my legs easily and put on the clothes even the shoes I would not today it took me I'll bet you had 20 minutes to get my right leg up over my left so I can put my shorts on. The left leg wasn't so bad I was able to get that up pretty easily but the right leg that's the bugger I've got to figure out another way to start the legs or the pants on my leg. And again, they'll come a time when I can't do any of it and we'll have to see what we do then. But for now I'm basically able to get things taken care of one way or the other at least so I'm presentable, enough when I have to be out in public. I totally enjoy the time with Marc Anthony as we spoke about all things that's going on in his life and I certainly gave him a rundown of what my life's like right now as well. The granddaughter did not join us this week. It's been 2 or 3 weeks now and I kind of miss her look forward to the time that we can be back together again. I did receive an email/ message or whatever that she wants to get together sometime this week. My evenings are generally free so hopefully we'll see something we can get together on this week sometime. The other thing I'm seeming to have a bit of a issue with these days is my ability to catherize. They used to be fairly simple but now I'm having some challenges as far as c a t h i n g myself once I'm dressed. Today I actually had to not only take off the straps right undid my top button as well so I was able to find my dick and be able to stick the catheter inside. I really didn't want to go through that but effort just to pee but I guess that's the way it's going to be. I also have that cloud with the silver lining- - which I'm hoping for - - in that maybe we'll figure something out with the occupational therapy I might be getting shortly. One of the things I need to do tomorrow first off is to figure out how to get my voicemails. I know I kind of did that last week but I couldn't tell you how I did it it just happened and of course I don't have my password I'm going to have to find another one or build another one which drives me crazy. People like to leave me messages so I better figure out how to get those messages on timely manner especially when I'm dealing with medical appointments and things of that nature. Other than that my day was kind of quiet except for the loud wind blowing that went on today as the cold front moves forward. Things are settled down now in the evening the wind blue and blue this afternoon temperatures are up in the '80s so even though it was uncomfortable to some degree dealing with the Wind I sure enjoyed the warmer temperatures.


Saturday, May 10, 2025

Savoring Saturday

I wonder if it's more noble to leave the apartment get on a bus and go to a theater to watch a movie which is not too dissimilar from any of the movies I can get on either Netflix or Disney Plus. The process of actually leaving the apartment however to go to the movie house seems to make the event much more wholesome then slinking around the apartment eating whatever you get your hands on and watching the movie on your flat screen. Perhaps it's because you have to get dressed for one and in some cases dressed up nice but not for me today I just wore one shoe to give anyone who cares at all the illusion that there is something wrong with my foot so I didn't have a shoe on but since I went to the problem and effort to put it on one shoe it must be okay. All I know is that they did not turn me away behind there no shoes no shirt no service sign. There were more folks than usual at the movies today I assume because it's Saturday, the weekend, and since it was an early movie 12: 50 p.m. not a whole lot of people were in the movie mood yet and probably wouldn't be because the day was so nice. The temperature is in the upper 80s very rare for this early in May. So I figured people were outside at the park or washing the car or missing in the garden enjoying the direct sun rays. I found the movie that I chose to watch today somewhat boring which kind of surprised me since the first movie was really good I thought. But like most sequels they never match up to the original another lesson I'm learning. The first edition is usually the best.


I came out after the evening news to read a little bit out on the patio I was also curious to see if the people I challenge last night to charge their vehicles, scooters, and I was going to go across the street with them to the market. These guys just hover around the intersections have never crossed the streets they're too frightened. They're afraid they will not have enough power to cross the street. I told them that I would cross the street with him tonight to go to the market if they would charge their vehicles up over the evening. Of course the one little guy who just wants to talk shows up and he didn't plug his chair in or scooter and the other lady with the scooter didn't show up at all. I basically ignored the Asian guy will call Bing till he finally left. I didn't figure these guys were going to go but I said I would wait not take them and that's what I did I just dumped them and went over to the market myself got a few riddles for the remainder of the weekend. Grapes, spicy V8, green bananas and a couple other incidentals. It was a pretty busy day…


Friday, May 09, 2025

2 hours lost!

 Remember I said something about finishing a book that I've been reading for about 2 weeks yesterday I think for the day before? Anyway, I was now done with this book and I was going to go back and finish the other book I was in the middle of reading or actually 3/4 of the way through but I was able to get this other book. Went out to read this evening in the evening warmth- - it's been very warm all day almost into the 90s. I don't know how many months I've been reading the Satanic Verses but it's been three or four for me it's a difficult book and like I said I'm in the last quarter of the book now and I just want to finish it and get it off of my reading list. So I went to the back or I usually read during the day and was reading are trying to when I was surrounded by power scooters. Two of the folks that use power scooters descended upon me and start asking me all kinds of silly questions pretty much about power. I've been talking these two for some time they've never really crossed the street from our apartment complex over to the market which is almost literally next door across the street. They are too afraid they're Vehicles will not make it across the street which is totally ridiculous. I really didn't want to visit with these people anyway and social constraint didn't allow me to slam my shut and roll away. I started out being nice and trying to be supportive, they both kept giving me these week excuses and I started getting pissed. Anyway, I finally shut my book realized that was not going to get anything more red tonight at least until bedtime and essentially challenged the two to come with me and we would go on a jump around the area just to show him that they're chart their power scooters were still charged and they could go anywhere they wanted to especially across the street. This event took two of my hours the evening they couldn't believe it. In the end we went totally around this Park which is just next to our building but it's a great distance when you go all the way around it way more than crossing the street which should show them that they have enough power in there batteries of their of their vehicles to do the job they want. I wanted to just drag him across the street tonight and get it over with since I've already lost my two hours but they were too afraid. I've challenged them now to charge the vehicles all night long to see if they will take the challenge tomorrow afternoon or evening and see if then they will cross the street. I kind of don't think they will and I'm going to wash my hands of them if they don't time is just way too short and I don't have much time and these two burgers have less time than I do. I better be careful cuz after having written this for sure I will get ran over tomorrow sure thing crossing the street..


Thursday, May 08, 2025

Late afternoon coffee



 I had coffee with my good friend LB today and went on and on about how I need to stop wasting my life in front of the flat screen and semi declaring that I will stop watching as much as I have been and then just realized I killed a whole hour watching my favorite Thursday night situation comedies. That I can say that I really liked the other one that's just front of and it's right after the 6:00 news so it's just as easy to watch the first sitcom as it goes into the second and both are season finale. I don't know why I bother because I think I basically slept through the one situation comedy that I like best. I don't know if it's the comedy so much as it's throwback to Thursday night viewing that I used to really enjoy especially from the late '70s '80s and 90s. I can't believe how much I enjoyed watching those Thursday night offerings. Everything from Seinfeld to Hill Street Blues. Not only was it good television but it was the ushering in of Friday and the weekend. The flat screen is off now and I'm enjoying the quietness of my apartment and feeling I'm doing something by updating the blog and my journal even though the creativity is somewhat minimal at best.


 I really enjoyed Hill Street Blues primarily because it showed a work situation that I would have loved to been part of. It was a gritty City operation. The precinct was watched over by a strict but fair boss one that I would love to have had at that particular time in my life. Everybody did their job some better than others but they all showed up at roll call ready to do there jobs. I kind of miss that. I'm sure if I really wanted to go back and revisit those old shows I could find them somewhere on the internet even if I had to rent them I could but my need for nostalgia, thank goodness, it's not that great. It's bad enough that I waste time on netflix, Prime and Disney Plus. These old series would just add another level of time consuming nothingness to my mortal existence that I should be doing more with not less. We had a great conversation with fairly decent coffee at least it was hot, at least mine was to start. We talked about where we were at on our creative universes, the political mess that we're existed in right now in the problems that people with disabilities are going to be facing probably very shortly as the current political Administration continues to route federally fun to support systems people with disabilities in their communities. I wouldn't say we've given up hope but I would say we are realistic ass too what issues might come our way. I really feel people with disabilities are looking at some major problems if and when the Giant Federal support systems get their legs cut off funding wise. We weren't depressed- at least I wasn't when we were finished. Just hopeful that we'd be able to meet again before too long and before any giant Federal hammers fall on us...

 

Wednesday, May 07, 2025

Special attention

Yesterday I spent at least an hour doing something that drives me crazy which is trying to set up another account so I can read the voicemails which have been left on my cell phone. I know it's not the cell phones part or even the megalith entity that developed the piece of technology which drives me crazy. It's just that you got to have a password you got to have a this you got to have that in order to access the voicemails which have been left for you by individuals who couldn't get a hold of you when your phone rang. Granted I'm using that close enough to the phone when it does ring to grab it and then answer the phone so I guess that's what the person's going to do is leave a message and I suppose that's the way it is for doctor's offices and or other places of business that work directly with you and have to make contact with you or think they're making contact with you at any given time. I usually get around 10 messages on my cell phone and that doesn't bother me as much as when it's something I think I need to be aware of like the appointment that happened today which was my occupational therapist calling to set up an appointment to come out and visit. The phone call came in this morning and I was lucky enough to hold of her before she went out on her visits for the day and set up an appointment to stop by my apartment just before lunch. No I'm caught in a quandary do I tell you about my aversion to getting passwords or my time with Sarah the occupational therapist. I guess I'll save my rent on cell phone passwords and messages for another day- probably sooner than later.


I was impressed that she worked me into her schedule today. She's young and still a believer in the system to the point where she sold me that I too could believe in the system at least for now. She listened to me for some time gave me her points of ideas and then show extreme excitement to be working with me the next couple of days and weeks on strengthening parts of my body that I use for daily living like transferring and such as well as other options that might be good for me and also to work with me on getting a new power chair very much quicker than later which is totally bizarre. She was aware of how bad and how painful look for me to be in my chair and that she would talk to the people in charge of how and when the chairs will be ordered and make sure that I start getting some preferential treatment. Like I said we'll see what happens but right now I want to believe in her a lot she's the kind of person who moves mountains because she doesn't know any better…

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

Rethinking the movies



 The low pressure system continues to roll around this area bringing damp weather and cold temperatures. Even though we were having this kind of weather I was getting a little tired of being in the apartment all the time and specially today since I didn't have to go down to Salt Lake to go to my regular meeting not until next week. So I sort of felt I was in the middle of a vacation day and I've been promising myself to get back out on the road as soon as I could in this old power chair of mine but it's the one that's been worked on and batteries are really good it looks like it feels like and so I decided later on in the morning I would take off and check the movies out. I actually took a jacket with me just so I can wrap it around my head if I got too cold and I wasn't sure what was going to go on inside the bus because at this point in time all the buses are all the drivers turn their air conditioning on even though it's freezing outside. The same holds true with the movie house many of the people who run the theaters things that summer and so they have their air conditioning systems on too which makes enjoying the movie a real challenge. So, I took the jacket with me in case things got chilly are more chilly than they already are.


I got to the area where the theater is at and there's a Starbucks very close I usually go in there and check out my cell phone to find out what movies are playing and what times they will start. I didn't have time to enjoy a brew seeing that one of the movies I was considering was starting exactly at that point in time or at least started seating which means another 20 minutes will pass before the movie actually starts. They have this giant pile of previews they wander through. So I took off run over to the movie house and got my seat for the movies was fortunate to even find out that I had a free popcorn by the amount of points that I've acquired over the last couple of months. I really wanted to see two movies that looked pretty good they seem somewhat espionage like spy type shows which I think I would really like but I end up caving into a Marvel offering. Something about the new Avengers the Thunderbolts. Now I was kind of disappointed in the whole movie it wasn't as bad as a couple of the other Marvel movies have been but clearly was not of the same caliber and I'm not sure what Marvel's trying to do. I keep an eye on the different information things on the internet to see what other people are saying about the movie I get the impression there's not a lot of other people that are all that happy with it either. I got through the movie and my popcorn and by that time I need to go to the bathroom so I didn't want to try to wrestle my dick out there at the theater decide to go home I was ready. I was just a little sad it seems the movies, for me, are beginning to lose their appeal

Monday, May 05, 2025

Cinco de Mayo peekaboo

 The cold weather, clouds and Rain returned today along the Wasatch Front taking away the hot wonderful calm sky and days that have enjoyed the last couple. That's okay it won't last long it's just the coming and going of the seasons. Of course, I didn't do much during the day. I wasn't really going to go out I didn't have anywhere to go so I just laid low watched movies and cleaned up a little here and there swept the floor off and on tried to be not totally useless. But really not a whole lot going on right now. Each day I'm feeling a little bit more comfortable with my return to chair I still don't feel at home in it as I did before at least I thought that I felt at home in that chair or this chair. I do enjoy the elevator function I've used it a couple times and I just forget how nice that is be able to reach things up high and place things up high. The giant blister or boil on my leg continues to sit there. Melissa put a new dressing on it this morning we decided not to Lance it at this point to see if it would burst on his own accord next couple days as I get in and out of bed and such. My legs are sure taking a beating these days though they look pretty grim. The cool weather is predicted for tomorrow as well however I think I'm going to be going out since I got a text from Lori Brock who wants to do coffee tomorrow afternoon. I don't know if we'll be running into any rain to speak up but the temperature still be cool but I can always throw something over my shoulders I mean that's not really super cold. Hopefully, an adventure to the coffee shop is an Adventure just the same whether it's across the street or down to Starbucks. This is going to be a short one tonight just because I don't have any thoughts or feelings about anything in particular right this very minute. I'm sure as soon as I close out this entry that all kinds of things will flood into my head.


Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened to me today was I was waiting as I usually do on Monday mornings around my table, nude, waiting for my caregiver to get here for my morning routine. I was doing my puzzles and drinking some coffee I hear a tap tap tap on the door and then the doors opens and then comes Tim the little Vietnamese lady who has a very interesting relationship with me here at the building. Nothing weird or anything. I think she knows that I'm naked here in the morning she's always talking about me being naked all the time. But then she freaks out when I start talking to her about it. But today she knocks the door opens sees that I'm sort of naked and backs away but then she's got something she wants to give me which is a plate full of lasagna which is great! Something for dinner I don't have to think about. I took the plate and she zipped away and that was that. I just wonder but she really thought about everything especially me

Sunday, May 04, 2025

Springtime Sunday

 I did it! I was worried that I was going to have issues transferring into my old chair that I just got back from the shop this morning. This would be the first morning since I got the chair that I transfer by myself. I know that sounds weird but it just seems that everything is such a challenge these days that nothing works the way that it used to. And I am so freaked out at how different my chair feels now that I'm having to relearn everything it seems like it's almost defeating. Happily however I was able to make the transfer and even later get my shorts on though it was very difficult and challenging but I was able to get my shorts on and one shoe and my shirt so I was presentable by the time it was to go to breakfast. So I guess it was a good morning even though my goal was to get up at 5:30 as opposed to the usual 6:00 a.m. just because I wanted to make sure I had this extra time frame and it served me well. It was good having breakfast with Mark this morning the kids didn't make it but that's all right I think I kind of wear them out to a certain degree anyway. They can only take the old man and small degrees I totally understand that. Sadly, today was not as warm as yesterday and I guess that's okay but I sure enjoyed being out yesterday's Heat. Today the clouds moved in and we did have some good rain in the evening but there was Sunshine off and on during the day but I elected finally just to go in and spend the rest of the day watching my old favorite Marvel movies which I ended up doing to my enjoyment. Later on in the day I ended up visiting with Shelly on the phone which was good to have visited with both my kids today and certainly made me appreciate the Sunday evening.


I think we're in the middle of a low pressure system now and I don't have a lot of faith for the upcoming week as far as warm weather and getting out and doing anything of any value. Luckily I don't have to go into the office this week as far as assist, ink goes so I plan to lay low hang around the area and enjoy the apartments as much as I possibly can. Weather may be just inclement enough that I can use my movie card and take in some walk-in theater movies. That would be one way to get through a stormy afternoon particularly now that I'm in a chair that I trust the batteries to be there for some time as opposed to what I was in. Maybe this would be a good week to also increase my liquid level fluid levels. Oh that's another issue as well. I seem to have more difficulty in trying to catheterize myself in the chair, when I'm dressed then before I had the repairs done. I do not know why this would be certainly seems to be the case. I'm trying not to let any of this get me down but it's sometimes a bit of a battle. I just got off the phone with Michelle and we will talk about issues we're having as far as Aging in place and being able to do what we once did a lot easier.

Saturday, May 03, 2025

The power chair Blues

 


I am really trying to not fall into a deep depression as far as dealing with the power chair that I just got back from the shop. It's the weirdest thing that's the same chair I know it's the same chair but it feels entirely different and I don't know why. It feels much smaller and I can't seem to get comfortable in it at all. I feel I've got to lock myself tie myself built myself into the chair so I don't fall out. In short it's kind of scaring me to death on how I can live in this chair independently.


This morning I was kind of excited getting up in fact it wasn't the excitement I don't know what happened I think it was a spasm but when I went to transfer over to my chair my leg spasmed out and I ended up in a real bad transfer with my legs hanging off what did me into the chair which was a good thing cuz I wasn't falling out but I could barely get to the controls and it took me a good 20 minutes to extricate myself from the chair and twist myself around and get my legs back into the foot box and finally took my chair back so I could totally get it back into my chair. With all that in mind I did get dressed but I did have to have my care person come over and bandage up a major blister that I got on my leg I don't know how except for I think it was when I have my legs bound up the strap sometimes is a little too tight which I think might have caused the friction that caused the blister a big water blister. Plus I had her coming over essentially to put me into my new chair or my repair chair. That was when I started getting my first inclination at something didn't seem to be quite right. Now I'm in the chair and I don't know what I'm going to do. I think my transfer into the bed will be okay little concerned about tomorrow morning early and how I'm going to be able to dress myself. I hoping this will pass and I'll be able to just get back into my regular method of living but I just don't know anymore that's going to happen. It just seems like something's happening to me and I don't like it not one little bit. Luckily I had little problems when I went to the market to pick up a few things for the weekend. It was a nice trip out and was glad to be able to get the things I needed. I was able to use the elevator function for the first time since I got the chair back- - quite frankly I forgot I had the elevator function until I had to put the groceries away. The weather has been perfect for today very warm almost in the 80s. I spent time out in the sunshine till I couldn't stand the Heat and moved into the apartment watched a movie or two nothing new just the age old Marvels that I continue to watch. And that's good keeps me going …

Friday, May 02, 2025

Probability storm moves on



Maybe things are looking up. Maybe I'm through this probability storm I've been suffering with the last 2 or 3 weeks. My arm is much better I can pull weight on it now I can lift myself up in the trapeze if I'm very careful and not move my arm any bizarre way. I can tell the wrong move would send me back a couple of squares and trying to heal my arm all over again. Hopefully my doc will call and they'll be able to have me come in and he can look at my arm as well and give me some information and actually I'm hoping to get some feedback from physical therapy when and if they call back and set up an appointment. Yesterday I did go to the dentist which I reported on yesterday afternoon or evening. So I'll be transferring into my chair tomorrow at some point that's okay I'm in no hurry I've made it this far. So I don't jinx myself but maybe just maybe this storm is over for now. My butt still is a little tender and changed my dressings this morning and my PCA indicated that I had no skin breakdown so I'm just hoping for the best.


I even did a good deed today. I try to do good deeds whenever I can it's a good form of insurance as far as karma goes. But there is this lady I can't believe how many people at this facility- - like me old people and many of them have scooters and they just roam around this property here. They're all afraid to cross the street and granted there is a major thoroughfare just adjacent to our building but there's more than adequate crosswalks with good lights but the people here don't trust the traffic lights I don't think. So I promise this one lady who has expressed to me that she would like to go to the market and to the dollar store but it was afraid to and I volunteered that I would help her cross the street so that she would get a feel for how easy it is. We were going to do this yesterday but I got caught up into a meeting I had to go to in the afternoon with the social work person here. I was surprised at how long the interview was and I couldn't find this person after afterwards. So I saw this person again this morning and asked if she still wanted to do cross the street and she indicated she did. I was surprised at how easy it was to cross the street with her. She really did seem somewhat surprised at how easy it was. We went to the Dollar Store got a few things and then she treated me to an ice cream at the food market right next to the dollar store. The question now is that well she continue this behavior on her own. I hope she will I hope this wasn't just a ruse to hang out with me there could be stranger things in life LOL

Thursday, May 01, 2025

Front tooth fix

 



Been a very long day. I woke up at 3:28 a.m. roughly and I don't think I got back to sleep. I think I was a little anxious regarding my dental appointment this morning at 9:00 a.m. I wanted to make sure I was dressed and ready to go to the doctor's office. I stayed in bed till 6:00 a.m. as usual the transfer was relatively straightforward I wouldn't say easy but it's been less painful than say last week when there was so much drama with the arm. The muscle system seems to be healing itself I don't know if that's good or bad I haven't seen a physician yet about it. I've been waiting for them to call me with when my appointment should be. I can use my arm more and more I have to be careful and how I do so that I don't destroy any weeks of healing that's gone on sometimes I get close and catch myself the last moment.


I was pretty much ready for the appointment by 8:00. I wish I had said that I would take the earlier time but finally around 8:30 I rolled over to the office and hang out there for a while before going in and getting set up for the Dental intervention. It was great seeing everybody and even interesting was that hit Alan's son is now a full-fledged DDS and is practicing with his dad at the facility he even did a little work on me as far as doing the Novocaine. He's got a good hand and a good skill set I think he'll be a great dentist. They both work well together too that's always good to see kind of jealous admire that they're doing this. Some interesting they're talking about either moving to another building are adding on to that building they're in now which I would rather they do. They are at such a convenient spot. Interesting I was talking with Janet this afternoon and she indicated that she started to go to these guys just because she gave up her vehicle and decided that it's easier just to walk across the street then to have to go all the way back to where her dentist is which is quite a ways away. And I believe that I think that's the way to do it supports your neighborhood businesses. I probably was under the light for more than 45 minutes this morning. They did a rebuild of that what was left of the tooth in the front and they indicated that also that we should seriously consider capping it but that's going to be more than a thousand bucks. I told them I'd want to go ahead and Patch it up for now and then start thinking about going the crown in a year or so. As it was the work today cost like $265 bucks but they were able to put the tooth back together and I'll be able to use it for another extended period of time. Plus I've got to go back and tune for some other dental work major cavities that I've been wondering about. The day was pretty warm I was able to spend significant amount of time out in the elements there was a bit of a breeze plus my butt was hurting quite a bit I sure hope I'm not done any major skin breakdown I'll have to see about changing out the the cushion tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Mayday Eve

 I'm a little pensive tonight I'm not really sure why but I've sort of felt a little down all day. Tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. I have a doctor's a dentist appointment to see if we can fix the tooth I broke last week. I'm sure we will I'm just not sure how but is pretty skilled and I'm sure he's got some ideas for me. I really like this dentist I mean after all he's right across the street from my apartment so it's very easy to get to appointments and particularly for emergency type things. I don't know if there's cheaper dentist close by there are a couple of dentists however almost in the same block area that my DDS is. I would kind of feel disloyal checking out these new guys just to see what their prices are. That's really kind of stupid because I should look at my medical provider, in this case a dentist, as a consumer product just like anything else and you want to go to where you get the best deal. However, I like this guy like his staff it's a very homey feeling. This guy's been here all of us in professional life as far as I know and then his dad was the dentist, in the same building before him. So the whole place feels very homey plus they have a ramp that I don't think was initially put there for wheelchair Falls it's very steep and I can negotiate it really well with my power chair but I would not want to try it with my manual chair if I still had a manual chair which I do but I don't use it. So tomorrow I have to wake up early just to be sure that I can put everything together by the time I need to roll across the street. My arm is continuing to mend which is good and I think will help me in my dressing in the morning. Now I'm debating on wearing a shoe or not. Because of the injury on my arm I can only use one shoe or put one shoe on I can't get my right leg up high enough to snatch it with my bum arm which I usually do and pull it up the rest of the way over my other leg our knee so I can put the shoe on the right foot but that's not going to happen tomorrow so I'll show up once you on once you off and they usually never say anything even when I show up with no shoes on. Maybe if it's super cold outside but generally just see that's one of my eccentricities.


It's Wednesday so that means it's wash day and that took a lot of the focus of my day. I kept wanting to go somewhere and do something but the matter fact that I had clothes in the wash then clothes in the dryer always kept me pinned to the apartments. This morning was very cloudy with rain but it cleared out by late this afternoon with some decent Sunshine which allowed me to go out and read a little bit but never did feel too comfortable tomorrow it should heat up significantly and reading outside should be much better for the old guy. I just hope that I'll feel like spending time outside after my visit..

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Too little too late?

I think I'm getting better that is I feel my gimp arm is healing. Where the arm is healing and not as difficult to tell mainly because I'm afraid to put any pressure on it at all and that's the way it's supposed to be as I understand it. I should not aggravate the tendonitis or the muscle or whatever is the problem- - that is what I've been doing so maybe it's paying off. I still want to have it looked at by a physician sooner than later but all things in their time I guess. I was pleased this morning being able to get up and transfer into my chair with very little issue. I didn't use the trapeze as I usually do to pull myself up as best as I can I pushing everything off on my right arm now as much as I can before I make any major transitions are transfers. I can use the trapeze more and more but I still need to be very careful it seems like one wrong move and all that pampering goes to waste. I must mention that I've started taking ibuprofen fairly regularly and they say to do that as well. So that might be having an impact as well I don't know I'm just trying to touch all the bases be as good as I can. I am such a poor patient.


Along that same line a person with a spinal cord injury- that's probably anybody for that matter - - is encouraged to ingest as much liquid as possible. I don't know if it's been going on with me in the last couple months but I have not been drinking like I should but it hasn't really been an issue I haven't seen anything negative coming from it and I felt pretty good especially the concept of being able to sleep through the night without having to get up in the middle of the night to pee or roll over to pee or whatever I do. I was on the phone for some time with my ex yesterday who always encourages me to Injustice liquid as possible. I'm trying to I Really Am but it's just like liquid in means liquid out and when you're me and you have to go through so much work just to pee you tried to limit that to the point where it's probably unhealthy. The reason I bring this up is primarily the fact that IP just a little while ago which is really the first time since I got up this morning- - and this morning's void was very limited which was kind of spooky and tonight the urine was very dark dare say I it could have been colored with blood! Of course this drove me didn't just half a gallon it seemed like a water right at the bathroom. I just hope it's not too little too late. So now I'll just more liquids and see what happens. If nothing else tomorrow is supposed to be overcast cooler with bouts of rain. I really don't have to go out anywhere at all so theoretically I could do a really maintenance day of liquid ingestion. I don't know if this would have a positive impact or not but as they say I guess I could not hurt at this point.

Monday, April 28, 2025

Severe tendonitis

 I don't know why I did not think of this before but this morning I did a wild search just to see what would happen put my symptoms in the search engine and lo and behold figure it out what's wrong with my arm. I probably torn the bicep area away from the muscle or the bone somehow or hopefully it's not a real tear maybe it's just a strain a sprain or something like that. The information I was reading was pretty succinct it's definitely what I've got going. And I've had this before I know and I've always seemed to cure from it I guess it's taking a long time but I think eventually this will cure itself as well but since I supposedly have some interface with some medical folks in the next couple days I want to bring this up to them as well and maybe they can have an assist with some options for me or at least give me some direction how how to take care of myself during this period of time. One of the big challenges I am dealing with is having to go on with my life when I do so much with my left arm. Right now I'm having the closely guard what I do and how I lift and all that kind of stuff particularly like getting up in the morning and transferring into the power chair. And actually this is how the whole thing started was with the power chair or lack thereof when I had to go to my backup chair and put in a lot of stress on my arm trying to keep myself up right in the chair and doing everything else I had to do to maintain myself in the chair that's when I first realized that something was going on in my left side. Came out pretty fast once I damaged that area. For what I can tell the most effective cure is just rest they even talked about putting the arm in a sling and doing the old hot and cold thing which I could do. I am trying to favor the arms as much as I can through the day and what time up I'm okay but I'm still quite Limited what I can do. I can dress myself to limits usually not being able to do up my shorts but hopefully I'll have shirts long enough to hide my undone pants and hopefully have enough tail on them to hide any obesity in the back. One other thing is that Melissa reacted to my face this morning and Mark or one of the kids I can't remember this weekend also remarked about my face. Belinda indicated that she thought that I might be having a mini stroke. How many stroke is all I would need or a major stroke for the rest of my life. My next big challenge now I was going to be going to and from my assignment at assist tomorrow morning. I call Andreas this morning as I usually do on Mondays and he indicated that indeed there would be a meeting in the morning and I would be welcome to come. I hope I'll make it I hope the chair makes it I think it will I don't see why it wouldn't it might be close coming back but once I'm back I'll be inbound for the rest of the week I'm sure. The weather doesn't look that great so that's good as well just hunker down in my apartment and enjoy the heck out of it

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Letters

 





Letters stuffed, sealed and stamped ready for the mail drop


Following almost a week of pretty nice weather, warm temperatures and fairly dry conditions a cold front moved in over the evening and made for a pretty chilly day. True temperatures are like in the mid 50s which doesn't seem like cold but after a couple days of the 70s it felt like we were moving back into winter. The high point of my day of course was breakfast with the kids Mark as well as Jasmine and Jackson showed up we had a good breakfast visited fairly well and pretty much hung out. By the time I got home I was committed to staying inside for the rest of the day which I almost did. I did go out and Chase down a little sunshine really not enough to allow me to stay out for very long which was okay. I spent a good portion of the day finishing the letter project for the kids. I got the letters printed as well as the envelopes and stuffed with the $10 bills for the kids that still received money. Rectum put the stamps on and sent them away. I watched probably way too much television as well I finished the series with the Punisher and already feel somewhat better. Punisher is so violent I can't believe it's allowed to be televised. I watched a couple movies on Prime but that was pretty much my day. This is a little bit with my neighbors.


I wish I could report that my wounded arm is getting better. The bruisiness just about left and to be honest there is less pain than I had experienced earlier but there are times when I try to raise my arm or use the arm as I usually do especially what I'm in bed trying to get up that I have excruciating pain in my bicep area. Hopefully, this appendage will heal itself however if I'm lucky enough to be seen by physical or other therapists this week I will certainly bring this up and see what they say. I really hope there is some sort of RX that will fix this issue that I'm having. It certainly is somewhat depressing. I'm not really totally focused on the end game but seems like my thoughts are getting more and more to that area as this issue with my arm continues to progress. This is really true in the mornings when I transfer from my bed to the chair. It would be so much easier if I could actually use my left arm to hang off the trapeze without aggravating the wound and the bicep area. It really has to be a repair of some sort. I sure like my apartment but hate to lose it. I've been fantasizing that maybe what's wrong as I've torn the muscle off the bone or something and I have to have an operation to restore it and how would I do that? I would certainly try to keep this apartment while I was going through healing and then rehab if that was the procedure to use if so like I said hopefully a professional will be around sometime this week and will be able to progress to the next step. I swear I keep coming back to the idea that sooner or later my regular chair is going to come back to me and hopefully all this stuff will disintegrate and I'll be able to go back to the way that it was though there's something in the back of my head saying you can't go back you can never go back.

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Idle arm bike




 Little bit by little bit I think I'm somewhat getting better as far as my injured left arm goes. The bruises are going away and if I don't stress the arm out it doesn't hurt just hanging there and I think that's progress. I did notice last night and this morning that if I tried to really use the trapeze above the bed I really aggravate that muscle system. I'm still somewhat suspect that I have damaged that musculature system somehow. I probably really need to have it looked at and supposedly I have a May appointment with Physicians and maybe I can have them look at it if it's still bothering me. All I know is that it takes me awhile to get up but I'm very careful and don't hang on the trapeze I could get it to my chair and then once there I can negotiate the rest of the transfer eventually. I did fairly well on my dressing this morning I feel that's encouraging. I have my slick shorts for tomorrow so hopefully I can get dressed well within the time limit I have if I wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m.. I still don't even entertain the idea of putting on shoes but I'll just see what I can come up with the time frame that I have to work with. Remember last week Mark had to come over and dress me. I hope I will be better tomorrow at least better than I was today.


I'm feeling a little guilty not utilizing my arm bike like I have been the last couple months or years for that matter. The arm trauma for some reason has really affected my ability to use the crank on the armbike especially doing the push-up part of the hand cycle. Coming down on either side's not that painful but pushing up is another issue. I'll give it till Monday and then try again on Monday to see if I can get some exercise and therefore some better sleep. Maybe I'll have to work up to 200 minute weeks again once I start being able to use the crank more efficiently unless painful to the bicep and other pieces of muscle that seemed to have been impacted by something I've done. The power chair however is not as bad as it was especially since my brother affixed the foot boxes on the chair. I'm putting a lot of stress on the left foot box and I don't know if I can do anything else about that just be more careful. I've inadvertently drove my chair into walls and stuff just getting around in the morning for instance. That's all I would need to do is to break one of the foot boxes as soon as I got them. I think Carl would just about give up on me at that point. Now I have to make a decision on whether to invest money on new batteries or better batteries for this chair I'm in now. I think the batteries are pretty weak charge wise. Today I went to the coffee shop and back and then over to the market and brought me down to about 69% charge. I think it's less than 2.4 MI which I guess actually is not that bad. I think if I have to go into my regular Tuesday meeting I should have enough power to get there and back if I don't do any messing around in between or especially on the road home. Tuesday means I will be dressing myself hopefully I'll be presentable. I just have to make sure that I have a long enough shirt tied my obesity especially on the rear right side.. I have found that if I don't do the top button up or can't do the top button up I can hide it pretty well with whatever shirt I'm wearing if I pull it over the outside of me as well as the safety belt fasten just the right way and then stuffing my cell phone in my pants. Certainly makes it easier in the evening when I need to push my shorts off. I had instructed Melissa yesterday to do that and she did not and I was surprised and quite pleased last night when that button was pretty secure and tight however I was able to maneuver my hands in such a way to be able to push the button from the buttonhole and it didn't take me nearly as long as usual too just rub and get into bed finally.a

Friday, April 25, 2025

My Owee



Im sure all of you are getting somewhat sick and tired of me whining about the physical traumas I'm having to endure at this point in time as a result, as I see it, my power chair in the shop and having to deal with other modes of transportation much less suited to my needs. I believe I mentioned it briefly yesterday but now the wound or whatever is on my arm is just or does not seem to be getting any better. I'd like to say it stasis I'd like to say that it's the same but I must be very careful with it that I don't aggravate it. I don't know what it is as far as what's causing the bruising I sort of suspect it might be something like a muscle issue of some sort I don't want to say a torn muscle that would be horrible and I don't know how that could have happened but something has happened and it's not getting any better I don't think not right now and it's again Friday which means no Services now till at least Monday I don't know what would happen if I went into the ER but I don't know if I would need to regarding this situation. I go to bed at night thinking that perhaps with the rest and such I will feel better in the morning or at least the arm will not hurt as much. But it's when I reach up for the triangle or the trapeze bar that I tend to possibly reinjure the appendage it really is frustrating. I'm not right side however I seem to be adjusting to the chair a little bit better. It's still not very comfortable and I don't think ever will be but I am being able to get from point A to point B. Today I went to Walmart and actually picked up a pair of hair clippers. I found some for $12 and Melissa seems to be pretty anxious but to cut my hair and I truly think she knows what she's doing. She does the whole thing for her son and her son is pretty much into the the current modern haircuts especially for minority kids the fade and all that kind of stuff. And my hair cutting is not super critical as far as critical cuts and straight lines and things like that I just want basically a buzz. There were clippers for 12 24 36 bucks even more if I really wanted to get fancy but it was so confusing because there are clippers for the hair and clippers for the beard and such and I wasn't sure which one to get finally I got some help from some of their folks which greatly assisted me. Sorry I got off on a bit of a tangent they're back to my arm today I had Melissa assist me on my shorts as usual getting them on it was a bit of a struggle but we did it I'd asked her to leave the top button undone but she did not and that caused some stress but I'm pleased to acknowledge that I was able to undo the button. I kind of got spoiled the other day when I spent the day without even button up my pants hiding everything with the safety belt of the chair. Tomorrow will be another challenge to see if I can get myself dressed and make myself presentable enough to go over for coffee or any place else that I go. Disable pull it off day before yesterday so we'll see what happens. I'm beginning to understand this chair a bit better and that is significant cuz I think that allows me to at least know I can sure I can dress myself or pull my shorts up and of course that's the biggie then I need to get it make sure I have a shirt that's big enough to cover all of my possible exposures. It's the 25th five more days April so I'd better get busy working on my kid letters for the month of May….

Thursday, April 24, 2025

A little bit of lunch, a little bit of sunshine and a little bit of rain

 I survived the day in this new chair are the chair that we remodeled yesterday with the help of my brother with the foot boxes. Even with these added conveniences for me it's still going to be very difficult too spend any significant time in this power chair. I was fortunate I was able to cross my legs to be able to get my shorts on but it took me I bet you're almost an hour to get my shorts on and I didn't even really get them on I just put them on far enough that I could put on a long shirt to cover the fact that I wasn't able to get them up high enough to do them up as well as on my hip and everything else I guess that looked okay nobody could tell and I asked a number of folks to look at me critically. I had to make sure that I was dressed all right because I was going to lunch with my buddy Dwayne. We weren't going out he was bringing sandwiches in but still I was able to pull it off I don't know if I'll be able to continue to do this hopefully to some degree. I need to get a new cushion or one of my other cushions that's got the jail in it that I can maneuver to sit underneath my butt because this cushion doesn't seem to be doing a lot of protection. The transfer to bed last night was a little precarious because the chair I have now is not as high above the mattress as the other chairs have been making the rollover a little spooky cuz I don't get to fall as deep and so there's higher chances of me maybe falling off the bed hopefully the transfer tonight will be okay.


I was so impressed I got to call early this morning for my physical therapist actually he was the coordinator over the physical therapist from Intermountain Healthcare and he came out and did an evaluation on me just an initial eval he asked me questions and I gave him information about myself but I expected out of a program if possible all that kind of stuff. Sounds pretty positive next step now is that he's going to send out a occupational therapist to go through my living situation and make comments and recommendations and such. He's also going to set up I think someone to come out and look at some of the issues I'm going through physically and hopefully that will have some impact as well. The bottom line and the whole thing is that I feel that something's being done and that's good. The scary part is is that I'm admitting to a lot of people that have lost confidence in myself or I'm in the process of losing it as I'm not able to do as much physically as I once was. Again I hope this is all situational and well return with the return of my chair in a couple weeks. We'll have to see how that works out. Part of this conversation also came up with Dwayne at lunch today that I'm trying to be able to set myself up to accept whatever verdicts might come down as far as living independently in my own apartment, assisted living and worst case scenario in-house living the long-term care facility. It still makes the most sense to keep me in my apartment even with supports it's cheaper than long-term care or any kind of In-House living facility. I don't think it threatens me as much as it scares me hearing all the bad stories of what comes out of long-term care facilities especially the ones that only low income folks could afford- not saying that I'm low income but I'm certainly not a big roller that's for sure. Today was warm I spent a good part of it outside in the back of the apartments enjoying the Sun in between the clouds. I actually took my chair out to the market and got caught in a minor thunderstorm that was just passing through I got a few drops on my head but not too bad the chair made it there and back again I don't think the batteries are that good but I think they're good enough if I use a full charge on a Tuesday to get me downtown to my meeting and back. We're still having really strange feelings regarding my current situation or thought processes are whatever it is call it depression or what but I don't feel as constrained as I did. I may be deluding myself thinking that it's all going to work out but I somehow think it's going to work out whatever is it supposed to work out and I don't even know if that makes any sense..

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Football modification

My foot sitting in the new football Edition to the backup chair


I have always kind of prided myself on not really being a person that comes to depression but I have to confess that of late I'm being somewhat challenged on whether I could say I'm depressed or not. If anything it's a situation or depression that I'm sure because overall I still feel pretty good about everything and that everything will return to some form of normalcy- - at least that's what I truly want to believe. This morning I was able to get out of bed into my chair I took a bit of work but I did it and I was trying to get dressed when suddenly the chair failed again I was trapped in the chair that was tilted to a certain degree. I ended up having to call my brother who came over and actually got my chair functional again as well as finished dressing me which I totally appreciated but like I said is really beginning to wax down my Independence and myself concept. Today I was presented with another power chair from my good friends over at u c a t, it's a chair very similar to this one and a bit newer. The chairman now is pretty old and I think that's part of the issue with it. The only problem with the new chairs that there is no foot box and I've come to rely heavily on wheelchair foot boxes and keeping my feet in the Box while I transfer which not only helps with the transfer but keeps me in the chair and not sliding out on the floor dash dash which has happened. This newer chair now looks like a good alternative it'll cost a little bit if I want to purchase it 250 bucks which is a deal but at the same time that would give me two chairs of back up I'll get well I would get rid of this one I'm in right now the bad chair then I would keep the old power chairs being repaired now when I get my brand new chair which should happen at some point in time in the near future. I most likely will end up with three chairs all together at some point which kind of freaks me out. And the big question is am I going to continue to live independently in my apartment or am I going to have to start looking at long-term care? The reason I bring this up is that I think this chair I'm in now because I'm sitting so cattywampus I have to keep pulling myself up with my left arm, which is my good arm, which has become very painful to the point that I can barely use it for things that I need like armbike today I only did a half an hour on bike when I usually do an hour on bikes on Tuesdays. So hopefully rehab are in House Rehab might help at least let me know if I'm actually true and thinking that it's the arm pulling that's hurting my arm and nothing more Progressive. I'm totally hoping that with this new chair that I could get back into my old way of living independently on my own in the regular apartment


Speaking in that vein I did make some phone calls to my physician this morning just to find out what I could do to increase my chances of living independently and I was wondering if he could write up some information about me needed to go into rehab for strengthening and other options for extended living in the community and not long-term care. So much to think about.


Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Depressed situationally






I have always kind of prided myself on not really being a person that comes to depression but I have to confess that of late I'm being somewhat challenged on whether I could say I'm depressed or not. If anything it's a situation or depression that I'm sure because overall I still feel pretty good about everything and that everything will return to some form of normalcy- - at least that's what I truly want to believe. This morning I was able to get out of bed into my chair I took a bit of work but I did it and I was trying to get dressed when suddenly the chair failed again I was trapped in the chair that was tilted to a certain degree. I ended up having to call my brother who came over and actually got my chair functional again as well as finished dressing me which I totally appreciated but like I said is really beginning to wax down my Independence and myself concept. Today I was presented with another power chair from my good friends over at u c a t, it's a chair very similar to this one and a bit newer. The chairman now is pretty old and I think that's part of the issue with it. The only problem with the new chairs that there is no foot box and I've come to rely heavily on wheelchair foot boxes and keeping my feet in the Box while I transfer which not only helps with the transfer but keeps me in the chair and not sliding out on the floor dash dash which has happened. This newer chair now looks like a good alternative it'll cost a little bit if I want to purchase it 250 bucks which is a deal but at the same time that would give me two chairs of back up I'll get well I would get rid of this one I'm in right now the bad chair then I would keep the old power chairs being repaired now when I get my brand new chair which should happen at some point in time in the near future. I most likely will end up with three chairs all together at some point which kind of freaks me out. And the big question is am I going to continue to live independently in my apartment or am I going to have to start looking at long-term care? The reason I bring this up is that I think this chair I'm in now because I'm sitting so cattywampus I have to keep pulling myself up with my left arm, which is my good arm, which has become very painful to the point that I can barely use it for things that I need like armbike today I only did a half an hour on bike when I usually do an hour on bikes on Tuesdays. So hopefully rehab are in House Rehab might help at least let me know if I'm actually true and thinking that it's the arm pulling that's hurting my arm and nothing more Progressive. I'm totally hoping that with this new chair that I could get back into my old way of living independently on my own in the regular apartment


Speaking in that vein I did make some phone calls to my physician this morning just to find out what I could do to increase my chances of living independently and I was wondering if he could write up some information about me needed to go into rehab for strengthening and other options for extended living in the community and not long-term care. So much to think about.


Monday, April 21, 2025

Hubris

 From time to time I've often written about how I feel about technology and our inanimate objects ganging up on me, for no apparent reason everything mechanical and electrical seem to be ganging up against me well I'm in the middle of another techno storm and it's kind of freaking me out. The worst part of this techno storm came this afternoon and for some reason my power chair stopped working while I was in the reclined position. I didn't have my cell phone I was in the middle of the kitchen because actually I Was preparing dinner so is later than middle of the afternoon it was 4:30ish. I didn't have anyway to Signal anybody and all I can do is yell and scream. Eventually got one of my neighbors Armando who was walking by. I don't know this guy very well though I should we've lived here about the same amount time. It was a rough way to get to know the guy better. Anyway, I was able to direct him to find my cell phone it was on my bed and bring it in to me and is able to call a few people. By this point in time my technical group was off work it was about 5 minutes after 5:00 in the afternoon all the state employees have gone home. I did call my brother he was able to come over and between us be able to get my chair J-rigged and working again. I'm totally impressed with my brother as always he was able to get me going again whether he fixed it or not I'm not sure time will tell for that but he did give me permission to call him if I get stuck again before tomorrow morning. I spoke to my buddies over at u c a t who indicated they would work with me and see if they can get a solution for this problem worst case scenario they'll try to find another chair that I can borrow until my regular chair gets fixed or maybe they can figure out what's wrong with this one. Hopefully I can get this chair going until they're able to get to me tomorrow afternoon or morning whenever they get pull themselves away from their regular jobs to help me out. 


I'm not even sure if I'm going to be able to get this posted tonight for some reason all of my internet connections seem to be messed up. Took me quite a while to get this tablet I'm working with right now operationally connected to the internet that hopefully I can post this when it's time. Like I said it's a technical storm for some reason I'm getting the brunt of it right now I just hope my bed holds out and the chair Works through tomorrow morning so I can get myself dressed and such. I really depend on those power chairs to keep me going I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I run up against the wall and I can't depend on him anymore. I'm almost considering airing up the tires of my old manual chair and using it as my backup. I still have pretty good upper body arms for quadriplegic and before I stopped early using the manual chair I was able to push myself around fairly well at least locally and I wouldn't take it on the bus to try to take them getting back and forth in my apartment in bathroom and back again. I have to admit I've been pretty smart the last couple years having a backup chair as well as my regular chair and all hubris turned around and hit me on the butt to bring me back


Sunday, April 20, 2025

Easter concerns

I'm trying not to get too alarmed at the events that are happening and right now I can blame everything or I trying to blame everything on the backup chair that I'm having to use while my regular chair is in the shop. But one thing I've noticed in the last couple of days that I've had to dress myself is that I'm losing my ability to dress myself independently. Today is Sunday of course so that means I meet the kids for breakfast. That's basically getting dressed and driving up the road to Dee's Restaurant and then having breakfast with mark and Jasmine if she and her boyfriend show up. Today for the first time I actually slept in a half an hour. I didn't wake until 6:00:30ish which is very rare in fact, I did wake up at 5:00 a.m. and didn't register it being Sunday morning and actually went back to sleep till 6:30 a.m. today I took my medications and a couple shots of apple juice to get my system operational I didn't have any fresh coffee made I took a couple sips from the old coffee which is okay but I really need the sugar impact I would get from the apple juice. Anyway I went back to the bedroom and started trying to get dressed and for one reason or another I couldn't cross my right leg over my left leg which usually is fairly easy to do. I worked on for some time and eventually I'd used up all my time. Mark messaged me that he was being late and I told him I was having a problem too and I was going to be late. He then asked if I was having some problems and I told him I was and he said he would stop by what you did. I continue to work on my dressing till he got here and actually got the shorts on my legs was pulling them up or trying to when he got here to assist which is about I don't know 20 minutes later. By then I was pretty exhausted and with Mark's help that's quite ready to get dressed and did so very quickly him assisted me with my shoes and helping me off my shirt and off we went to Dee's.


The kids didn't join us with just good we had a great conversation and would have gone longer but Mark had to be gone to one of his events that he hosts or is the DJ for the event. All sounds complicated to me but that's what he does. Following that I went back to the apartment and really watched a couple of Punisher episodes but would go back outside and sit in the Sun. It was pretty warm today off and up when the clouds didn't block the light. I'd go out and lay out for an hour come back in and watch another episode. I thought about reading which I really need to do but it was just easier to turn the TV on and get the episodes out of the way. I finally finished season 1 which was pretty good I think I still have two seasons to go we'll see what happens on that.