Feeling positive despite limitations.

 

Roberto Matta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

Two appointments I was dreading one yesterday and one today went very well which was a tremendous relief for Richie and I.

The appointment yesterday was with my case manager as well as my advisor, they both work for the councils mobility Department.

They are both very good women, who have to work within tight parameters nevertheless they do as much as they can for me who is admirable.

2 other people were also present and they were Percy from Welzorg and Ruud from a company called Summit, they make the custom-built wheelchair backrest.

We were both not looking forward to this meeting however as soon as Jacqueline my case manager arrived the appointment started positively.

She suggested we make a list of all the things we did not like about the wheelchair, and there were many points all of which were noted.

By the time everybody was here the list was completed, at first the four of them turned their attention on the wheelchair examining it thoroughly.

Finally Percy said that there was nothing that his company Welzorg can do to improve the wheelchair finally there were no more prevarications.

Right away Jacqueline decided that the only cause of action now was that I needed a new wheelchair.

This means a new supplier so I do not have to deal with Welzorg anymore about my wheelchair which was fantastic news this cheered me up tremendously.

On the 30^th of January I have an appointment at 1400 with Annelies my advisor and somebody from the new wheelchair supplier Beenhakker to discuss the new chair.

In the meantime Ruud from Summit will temporarily adjust the backrest on the wheelchair, as soon as it known which wheelchair I will get he will make a custom built backrest for the new wheelchair.

Richie and I are very pleased with how things went yesterday this really is progress and this time we will make sure the new wheelchair is a good one.

At 1200 today I have an appointment with the doctor from the rehabilitation clinic as well as Milou the wound nurse.

This was the appointment I was dreading the most as I knew that Janneke the Dr was going to cut some hard skin off around the edges of the wound.

In order to stop myself lying awake all night thinking about it I took a sleeping tablet which worked very well.

The procedure seemed to take forever luckily I don't feel a thing nevertheless I was relieved when it was all over as it's not my favourite activity.

Janneke was very positive about the wound saying it was looking good and nearly healed up which was good news.

Hopefully trimming off the hard edges will help the wound to finally heal; it would be great if that were to happen at the same time as I get my new wheelchair.

Despite my increasing limitations I'm feeling very positive about the future and I'm looking forward to being able to get about again.

More to look forward to.

 

Roberto Matta.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta

We had an early start today due to the fact that a supplier, Beenhakker was going to deliver the new cushion for the shower chair.

At 09.30 the doorbell rang and it was the engineer from Beenhakker with the new cushion, which he expertly attached to the back of the shower chair.

By the sound of his voice he sounded very friendly; Richie and he were very animatedly talking about the dogs that were playing around them.

Not too long after he left the phone rang and it was our friend John from Glasgow, telling me that he would be here on the 8th of December for a week.

He told me that if was anything we would like Scotland then I should send him an e-mail and he would see if they can get things we ask for.

We are both looking forward tremendously to seeing John in December, it will be special to see him again; we are both excited about the prospect.

Tonight Richie is going to start preparing the fruit for our Christmas cake as well as Christmas pudding, so more exciting things to look forward to.

I know I will have to wait a bit longer yet, but I do like the whole Christmas season my favourite days are 19, 20, and 21 of December.

Tonight I have another edition of Later with Jools Holland on BBC2 to look forward to, it is being quite day to day and it's not over yet.

Remembering Stories.

Roberto Matta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

The day started early this morning as I had to be ready for 10.30

Because of an appointment concerning my shower chair.

The cushion that was made especially in 2010 to give me a better sitting position needed to be adapted because I need more support.

The appointment is with Annelies, my mobility advisor from the council, as well as two people from Beenhakker and a physiotherapy who is doing work experience in the rehabilitation clinic.

Richie had me showered, dressed and perfumed with Versace´s Woman, wearing earrings, necklace as well as to my favourite rings.

One is a purple Amethyst, the other is a blue Topaz, and both were presents from my Darling Richie, the Amethyst I got Christmas 2004.

The blue Topaz was given me by Richie when I lost two silver rings down the toilet, at work, they must have fallen in when I pulled my trousers up again.

When I rang home to tell Richie about it I was very upset as both rings had been given to me by close friends and where irreplaceable.

That evening as soon as I got in Richie had a present for me; I could hardly believe it when I opened the jewellery box and saw a beautiful blue Topaz ring.

It is a gorgeous ring and more than made up for the two lost silver rings, the next day showed my new ring to Hennie, the receptionist where I worked.

All day many colleagues came to the service desk and all they wanted was to see the ring, they had all been told by Hennie the receptionist.

A few months later it was my birthday and Richie got me a blue Topaz pendant as well as gorgeous blue Topaz earrings to match.

All my female colleagues thought that Richie was a wonderful man; some of my male colleagues were worried that their partners would hear about this.

Their concern was that their partners would expect the same sort of presents from them, they joked that Richie was letting their side down by showering with presents.

Every time I wear these rings I remember the stories which bring a smile to my face, just like it did again today, after the successful appointment I was smiling even more.

Remembering An Unforgetable Day.

Conroy Maddox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conroy_Maddox

Amazingly Beenhakker sent some one to fit a new emergency cut off switch; they are such a good company very customer orientated.

Unlike Welzorg, Beenhakker are efficient, attentive and seem to be interested in their customers.

Nice to have a positive experience, it makes such a huge difference and is such a boost, especially after the way other companies have been.

If it had been Welzorg, I would have needed to phone, e-mail them for days, and if I were really lucky they probably would have come back next week or in the New Year.

Getting the shower chair fixed totally unexpectedly today was almost like getting an extra present for our anniversary.

Having it fixed makes all the difference to us, lovely to have it all sorted out without any stress.

Today has been quite a pleasant day, which we both enjoyed very much; I think it has been a relaxing day.

I can hardly believe that it’s already ten years since that wonderful day, 19^th December in 2001 when we married.

We had such a great party, with good friends; Richie made a feast for it, which was wonderful, an unforgettable day.

Beenhakker Look After Their Customers.

Elsa Schiaparelli.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsa_Schiaparelli

Today was a pretty relaxed day until Richie got the shower chair to take me to the bathroom and discovered it didn’t work.

Richie put the battery onto charge again, to see if that was the problem, after half an hour it became clear it wasn’t.

It could not be used, so that Richie can place me above the toilet, then undresses me, showers me, dries and dresses me all on the Carendo shower chair.

Luckily it was high enough for me to use the toilet, it was just possible, sadly no shower, as the shower chair won’t be adjusted, so Richie wouldn’t be able to wash nor dry me adequately.

What a nasty surprise, had been so looking forward to a lovely shower, I contacted Beenhakker, the supplier.

Happily they could send someone to hopefully repair the shower chair, the engineer arrived at 22.00, and he worked for 40 minutes, at the end it worked.   

Which was the best news ever, no sooner had Arjan the engineer left, when I needed to go to the toilet, and happily the shower chair could be used.

 We just couldn’t manage without, so glad Arjan cares for his work; once I explained the importance to me he agreed to come.

 After nearly an hour, Arjan had managed a quick fix, the problem, had occurred because the emergency button had been activated.

Three cheers for Arjan, from Beenhakker who solved the problem; they are a good company, who look after their customers.

A Pleasant Shower.

The Declaration.
Edgar Ende.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Ende

Today has been another good day; Beenhakker brought the shower chair back at 09.00 instead of 11.00 as had been arranged last week.

 Which was great, what was even better was that the adaptations are very good and extremely useful.

They have covered the cushion in material that is better and easier to use, plus they have put clips on the shower chair to hold the cushion in place.

We tried out the shower chair and the adaptations have made using the chair 100 times better and easier than before.

Less work for Richie and no longer uncomfortable for me, because the cushion is now fastened with four clips instead of tied in just two places.

Because it is now held in place with 4 clips, it does not slip around and I am well supported at last.

Before the adaptation, showers were not a comfortable event because the cushion would slide around and I would end up leaning to the left.

 Richie had to adjust my position constantly as the cushion would never stay in the right place.

He would have to dry and dress me while holding me and trying to pull me back from the left, which was a lot of extra work for Richie.

Today I stayed in one place and had a pleasant shower; Richie had less work to do, all in all a good bit of work by Beenhakker.     

A Good Monday.

Edgar Ende.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Ende

Today has been good, getting up at 09.00 was very pleasant indeed and made an enjoyable change for us both, which we liked.

I was sitting in the wheelchair just after 10.30, having been given an invigorating shower by Richie, which I enjoyed tremendously.

The man from Beenhakker was here at 10.40, twenty minutes earlier than we had arranged, so he was very happy the shower chair was waiting for him.

So he could carry on his round without any delay, no wonder he looked so happy, I am sure he often has to often wait, which can muck up his days schedule.

Today started off misty, and then the sun shone until 13.00 when it became cloudy and cold.

Mathilde arrived at 14.00 and I had a good, if somewhat painful physiotherapy session.

Massaging my arms soon stopped the pain and after a good shoulder massage I felt relaxed.           

After Mathilde left we had some lunch, goat cheese, water cress and cucumber and delicious bread, made by Richie using zero-zero flour, the best for making bread.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting up earlier and spending the whole day with Richie, talking and laughing, it was great fun, and we shall be doing this everyday from today.

Sunny Sunday.

Edgar Ende.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Ende

After a pretty relaxed week this week, which was very pleasant, especially for Richie who was quite exhausted after my birthday, we will have a busy week next week.

Monday will be an early start, so Beenhakker can collect the shower chair so that they can modify how the cushion is tied on the chair.

Tuesday they bring it back early and we plan to make an early start and go out, that is the plan for the week so I can get out lots when the sun shines.

Wednesday Annelies and Welzorg are here about a better joystick for the wheelchair, Thursday the Home Servant people will be here to fine tune he IPaq and my occupational therapist is here on Friday.

 

The clocks went forward in the early hours of Sunday morning and very befitting for the first official spring day it is a lovely sunny day today

Richie and the dogs have gone to the park for abit of fun for the dogs, Cyril also hunts and catches flies, just like Marleen, it is comical to see the dogs hunting tiny flies.

I shall be happy when they are back as I am looking forward to a nice shower and clean clothes.

They will not be long now and when they get back both dogs will charge in here to show  me how happy they are.

Then they charge out to see Richie and demand their dinner, lovely to hear them being such happy and relaxed dogs.

Cyril Getting Happy.

 

Cyril and Marleen.

Both appointments went well yesterday, the first with Harm from Welzorg, who brought a colleague, Arjan to show alternative steering methods for wheelchairs.

Arjan showed me several; two were joystick operated, they needed less effort than the one I have now.

One was operated with a fingertip, then there was a chin operated one which seemed not much effort and lastly mouth control.

Then Beenhakker came to see the problems with the shower chair, they will provide different material for the cushion and fix it better onto the  chair.

What a shock when Harm announced this was his last visit, he was being moved against his will to another region.

Shame as I have seen him since 2006, in that time Harm has built up an understanding of my situation.

Cyril has started being less anxious since he got so worried last Saturday, that he bit Richie’s thumb, which seemed to depress him.

Then he started asking for cuddles and Sunday games too, since Monday it’s noticeable that Cyril is happier and less anxious.

Instead of getting worried he is running around and playing, there is no more scared growling; now this happens during games.

Excellent to see Cyril beginning to come out of his depression and bond with Richie and enjoy his new life.

Looking forward to seeing Cyril blossoming and becoming a relaxed happy and playful dog.

 

A Tiring Day.

Indefinite_Divisibility
Yves Tanguy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Tanguy

What a very tiring day today has been, we were awake at 7.30 this morning, and Richie got me out of bed and into the shower between 08.15 and  08.30.

I was showered, dried and dressed by 09.30 and we were ready for our first appointment with an engineer from RTD Het Dorp who was going to remove the controls from the bed.

Then at 11.00 Beenhakker, the bed company would collect the old bed, once that was removed they would bring the new bed and put it in the bedroom.

Then RTD Het Dorp would attach their finger touch controls to the bed, sadly they were not here and at 11.00 Beenhakker were here but no RTD Het Dorp.

The men from Beenhakker were not amused, so I phoned and was told someone was on their way, they had been stuck in traffic and would arrive in 15 minutes.

Beenhakker were slightly mollified by the news and worked away to get their bit done before  RTD Het Dorp got here.

RTD Het Dorp arrived and took their controls off the bed and all was done quickly, then Beenhakker left with the old bed.

Everything was going well until Welzorg arrived two hours early for my wheelchair.

The delivery man left after talking to his planning department and agreed to return at 15.00 when the bed was done and I could go back to bed.

All went well and after doing my leg exercises I was back in bed very tired by 14.30, my wheelchair was collected at 15.00 .

So everything worked out well.

All Go For Two Days.

 















The Elephant Celebes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_Celebes

Sadly our two friends, Gareth and Paul seem to have both got colds, so we will not be able to see them again this visit.

A real shame but I can not risk getting a cold, not when I am just recovering from influenza.

We are all very sad about this but nothing we can do about this.

I have a busy couple of days coming up, tomorrow my bed gets changed.

Same bed except I can sit right up, which allows me to sit better.           

Then once the people have put the control panel on the bed I can try it out.

Then my wheelchair gets collected art 15.00 so the steering can be put in the Perspex wheelchair table.

On Wednesday I will get cushions to help me maintain a stable position in bed.        

All go for two days.