Happy Rainy Wednesday in August

Rainy Amsterdam.


Slept very soundly and peacefully until a spasm woke me up, we took it very easy and slowly, in some ways too slowly.

It was nearly 2 pm by the time I had done my arm exercises and Richie had done the leg exercises and massage and I had taken the 3 baclofen tablets and THC.

As I was getting sorted to start up the laptop suddenly the alarm went off on the pump that keeps the mattress pressure evenly balanced and constantly changing.



Nimbu 3 air flotation mattress.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.medisave.co.uk/datasheets/pressure_relief/NIMBUSAD.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.medisave.co.uk/datasheets/pressure_relief/nimbus3.html&usg=__Zc_9FmTM9Y-buvdvOCmsosgkSKw=&h=171&w=200&sz=9&hl=nl&start=2&tbnid=ediYtlI2mh8oRM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnimbus%2B3%2Bmattress%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Dnl%26sa%3DG

When Richie heard the alarm he instantly pressed the button that keeps the pressure static in the mattress, until help arrives from the company.

First I got Richie to tell me the phone number of the company which is Arjo Huntleigh,I phoned and the number is no longer in use!

Looked it up on the internet and found them and phoned this time the number rang twice and cut off.

Tried to phone my case manager without success, so tried the Arjo number. Again, and got through right away.

I spoke to a very helpful person, who put me through to the department dealing with emergencies, another very friendly and helpful woman took the serial number and assured me someone would be around today.

After I rung off we both noticed that although the mattress was still inflated it had reduced considerably.

No wonder that it had got unpleasant to lie on, as it was noticeably sagging, although Richie tried to shift me, nothing could be achieved until the engineer had arrived.

I would have to try and keep calm and hope that they would be here soon.

And they were, just over 30 minutes after the engineer rang me he was here and the new pump fitted and within another 30 minutes the mattress felt good again.

What a relief, also because I got hold of them quickly and they could get someone here so quickly.

All in all took just over an hour for the problem to be sorted out, funnily enough I had been planning to phone the company and request a new pump as the one I had was getting louder.

There is one more thing to do and that is check that I have their emergency number so that if there is a next time it will be available quicker and without any stress at all.

Despite it being an overcast and rainy day I am feeling cheerful now the problem has been resolved.

What a relief it is alright again, and probably even better as we both now realise that some of my recent problems with being unbalanced in bed may have been down to the mattress not being as inflated as it should have been.

Happy Wednesday in August.

Quick update.

Yesterday I had a call from my consultant ringing to make an appointment for this Friday for her and someone from Welzorg to come around and look at the chair and talk us through how they will adapt the chair for my needs.

The plan is to carry out these adaptations next week.

Quite a morning.

Had a reasonable nights sleep sadly woke up really early hot and bothered and damp.

Flapped the duvet open and cooled off enough to drift back off to sleep which was really lovely and very welcome.

At 11.30 a very pleasant woman came round from Arjo Huntleigh, the company who we got the air pressure mattress from.

She wanted to check that the pump is working well, had hoped to get an upgrade but she told me that I have their best mattress the Nimbus 3.

She did put it on a softer setting and I felt the difference quite quickly which is better than it was.

Now I do not feel so much pressure on my back so quite a useful visit.

Plus now know that if the pump starts to get too loud we need to call the company and they will come and replace the filter in the pump.

After the vcisit received an email fro-m a friend in England with bad news about a friend of his who had just got 9 months in prison for a few cannabis plants.

His first offence!

No wonder the prisons are full, and not of scary prisoners as we are led to believe but with people like my friend's friend Dusty.

Many years ago I had a job working for the Probation Service in Reading, my job was to sit in court and take noted for the Probation officers to make their reports.

Regularly saw sad people at their wits end trying desperately to make ends meet and failing.

They would often break open the electric meter and steal a small ammount and end up in prison leaving partner and kids in an even worse position.

Never made sense to me which is why I did my degree in Criminology purely out of interest and not for the career opportunities.