Feeling Very Optimistic.

 

Alma's view of the Antennae galaxies, created using measurements from 16 of the dishes installed on the Chajnantor plateau in the Atacama desert, Chile. The Antennae are a pair of distorted spiral galaxies that are colliding about 70m light-years from Earth.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2011/oct/03/alma-telescope-opens-in-pictures?INTCMP=SRCHhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2011/oct/03/alma-telescope-opens-in-pictures?INTCMP=SRCH

 

Today the sun only came out at the end of the afternoon; a beautiful sight, nice for people after work and the kids playing outside.

I am happy today, I could do my arm exercises again, I also had a good physiotherapy session with Mathilde, followed by my leg exercises on my Motomed.

Later this week I will get an appointment telling me when Ruud will deliver my new wheelchair seat, he was here last Friday to do a fitting of my new seat, which went well.

The new seat was so good that instead of trying it out for a week; Ruud has taken it away to make small adjustments and to get it upholstered.

After one more week of discomfort, I will be able to sit well supported and will be able to enjoy going out again.

At the moment going out is not nice, I get rattled around in my wheelchair because of lack of support, and the wheelchair rocking about.

Wednesday Welzorg will be here to show us a better steering system for Richie so that we both feel safer outside.   

All the issues will be discussed with Percy, from Welzorg and Edith, my local council mobility advisor, hopefully there will be a good outcome soon.

I am feeling very optimistic about getting my wheelchair sorted out; this will, improve going out immensely, which makes me happy.

                                                                           

Sunny Tuesday.

Three Figures And A Bride
Oscar Mellor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Mellor

Woke up suddenly, as a tiny involuntary movement triggered off a series of spasms which were strong enough to wake me and keep me awake.

Welzorg came to collect my wheelchair between 8 and 9 this morning; the plan is that they move the base so that the wheelchair is more stable and less likely to tip over.

Amazingly the wheelchair was brought back quickly at 12 noon; I was expecting ir back at the end of the afternoon.

Lovely to see Welzorg working well and actually thinking about clients needs, I wonder if this is linked to them losing their monopoly to supply mobility aids in the Netherlands.

I have a feeling that it gave the company a nasty shock, they are now letting us all see what a good firm they are, so in tune with their clents.

RTD Het Dorp were suppose to send somebody to repair my Home Servant gadget, which has not been working for three weeks.

I hate not being able to adjust my position in bed or switch the light on or the TV, for the last 3 weeks have been totally dependant on Riche to do these things for me.

 No one turned up from RTD Het Dorp; no one phoned so I phoned them and was told the appointment was tomorrow.

I was called by them 2 weeks ago that I had to wait until Tuesday 2 August for them to resolve the problem, hopefully they will be here tomorrow.

A Good Result This Time.

Welzorg finally visited yesterday, after promising me a quick appointment on 30 March, which did not materialise.

The delay was because of ordering the parts and then plan in the appointment into busy schedules

.

Shame that they did not communicate with me that would have been better than leaving me thinking I had been forgotten again.

I made it clear, that if the substitute joystick/controls did not allow the chair to recline that I would expect everything to be replaced.

Luckily I had sent e-mails about being unhappy, that they planned to take my wheelchair for 6 days.

They then said I could keep the wheelchair, but this would be useless without the controls, no way of turning it on.

Reclining is important to be seated properly, and tipping forward for me to use the Motomed, after many e-mails, Welzorg finally agreed to install an alternative control box.

This resulted in a good experience with Welzorg; they installed an alternative system that allows Richie, not me to operate the wheelchair.

It was a good result thanks to pushing for a better solution to the one Welzorg initially offered me, shame they could not have fitted the new joystick here too.  

I Will Get The Hang Of It Soon.

Ubu Imperator.
Max Ernst.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Ernst

Today has been one of those days, started at 08.00 with my wheelchair being collected so the new steering could be installed.

Richie took his bike off for the gears to be mended and came back and not long after he hoisted me out of bed.

After Richie gave me a great shower and I was dressed, we were expecting Annelies advisor from the council and Harm from Welzorg to arrive.

Just as I was brushing my teeth the phone rang and it was Annelies telling me they would be a little late, they arrived an hour later.

When they got here with the wheelchair, Richie put me in it and I tried to steer with the steering right in front of me on a Perspex table attached to th wheelchair.

I found it very difficult to steer at first and was not keen at all about it, worried me for abit, could not work out how or why it felt so bad.

Then Richie pointed out that as there were no arm supports, I had to hold my shoulders, this was causing me a lot of stress and pain.

This will be solved by the steering mechanism being installed into my own Perspex wheelchair table with arm supports.

I will test it out tomorrow when I have to go to the hospital for the first catheter change, which is quite handy as it will give me an opportunity to test the steering.

This evening I am very tired after this afternoon and getting so upset by the new steering,hope I will get the hang of it soon, sure I will.