proba tive org archived entry

A day or so ago I decided that other people who are in worse shape could make better use of the services of the PSW who had been assigned to visit me at least once a week for the next month. I was about to post about the nifty devices that are making my life as a quasi-invalid less hazardous even.

There's the "reaching device" - a must for anyone with a small pet prone to losing toys and other stolen articles under furniture not to mention those of us who cannot or should not be bending down to reach the floor. There's the Rollator walker that I hope to be putting more miles on after I see the surgeon on Friday this week. Until then I'm under the "don't lift anything over 10 pounds" restriction. The walker is about double that I discovered on the web and I can't just "roll out" of the apartment unfortunately.

But the best thing, from a safety and convenience viewpoint, is the chair for the bathtub. The bathroom is all gleaming new but has nothing to hang onto when getting in and out or while standing in the shower, so the folks who take care of discharging patients at the hospital figured I could use a chair. It makes getting showered a much easier and safer undertaking, really. So much so that I think all tubs/showers should come with a fold down version. Imagine the number of accidental falls that could be eliminated.

When I told the case worker at the visiting medical services organization that I was not utilizing the PSW as well as others might and was happily taking showers unassisted, I learned that the loan of my buddy the bath chair would be terminated if I was no longer an active recipient of services. But wait a minute - the chair is one of the things that makes me able to confidently state that I don't need this woman to help me. And the file clearly indicates that I'm in a neck brace and will be for another 6 weeks at least.

Rules don't have to make sense. So I'm going to rent the chair from the same company that loaned it to me on the agency's behalf. Go figure.

It's a whopping 17 dollars a month, mind you. But it would be free if I was willing to abuse the services provided and pretend I needed the PSW. Right. Huh.

[BTW: I'm still amazed by how well I'm doing. Overdid things a bit yesterday, paying for it today and taking a break. Trying to remember that I'm not really 'all better' just yet. It's hard, though, because the reduction in negative symptoms has been such a relief. On top of which there is the elimination of foggy headedness from the pain killers. I'm working at reminding myself that healing is really not an arithmetic progression after all.]

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