Joan Boney ...
For handicapped, there is a call bell device you can wear around your neck to summons another person to your location in your house. It is a simple device, sort of like a medical alert, but it is used inside your location. I told Pam yesterday I don't see how we could exist without the call device.
If you have the book I wrote on Amazon, e-book and paperback, called "Handicap Helps" (revised edition), this item and other helpful devices are described in that book and there is even a link directly to Amazon to help you order the item. (Prices might vary, since the book was published in 2018, revision with additional helpful items in 2019))
Here is the item:
Call Button
As I was preparing to leave the rehab center after 2-1/2 months, I knew I needed a call button for my home environment. I needed a simple way to reach the caregiver.
We found an item on Amazon that was perfect. It allows me to wear the call button around my neck. It is very light-weight and comfortable. I can press the button and reach the caregiver in various parts of the house. It has 2 receivers, one which she placed in the kitchen, and the other which was placed upstairs where she sleeps.
When I press the call button, the bell rings in both locations
I feel totally secure in getting help any time of the day or night.
Amazon price: $40
Click here to see on amazon.com: Call button
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I never remove this call device. I've worn it day and night for the past 1 1/2 years.
It is light weight and easy to use, even when you have little strength in your fingers. Also it is comfortable to wear. And even if you should roll over on it in the night, it does not go off accidentally.
Pain can strike in an instant and render you unmovable!
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On Wednesday, July 8, 2020, all of a sudden, I was stricken with severe pain in my right knee. I was sitting in recliner at the time it hit. I could not lower my leg to floor and could not stand on my leg. This meant being trapped in my chair. I could not get to porta-potty which is 6 inches from my chair. I had to go to bathroom in my chair by devising strips from Equate "Assurance" pads.
The first night, I had no idea why this had happened. There was no warning at all. It just struck suddenly around 5 pm.
"Did I have a stroke?" I wondered. If I could not walk, I would not be able to continue to live in the house with Pam Padgett. I would have to go to assisted living.
I don't think I am afraid to die, but lying there helpless is an overwhelming matter.
Of course I was asking God to help me. The pain was very bad. I had to stay in one position. To move an inch in any direction caused severe pain.
Pam stayed with me until I told her to go on to bed about 1 am. She had done all that could be done.
As I was left alone in my room, mental thoughts got much worse.
I was awake until 4:30 am.
At one point I was lying there in the dark and I just began saying aloud: "God, please help me." Over and over I said this for about an hour. It seemed to help me. And I drifted off to sleep for about 30 minutes, only to awaken again, and remain awake until 4:30 am, while sitting in the mostly dark room. I didn't seem to want to look at TV, which I could have done.
I'm pretty non-medical, but even for me I could imagine all types of horrible problems that might have struck me.
The next morning, I said to Pam, "Do you think I've had a stroke?"
Pam, who doesn't know anything about medicine either, but does hear truth from God, calmly replied, "No ... I think this was caused by that long ride we took in the car." (I believe that wisdom was from God.)
That's right! I thought.
This is the first time the idea had surfaced concerning what we had done the day this problem struck.
I was tuning the new sound system in the car. You tune it by laptop application, so a laptop device was on my lap. We drove all over the north side of town. Then we got the two "big" dogs and took them to the dog park in a little village area called, Black Forrest". Pam took the dogs out while I remained in the car with a 2 3/4 pound laptop on my lap. My legs were in a stationary sitting position for approximately 3 hours without any moving around.
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By 7-10-2020, I was able to stand and inch my way to porta-potty which is about 6 inches from my chair. This greatly encouraged me that I would be able to walk again.I was in rehabilitation hospitals for 2 1/2 months after an accidental fall and surgery in 2018.
During that time I learned some valuable things about having to go to bathroom while in bed. I transferred that learning to being trapped in a recliner chair. It's not pleasant but it can be done when there is no other way.
And we, unlike the world, have God to comfort us and to show us what to do.
Another thing I knew from my years of playing golf. If you can't get to bathroom, restrict your drinks to water. Omit carbonated drinks such as Coke Cola. Water causes less number of times you will need to go to bathroom. I eliminated coffee also until I got to point where I could walk enough to get to that porta-potty.
Lots of times our secular experiences are helpful in dealing with problems.
Now that I am semi-recovered, I am considering one or two other things. But first I have prayed about doing these things, and I am not going to do anything until I feel God has established my doing these things.
We did order a small foot stool to use at passenger side of car where I sit. That way I can alter my sitting position, and keep my legs up a bit while riding.
I found the foot stool by going to Amazon. They have a very big variety of small foot stools and we will get it today, while ordering it yesterday! Approximately $22.
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The e-book version of, "Handicap Helps", is offered for free on the Amazon free book program. You have five days during a 90-day cycle where the book appears for free. It is free today in e-book format. Click here to download it from Amazon: Handicap Helps
Otherwise the price of the book in USA is as follows: $1.99 e-book / $ 20.99 paperback There are so many photos and graphics in the book that it cost more to publish it, but it is as reasonably priced as we could make it and still have an effective book on the subject with photos.
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