How do I ......? (part 1)

No. 2    Sunday 22 May 2011

How do I cope with everyday tasks while in a wheelchair (and with hand use about 60% left and 5% right) ?  Well, it is all thanks to modern technology.  I don't have to manually pull curtains or use a cord, instead they are powered and I use a remote - one for each of the three windows which are so fitted (although any one remote will operate each of the three in turn).  What about opening the front door? That is again taken care of by power operation using either of two wireless remotes, one just opens the door, which closes by itself, the other lets me talk to callers on the intercom before I let anyone in, using the same remote (as it is rechargeable I have two so that one is in use while the other is charging).  TV and hi-fi are as in any other house, but the air conditioners, which are almost silent and very much quieter than those I experienced in the Middle East, have their own remotes.  One specially clever control is a wireless one which controls the central heating.  This sits on the table alongside my armchair but the boiler is in the kitchen.  The controller has its own thermostat and can be set for any temperature in 2, 4 or 6 periods during the day - and the thermostat is much more accurate than the usual wall type.  That, without listing every remote control, is some idea of how much easier life is made by their use.

I expect some readers are wondering how I came to be wheelchair bound.  Briefly, I fell off my 500cc Yamaha T-max scooter and ended up with my head against an earth bank.  The ambulance people (correctly) put a support collar on and took me to hospital.  At the hospital they mis-read the x-ray, didn't give me an MRI scan (which they should have done), and took the collar off.  When, later, they tried moving me and found that my  movements had deteriorated they put the collar back on and sent me to another, more distant, hospital to be sorted out.  This hospital did what they could (and made a good job of it) and then sent me to a specialist spinal unit where I remained for nine months.  When I arrived there I couldn't move anything except my left arm yet when I left the unit I could get into, and drive, an electric wheelchair - and even walk a bit using a walking frame.  That shows how good the spinal unit is. The upshot is that, for the technically minded, I have a spinal injury C 6/7 (incomplete) - and I have been compensated by the first hospital.

How do I deal with everyday matters like cooking etc.?  That will be covered in my next blog.

Mike