THE BEAT GOES ON

For all you “crips” out there, you know from whence I come. Some pitying fool who has never been in a wheelchair, save being pushed out of a hospital by a 90 year old volunteer, after a toenail removal, has gone through so called “higher” education to become an engineer. This evidently entitles him (or her) to draw some weird contraption on a piece of paper, name, patent it, then pass it off as a great innovation for any quad or para that comes along with a problem. Unfortunately, these innovations are designed for 90% of the disabled. I suspect that if the product was to work for 100 %, the Insurance companies would tell you that you don’t need it, they won’t help pay for it. Therefore, those folks who market the product up the rates so everyone can see how nice they look on display, but no one can afford them. Case in point: Stand-up chairs that can move while the user is in an upright position.
This marvelous piece of machinery aids a para or a quad stand, say in the kitchen, and reach the top shelves. In my husbands case (he used to be 6’-1” ) he could reach the top of the refrigerator and discover all the treasures( or critters) that have hidden there for years. He could also reach that stupid cupboard above the frig. You know the one, it holds the secrets to what occurred the first day you moved into house. Never to be discovered until some poor unsuspecting fool looks in there when he moves in.
The chair also lays flat. This gives the disabled a chance to nap after he has fought what ever was located on top of the refrigerator.
All of the different positions not only assist in the independence of a crip, it also helps prevent pressure sores, atrophy, poor circulation in the lower extremities. Bob and I figure, if he had started out in one of these things, the insurance company would have paid $23,000 for the chair, but saved over $350,000 10 years later when Bob got a pressure sore and had to have plastic surgery, home health care, special bed, special mattresses, etc., etc.. oh well, obviously, we didn’t get one.
To achieve some of the same benefits, Bob had parallel bars and leg braces. This combination was designed to allow him one day to ambulate with the freedom of crutches.
Bob and I practiced putting the leg braces on and getting up from the chair on to the parallel bars. Frankly, we were quite successful and well pleased with ourselves. He could swing himself forward, hop and move ahead with little or no effort.
The results of this whole exercise were pretty good. It all seemed to keep him regular, no pressure sores, and it seemed to help keep his weight down. The decision was made that if we were going to travel, this was a “must bring” so he could continue the 1 hour per day regime .
We were just getting used to this new regime when (dramatic music should appear in your head) THE BOX ARRIVED!