Home sweet home! After 6 months waiting in the hospital to find a place to live, I have had the great fortune to be selected to live at the fourth dimension group home. There are 11 residents in the home, and the staff are familiar with helping people with spinal cord injuries. My room is very large, in fact so large that if it were in the hospital there would be 2 beds in it. So, I have lots of room for my own furniture and exercise equipment. I think I will enjoy living here for a period of time.
Archive | July, 2012
Gallery
accessible van
23 Jul
After selling my car, my toys, and most of my furniture, I scraped together sufficient shekels to buy a used handicapped accessible minivan. It’s a 2009 Toyota Sienna with a power ramp and power doors. I can ride in the passenger location or, with the addition of hand controls, actually drive the vehicle myself. For now, I am quite content to let someone else do the driving, like Julie.
Gallery
on the pond
23 Jul
A little more than a year since my last visit to this delightful little pond near millarville. alas, mister muskrat did not appear, but it was a beautiful afternoon and a great spot for a romantic afternoon picnic.
Video
wrist
16 Julthis may not look like much, but it sure makes me happy. In the video I am tilted back in my chair, and balancing my right arm on the arm rest. With a bit of effort and concentration, I am now often able to bend my wrist in flexion, whereupon it toples off its perch on the end of my forearm. If I try too hard, nothing happens, the same as if I don’t try hard enough. Maybe I need to hold my jaw just right!
Gallery
which item
15 Jul
Question: which of the following 2 items is more likely to be the subject of this photo? Some kind of food, or a bowel movement on a plate? hint: the photo was taken at the foothills medical center
Gallery
pancake breakfast
8 Jul
This morning I got help to get me up extra early, then I grabbed 419 community bus and went down to the hillhurst sunnyside community center, where my provincial mla, doctor david swann, was hosting a pancake breakfast.
I let him know about the chronic shortage of long term care beds in Calgary. The conservative government has not added infrastructure to keep up with the increase in population over the past decade. As a result, someone literally has to die in order for someone new to get into a care facility.
I also got a chance to make the same point to kent hehr, mla for calgary buffalo riding. kent has a particular awareness for the subject, because he is a high level quadriplegic.
After my work was done, it was time to socialize. I met raj sharman, the alberta liberal leader, followed by bob rae, the federal liberal leader. The best was saved for last: I got to meet justin trudeau. My dad worked with his dad 25 years ago.
Video
wrist progress
4 JulRecently I have made a small bit of progress. 4 some time I have been able to move my wrist for a little bit of deviation: this is a side to side movement like the queen’s wave. However just recently I have discovered I can move my wrist in extension: the opposite direction to a wrist curl. In the attached video, I warm up with a couple of deviation motions then, using a quick arm movement , slip my wrist into a position where I can do an extension. Then I repeat set up and do another extension: a second extension is a little harder. Sometimes I can also do a flexion motion, but it’s currently so weak and unreliable that it wouldn’t make for good video!
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