28 September 2010

A chaotic day. First of all the hoist men arrived to fit a horizontal hoist at ceiling level in our bathroom, which I had hoped would overcome the problem of lifting me off the loo. Sadly the construction of our bathroom was such that it was not possible to fit that particular hoist. So is back to square one except that our OT and Alice are cooking up another idea to resolve the problem.

Hot on the heels of the hoist men came the ramp men. They fitted ramps to the front door and the bedroom door leading to the downstairs bathroom. Every single time I approached these two particular steps and had to step down, a flush of adrenaline surged through me  for fear of falling, as almost all the falls I’ve had have been stepping down causing one or other of my legs to collapse.. For that reason I am delighted to have these ramps and feel much safer with them.

In the middle of all of this activity I was online and with one of the AbilityNet technicians attempting to resolve a problem on my computer. Somehow it got locked into an Arabic mode and all of the arrow keys were in reverse making it extremely difficult to make any corrections. However, by allowing the technician to control my laptop remotely, through a software program called Team Viewer, we resolved the problem.

Early this morning I had to telephone Mike, at Social Services, concerning a replacement gutter frame as one of the two I have has developed a nasty bend on one leg, no doubt, through me leaning heavily on it moving down from steps. I mention this trivial matter as, together with the hoist and ramp men, it typifies the wonderful measure of support being offered to me and hopefully other people like me.

Following through with my resolve to protect other elderly dental patients I made a formal complaint today to the General Dental Council concerning the dental treatment I received at the Saffron Walden Community Hospital. Next Monday my erstwhile private dentist is coming to take some photographs on my teeth which no doubt will be put into evidence against the dentist about whom I am complaining. I have also been told not to cance lthe  domiciliary visit, scheduled for October 13, but ask the traveling dentist to make a special note of the state of my teeth.

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