For the past six months I have been taking showers in a rolling bathroom chair. While the chair has small wheels which, unlike my manual wheelchair, makes it impossible for me to simply sit in the chair and push in the wheels, the bathroom is a small room. Rather than pushing the chair, I have arrayed a collection of handles on the walls of the room. Using my hands and , when the reach is to long, a stick with a hook on the end, I have been able to get myself anywhere I need to go. When I am ready to leave the bathroom, I simply transfer into my regular chair and roll off.
The one place I could not get was into the shower. We had a walk-in shower installed, However, a two inch lip on the edge prevented me from getting the chair into the shower without help. This is important because showering is one of the few things I am incapable of doing by myself. When my wife and a friend went camping for several days leaving me by myself, the only thing given up was the ability to take a shower. Recently we had the man who installed the man who installed the shower look at the issue of removing enough of the lip for the chair to get into the shower. He came up with a plan to cut off the back of the lip and to replace it with a gentle tiled slope. S The implementation had some problems. The cement under the slope took a long time to dry and was still wet by the time we tested. The tiles were designed as wall tiles and some of them broke and came up as the chair rolled over them.
of them broke and came up as the chair rolled over them.
We have arranged for the tiles to be replaced the next time we're on vacation. However, the arrangement is usable enough to try. This morning, for the first time, I was able to roll the wheelchair into the shower, shower and roll the wheelchair out without any assistance at all. With this accomplishment if Verna wants to go on a long vacation, say a week or more, she is free to take off and I am confident that I can take care of myself during this period. No matter how much I might miss her.
The one place I could not get was into the shower. We had a walk-in shower installed, However, a two inch lip on the edge prevented me from getting the chair into the shower without help. This is important because showering is one of the few things I am incapable of doing by myself. When my wife and a friend went camping for several days leaving me by myself, the only thing given up was the ability to take a shower. Recently we had the man who installed the man who installed the shower look at the issue of removing enough of the lip for the chair to get into the shower. He came up with a plan to cut off the back of the lip and to replace it with a gentle tiled slope. S The implementation had some problems. The cement under the slope took a long time to dry and was still wet by the time we tested. The tiles were designed as wall tiles and some of them broke and came up as the chair rolled over them.
No comments:
Post a Comment