Gaining Independence

With my dad's continual progress in his physical healing and recovery of his strength, he has graduated out of some of the equipment and modifications to his house that he used to rely upon heavily.

He hasn't used his two wooden blocks for lifting and moving himself on his bed in close to two months! And now he's able to make all of his transfers between various chairs and surfaces without the use of a slideboard. It used to wear him out significantly (with the help of three people for ten to fifteen minutes!) to make one transfer using the slideboard. Now, he doesn't need help from any people or tools, and when I counted how many transfers he made during a trip to physical therapy the other day, from leaving his bed to getting back into it, he made twelve transfers with ease.

With all that added mobility, each day he gains a little more independence. Last week my parents swapped out the bulky electric wheelchair for a smaller, lighter, easier-to-maneuver scooter (and acquiring the scooted is another story of God going before us to provide what we need! See below). With the scooter, Dad can get to all sorts of new places. The first thing he did was go around the house, gathering various tools that had come in from the garage and truck. He placed them in the basket on the front of the scooter and took them out to the garage himself. He can even open and close the door by himself! This alone represented a huge step: not having to wait for someone to let him out or in!

Here is what my mom wrote about how the scooter came to be in my parents' possession:

“After looking at scooters online, Gilbert realized he probably should test one to be sure he could transfer to it easily before buying one. So we stopped at the Holland Free Methodist church one morning for a test drive of their scooter. When I walked into the church office to ask about trying it out, there were three people in the office. They were in the midst of discussing what to do with the extra scooters they had which were being stored in a closet. The closet space was needed for other things, yet they didn't want to get rid of the scooters—you always need something as soon as you get rid of it, you know.

My request was greeted with huge smiles and shouts of, “Now, that's an answer to prayer!” as they explained how the timing of my question met their need. So, we tested the scooter, found it more than met Gilbert's need, and arranged to pick it up later that day. It is now being “stored” at our house—and being used while it is here. 

How precious that our mutual needs were met in such a clear way! We were all encouraged by how our Heavenly Father arranges such things so carefully!”

Another change was the new chair lift that allows him to go to the basement (another Facebook Marketplace find!). This enabled him to help figure out the problem causing the second round of water in the basement and then help fix it. It also allows him to take part in heating the house, since my parents heat with wood. We also got an extra wheelchair to keep down there so he can roll over to the woodstove and tend the fire. It's his favorite place to sit when it's cold, so aside from helping with the fire, he wanted access to his warm fireside chair.

And without having to rely on the slideboard, he now moves seamlessly from the scooter to the chair lift, rides it downstairs, transfers to the wheelchair, goes to the woodstove and moves to either the stool or chair if he wants to stay there – or just tends to the fire and comes back upstairs, transferring again to the chair lift then the scooter which waits for him at the top of the stairs.

At the risk of sharing too much, we'll just note here that he can now maneuver alone to many rooms of the house. This allows him the freedom to go where he wants to go when he wants to go there (pun intended... if you're picking up what I'm putting down. That one was also intended).

Another piece of equipment to leave the house was the ramp Micah built to get his wheelchair up to be level with the bed. Dad is able to lift himself up to the mattress from the scooter. The mattress is now lower since he has disconnected the special inflated air mattress which helped prevent bedsores when he wasn't moving enough. With that off the bed—and due to PT—he is able to move to his side and even roll over on his stomach! He's been eager to do that for months!

We also removed the chair at the end of the bed which had been strategically placed and carefully stacked with a variety of blankets and towels for him to rest his feet against to keep his toes pointed toward the ceiling. If you've been reading these posts for very long, you've caught on by now that my parents are innovative. They'll figure out a way to get the job done without going and buying fancy things as much as possible, even if "innovation" looks like a stack of blankets on a chair. There was a time not too many weeks ago when the slightest movement of that chair was cause for great distress. Now, it's gone.

The only socks he's been able to get on were hand-knitted by his dear friend, Anne. She was impressed by some DeWalt tools he uses that have flashlights on the ends of them, so she knitted the "DeWalt" label into the socks. He has enjoyed those cozy DeWalt labeled socks, but only having one pair of socks that fits his swollen ankles creates a laundry problem! He has some extra-wide socks coming in the mail today. If those work, the laundry crisis will be averted. He can also wear an oversized slipper, so his feet stay warm now that the days are cooler. He no longer needs the strap (also homemade and served its purpose quite well for weeks!) that we put on his right foot to help him lift it. He's able to lift his right leg himself some of the time, and when that doesn't work he's also now able to cross his legs and uses his left foot to lift his right when needed.

So much progress!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. If you're thinking of my dad and wondering how he is, don't hesitate to call him up and ask! He loves having visitors, whether in person or via technology. Don't be shy!