Small Thoughts for Small Minds

As I mentioned in the previous post, I wanted to test the ramp using Jerry as a Nana-surrogate.

Using the "transfer chair" that we got after Donna’s mom died, I easily pushed Jerry down the ramp. No slippage, no lose of control. Then I turned the chair around and pushed him back up. I had to push down on the, umm, wheelie lever thingie in the back to lift up the front wheels to go over the edge of the plywood (I had put a 45 degree angle on it, which was the most I could do with my circular saw, but it wasn’t enough). Other than that, no problem at all. And that wasn’t a real problem.

At least for me.

Then I thought, well, Jerry & I won’t always be around. Can the ladies do it? So I asked Karen to try.

First she pushed Jerry down the ramp. The chair started to get away from her and she (and the chair) was moving pretty fast by the time she hit the bottom.

Hmm…

Then she turned the chair around and headed back up. First problem - her flip-flops slipped on the garage floor (we’ve got some type of semi-gloss paint on the garage floor which can be incredibly slippery if at all wet). Then she had trouble pushing the chair over the plywood lip. After she pushed Jerry about two-thirds up the ramp, her shoes were slipping and she got very concerned, "Doug! Take the wheelchair!" (But, as a social scientist, I can’t interfere with what I am observing, can I?)

So, it seemed imperative to put the anti-skid material on the ramp - plus on the garage floor. Also, I needed a smoother transition from the floor to the ramp.

Back to Lowe’s…

I picked up a gallon of "Skid-Not" skid resistant coating. ("Skid resistant"? Don’t commit much, huh?) I also bought a 3" wide piece of flat steel bar and a couple anti-skid adhesive backed strips.

Here’s how it now looks:

It’s hard too tell, but the surface of the ramp IS actually rough. We couldn’t try it out, though. The paint isn’t dry yet…

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention… Not only did I do this stuff, I also moved the mailbox to the other side of the road. Lots of digging in the mid 90’s. Whew. By the time I finished building the ramp yesterday, I was smellin’ like an old goat. And THEN I worked on the table saw. The garage cools down much more slowly than the outside does…

Oh well, off to the Bahamas tomorrow…

(Which means I’ll be in an airport or airplane when Nana comes home. And for the rest of the week. But, she’ll have so many family members around, she probably won’t notice my absence. Heck, if she can just get through the first day of Dyson’s gabber….)

Kel’s mom moves back home tomorrow.

The past couple of days I’ve been trying to get the house ready for her, based on a walk-through of the house by a couple of her therapists.

First, and foremost, was a way to get her IN the house. I built a ramp up the steps between the house and the garage. ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) specifies that there is a one foot run for every inch of rise.

They specifically PROHIBIT any slope greater than a 8" run/1" rise.

But, I decided to go against that recommendation for two reasons:

1. Kel’s mom will NOT be operating the wheelchair by herself. It will always be pushed by one of us.
2. To go with that small of an angle would require more space than is available in my garage. I could put a long ramp up the the back deck, but that’d require paving the walkway in the back (gravel’s not good for wheelchairs) plus there is a three inch lip up to the house from the deck - more ramps. So, that would leave a long ramp into the front stoop. Kel’s mom will not be leaving the house that often and the degree of investment seems absurd given the return. (Am I too cold and calculating? Kel agreed with my logic, though…)

One of Nana’s therapists suggested a ramp like this. The six foot ramp seemed to be the best fit for our space, but $270 for a basic ramp seemed a bit excessive, so I decided to build one myself…

I went to Lowe’s and picked up a sheet of the thickest plywood that they had (23/62") and a few two by four studs. For less than $30, mind you…

Those who’ve seen some of my other projects (deck at the old house, kid’s castle playground) know that I tend to over-design. Here’s what the bottom of the ramp looks like:

A close up of the part that fits over the stairs:

I drilled two holes in the step to take the pegs (one per side):

That way, if necessary, I can remove the ramp easily, but it stays firmly in place.

I bolloxed the angle measurement, and had to use my belt sander to get it sit flat on the floor and step. Ah well…

Here’s the ramp, in place:

I need to get some anti-skid material to cover the ramp. I’ll have Jerry sit in the wheel chair to test it out - he’s about the same weight as Nana…

It’s not pretty, but nothing in the garage is pretty. Well, Kel’s car is pretty nice…

The therapists said that Nana would need a grab bar to get into (and out of) the shower. For that to work, I had to take off the glass doors. (I still need to fill the screw holes with some silicone caulk…)

Since there wasn’t a stud in the right place to mount the grab bar, I had to improvise.

But to do what I wanted to do, I needed my table saw, which was still in the boxes (since Christmas - thanks Kel!).

So I spent a total (last night and this morning) of about eight hours putting the damned thing together…

All to rip one little piece of wood…

Here’s the grab bar, installed. Maybe Kel will decide to paint the wood - that falls outside of my household responsibility…

I also put in a shower curtain & rod, and I replaced the shower head with a cheap handheld shower head. Once we see her requirements, we may want to get a different model (which is why I didn’t spend much on this one).

We currently have a shower seat in that shower, but Nana’s therapists suggested that she would have trouble sitting down on it (and getting back up), even with the grab bar. So, I’ve ordered this model. Hopefully it will get here soon. In the mean time, the home care aide can help her, I’m sure. (This stuff is freakin’ EXPENSIVE!)

We also had to make some modifications to her bed. First, the bed was too high. So I had to take off the wheels and put some furniture slides under the legs. Second, she’ll need rails to transfer in/out of the bed. I ordered one of these rails. It’s supposed to be compatible with the Craftomatic bed. If it works out, we may order a second one for the other side to give Nana a little more flexibility. (Her right arm is still basically useless, so she might want to get out of the bed on the opposite side from where she gets in.)

Her therapists have been working with a local supplier to get a low, narrow wheelchair. Supposedly Medicare will pay for this. While they are working on getting the custom chair, they’ve provided a loaner. They have also procured a raised toilet seat with arm rests so she can more easily transfer from the wheelchair to the toilet. I still need to find a grab bar that I can mount from the floor to the wall next to the toilet to help her get up. (The arm rests on the toilet seat may not be sufficiently strong or stable.)

I know Nana is very nervous about leaving her cocoon at the "Skilled Nursing Facility".

Hopefully she’ll realize that we don’t need her to go back to doing what she did before. Hopefully she’ll realize that she’ll have all the help she’ll need. Plus, she’ll be surrounded by family.

Hopefully she’ll be happy to be home…

Kel felt that it was inappropriate that my hair was almost as long as hers. Or maybe she just felt it was unprofessional. I guess I couldn’t argue with the latter.

Six weeks or so ago, I completely spaced on a haircut appointment. Since I haven’t had any business travel in that period, I didn’t rush to get my hair cut. One of these days, I’d like to let it go, but considering my trip next week to a potentially big customer, well, now’s not the time…

Here’s a before and after shot.

Maybe I should’ve gotten a side shot to show how dang long it was on the top - big sweeping wave…

Natalie (the stylist that does the whole family’s hair) cut off between two and four inches…

God. What a boring post!

Sorry…