4. 911 ... What is your emergency ?

911 ... What is your emergency ?

Is she kidding?  Everything is my emergency.

Three times in the first two weeks after my accident I had to call 911.  

In the United States I have found each time I call 911 for medical emergency the help has been excellent.  

These medical people of 911 have been forthright, direct, honest, and have led me in the correct medical decisions.  

In the midst of the excruciating pain of the early days I became constipated.

I was terrified.

The pain in my lower abdomen was awful.  

I called 911 and the medical people in the ambulance service came immediately.  

The man said they would be happy to take me to hospital, but the hospital doctors would not treat constipation and all they would end up doing is sending me back home without any pain relief.  

One of the ER men said this is what I had to do ... Begin drinking one bottle of water after another ... force water down my throat.  

He said that was the only thing that would push the problem through my system and give me freedom from the pain.  

I lined up 4 bottles of water immediately and forced myself to take every one of them.  These were 8-ounce bottles.  

Within an hour I had a bowel movement and the relief I needed.

***

We managed to get in touch with my nurse practitioner.  

She prescribed a granule that looks a little like salt.  All you do is put some of it in a bottle of water, shake it, and drink it.   

It is absolutely magnificent.  

It is sold over-the-counter under the name MiraLax.

Figure 44

 *****

THE MEDICAL MAZE

I have a friend who is very skillful at fighting through the medical maze in the form of reaching doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners.  

When this happened I called her.  She came over to my house and began the process.  She does not give up easily.  (Actually, she does not give up.)  She went from one to another until she hammered away and finally located the help for me.  

I find it is extremely difficult to get help from the medical people.  

Most of the doctors and medical staff that have come across my path are very interested in the puzzle of the problem but not in the comfort or welfare of the patient.  

The consideration for the patient is very lacking in most cases.  

They think nothing of making a very sick person come and wait for more than an hour in the waiting room to get into an appointment.  

I was far too sick and there was far too much pain for me to attempt in any way to get out of this bedroom.  

Yet we found one person after another insisting that I come in to the doctor's office to get the help I needed.  

This was totally impossible for me in this situation.  

There is one person who genuinely helped me.  

She is a nurse practitioner.  

Another nurse practitioner, however, prescribed a nausea medicine that made me nauseous.  

When nurse Donna heard what had been prescribed for me, she said it was 4-times too strong for me.  She prescribed another medicine which did not make me ill and actually solved the problem.  

Nurse Donna filled 4 prescriptions for me by phone without seeing me to help me in this terrible time of crisis of the first few days, which were excruciatingly painful.  

I have a great respect for nurse Donna.  

*****

At the emergency room ... I found no consideration at all for the patient.  Finally I managed to find someone who would give me pain medicine, but it was not strong enough.  They had to increase the dosage three times into the IV to cause any relief at all.  

The people doing x-rays were a little rough and it was terribly painful.  

The emergency room doctor gave me nothing of value at all in the situation.  

When the orthopedic surgeon came in, he explained to me that the breaks were in my arm, and there were multiple breaks, and they did not require surgery.  

There was no cast that could be applied.  

He wrapped my broken arm in an ace bandage around my upper arm and dismissed me.  

There was no prescription given to me for pain medicine.  

There was no thought whatsoever of how I was going to manage to get from the garage to the bedroom.  

In my opinion, I should have been sent home by ambulance, even though it would have cost me more money doing it. 

The pain was incredibly excruciating each time I took a step.  With my right foot pain shot all the way up to my upper arm.  

And absolutely no one thought of how I was going to manage to go to the bathroom once I sat down in a chair in my bedroom.     

How was I ever going to get up?

There was no thought for the well-being of myself, the patient, by any medical staff at the hospital.  

The only medical help that I could receive came by telephone by speaking with nurse practitioner Donna. 

Though we spoke to many people in medical offices there was no help at all. They just insisted that I come in to the office. I had no way of getting into the office except by ambulance.

They were completely out of touch with the patient and reality.

*****

5. Wearing our your church friend ... or time to get professional home care

                   

When I came home from hospital I was so helpless that I found it hard to be left alone for any length of time in my bedroom.  

A church friend stayed with me and helped me during the early days.  

At that time the pain was excruciating and I was unable to move my right side even 1 inch from the back of the chair without severe pain. 

Though the church friend wanted to continue to stay with me, I could see it was not a good thing. 

I called Pam Padgett who lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and ask her to try to find some type of professional help that we could hire in Lubbock, Texas, where I live.   

Within a few minutes Pam had found 2 companies in Lubbock who provide home care, and one company Pam said she especially liked.  

I called them immediately and arranged for them to come talk to me. 

When I told the church friend, she did not want me to hire professional help.  She said she thought I would be taking away her assignment from God to help me. 

However I knew this was not the case. 

The next day when the two representatives came to my house, the church friend happened to be there at the same time.  She came into my bedroom and listened to us talk.  

After they left she agreed it was the best thing to do.  

I hired them for the next two weeks.

*****

 
HOME CARE

This company required four hours a day. ($20.99 hr.)  The time was broken up into two sessions, 9-11 & 3-5

***

Caregiver # 1:  Brenda 

The woman assigned to the first shift was excellent.   She was in her late 60's, and she truly was professional.

She anticipated every need in the house.

I hardly had to tell her anything, though I had made out a list of possible things that would need to be done  (coffee , dry toast , applesauce for breakfast … sponge bath, brush teeth ... feed indoor cat & outdoor stray cats ... clean porta-potty ... laundry ...) 

Before she left that morning, she even offered to make me a sandwich.

I was very pleased with the service.

***

Caregiver # 2:  Afternoon shift

In every way this woman was unsatisfactory for this job at my house.

- She spoke very little English and I understand almost no Spanish.  We could not communicate at all verbally.   Nor could she read English, so I couldn't write what I needed done.

***

From the first moment she was in the house everything went wrong and continued to go wrong.

I have found when this happens in a relationship or an association it usually spells «DOOM» .

It will not work.

***

- She had a strong body odor … I suspect a cheap perfume …

A few years ago I had an operation for a broken hip and after the operation I found I could not tolerate perfumes.  I would become nauseous.  At that time I learned nurses and caregivers are often told not to wear perfumes, because patients very frequently have this problem of nausea through body odors.

I had forgotten to tell the home care office that I had this problem.

I had been terribly nauseous for two weeks and I was afraid it would start up again.

Therefore with this woman, in the two hours that she had to be at my house on assignment, I tried to find ways to keep her out of my bedroom.

As a part of her requirement she had to fill out a notebook which they left in my bedroom.

I asked her to take the notebook into the other room and fill it out, wanting to keep her out of my ability to smell her.

Unfortunately she took off a serape and threw it on the chair in my bedroom and took the notebook and went out into the other room.  The garment of clothing had the odors on it which I could smell but it was better than having her in the room with me.

***

- She was supposed to take my car and drive it to the grocery store to pick up groceries.

She got into the car (the keys were in the ignition).   She had to run my car five minutes before driving it, so she started the motor, got out of the car ... and as she got out of the car she accidentally hit the door lock and closed the door of the car. 

The keys were locked inside the car with the motor running!

Her supervisor, Paula, was still here when this happened.

(This company has a supervisor come with caregiver when they bring a worker you have never met before.)

Paula, supervisor, came into my bedroom and asked me if I have another set of car keys so they could get the door unlocked.

My car is 24-years-old and has a combination built into the driver door.   So I gave Paula the combination and they got the door to the car unlocked.

***

The next problem, which was major, was the problem that managed to free me from the use of this Spanish-speaking caregiver.

Paula came into my bedroom a second time after the door lock situation, and said, "How do you move the seat of the car forward ?"

I replied, "The seat is broken and does not move."

Paula said the Spanish-speaking caregiver was unable to reach the brake and foot pedal of my car.

I replied we could not, in the future, use this woman at my house.  They would have to get me a woman that is at least five foot six who can run my car.

I was delighted!  For this got me free from this caregiver without hurting the feelings of the caregiver and without causing any problem.

When they set up the program they told me they realized some caregivers would not be satisfactory or compatible to the patient and when this happened they would replace the caregiver.   So if there was any problem, all I had to do is ask that the caregiver be replaced. 

(I did not ask Paula to replace her immediately that day.  I allowed her to continue to work for her assigned two hours at my house.)

***

- The next thing that happened was this … She took her car to pick up groceries, which was approximately 2 miles from my house.

I told her to get the garage door opener off the visor of my car and take it with her so when she came back with the groceries she could be in the driveway, open the garage door, and easily unload the groceries into the garage.

Sounds simple … Right?

Think again!

Caregiver went for groceries and returned to my house and came into my bedroom to tell me the garage door opener did not work and she could not get the garage door opened!

Later she discovered she was trying to open the garage door with an eyeglass case holder that was also hanging on my visor. 

***

Caregiver #3:  Part time college student

English speaking.

This worked pretty well.

A few problems:

- When she left at the end of her assignment the first day, she forgot to put the house key in the lock box on the front door.  Therefore the next day the care worker could not get into the house.  The home care company had to call my church friend at 9 o'clock in the morning to come and let them into the house.

My church friend had planned to sleep late that morning, since she was not needed, but she was unable to do so.  

This certainly made it difficult for my church friend.

When mistakes are made often other people suffer as a result and that was certainly the case in the mistake made by the college student.

***

- Another problem, the college student went to the grocery store and returned with the groceries.

One of the items was cottage cheese.

She placed the cottage cheese in the freezing unit of the refrigerator. 

This was discovered the next day by my church friend.

The only thing we could do was throw away the new carton of frozen cottage cheese ...

 ***

- One other problem, the college student left a box of garbage bags sitting in the middle of the floor in my bedroom.  She failed to put them into the cabinet where they go.

Fortunately, at that time I was into the fourth week of the accident and was able to successfully bend over and pick up the box of garbage bags and put them into the cabinet.

A couple of weeks prior to this I had dropped a Kindle device onto the floor.  I tried to pick it up by bending over and the pain was very bad at my shoulder.  I did successfully pick it up, but it was an ordeal.

One thing this shows me is the healing process that has taken place since I dropped the Kindle on the floor and since the time the college student left the garbage bags on the floor is considerable.

There is a significant improvement going on daily with my body.

The college student is able to do the caregiver work.   

She just lacks some maturity in doing the work.

She is 20-years-old at this point in time.

I am very happy to have her when she is assigned to my house.

***

PREPARING FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THE HOME CARE GIVER

All in all, I would say home care is important and valuable.  There are some problems along the way which you might have to deal with swiftly.

Before the care giver arrives for her session at my house, I have to prepare a work sheet for the day's activities.

I often have to explain to the care giver one thing at a time, and let the worker do that task, and then go to the next thing on the list.

I can put this on an email to myself which allows me to make copies on my printer, which is in my bedroom, so I will have a copy and the worker will have a copy.

WORK SHEET FOR HOME CARE GIVER 

Here is a sample of the work sheet which I prepare daily for the home care workers.  

November 29, 2018

Morning

- prepare breakfast:  dry toast, applesauce

- clean porta-potty

- feed outdoor cats ... 2 bowls / 4 cans Frisky meat, 2 cans per bowl ...  6 scoops dry food, 3 scoops per bowl ...  fresh water

- feed indoor cat ... fill bowl with fresh dry food ... 1 can Frisky flaked food in meat bowl ...   fresh water 

- wash back, legs, feet

- laundry:  wash

- boil 6 eggs

- fill top shelf with water bottles

- clean coffeemaker basket / prepare next coffee

- lunch:  2 boiled eggs

Afternoon

- laundry:  dryer

- setup kitchen area in bedroom:  (move microwave, move electric can opener, move soup cans, move crackers, move microwave soup cup and lid, move loaf of white bread, soup spoon, colby longhorn cheese, knife)

- setup feeding area for cats for weekend ... red top containers in garage ... 1 container for outside cats filled with cat chow ... 1 container for indoor cat, about half-filled with cat chow.

- clean porta-potty

***

I am aware the patient might be unable to formulate a work sheet.  However, it would likely be much better if someone could, for I have found the home care givers are not often able to structure their own work schedules.  

     

*****

         

The caregiver leaves the room and it seems she is gone a long time ... you can hear pots banging, doors slamming ... but you have no idea what she is doing nor when she will be back.

From your perspective, as the patient who is frozen in a chair 24 hours a day in another room, the time can seem endless.

All you can do as you are sitting there helpless is to imagine what is going on in the other room.

After I began writing this book you are reading, I was able to occupy my time before she returned.  Then sometimes she returned too soon to suit me because I wanted to finish what I was writing.

It takes a certain amount of control on the part of the patient to endure this part of early confinement.

*****

6. Overcoming in the wilderness of this world

As you go through this world, you go through a wilderness of mysteries.

Often you have absolutely no idea how to fix the problem.

And when you finally realize how the problem can be solved, it often takes two or three visits before the technician ever finishes the project and makes the situation work properly.

*****

INTERNET

I need to do TV streaming from my bedroom where I am confined.

The Internet streaming is horrible in my house.

I was paying AT&T, the Internet provider, for 45 mbps Internet speed, but it would not continue streaming more than a minute or two at a time before cutting off and buffering.

Often a message would come on screen saying "Internet speed is insufficient to reproduce streaming on this station".

***

Finally, I called AT&T support to see what they suggested.

Support said I had plenty of Internet speed.  The problem was, in their opinion, that the modem needed to be moved to the center of my house.

I called The Soundwave and talked to Kurt about the problem.  Kurt sent Patrick to my house to investigate.  Patrick has worked with me for more than 10 years on sound and TV problems.

Patrick said I only had 22 mbps Internet speed at my house.  He said that is barely enough to send an email and there is no way you could stream TV with that speed.

Although I had been paying AT&T for 45 mbps speed, which should have streamed, I was only receiving 22 mbps in my house.

Patrick said it might appear to AT&T on their machines that I was receiving 45 mbps, but I was only receiving 22.  Patrick said something between my house and the AT&T server was blocking the speed.

In talking to Patrick I learned he receives 200 mbps Internet speed and I was receiving 22 mbps.

I was convinced the speed was the problem and not the placement of the modem as AT&T had thought.

***

The following day I came to my senses and called Patrick to see who his provider was for Internet.  

He said it was Suddenlink.  

I called Suddenlink immediately to discuss their Internet provision plan for 200 mbps Internet speed.  

I found it was cheaper than AT&T, where I was supposed to be getting 45 mbps speed and was only getting 22 mbps speed.  

My phone service had been with AT&T. 

When I bundled Internet and phone service with Suddenlink, I ended up paying approximately $74 per month for both phone and 200 mbps Internet speed.  

A&T was charging me $119 a month for phone and Internet at 45 mbps speed while providing 22 mbps speed.  

Instantly I subscribed to Suddenlink and canceled my service with AT&T.

***

THE INSTALLER COMES TO CHANGE THE INTERNET AND PHONE SERVICE

I was so happy to get this problem solved ... but the installer from Suddenlink was less than competent.

I find this happens frequently.  

The company sent a second installer, and this worked.  

I am delighted with the service.  

*****

MY FRONT DOOR IS VERY DIFFICULT TO OPEN

A considerable problem surfaced over my front door after my accident.  

I could not get to the front door when people came to my house.  I could not let them in.  

We began leaving the front door unlocked from 9 AM to 8 PM.  

This should have solved the problem, but it did not because it was so difficult to get my front door to open when you pressed on the door latch.

People, such as Meals on Wheels, kept leaving thinking the door was locked.

My contractor who built the house was called to my attention.  

I called Tom and he sent a young man over to change out the door latch.  

This should have solved the problem, but it did not.  Now the door would open easily, but it would not stay closed.  When the dead bolt door lock was unlocked, the door would come open automatically.  

My church friend tested the door and said she the door kept coming open when it was unlocked.  

I simply picked up the phone, handed it to her and said, "Call Tom and tell him the report you just gave me."

Tom said he would be over that afternoon personally to adjust that door.

The door now works.  

*****

When problems such as this occur a great many people just complain and murmur about the problem.  

If you do that, you burn up needed energy, which you could have used profitably to solve the problem.  

Take action quickly when there is a problem and continue to pursue the action until positive results have been accomplished.  

By doing that you close the door on destructive thoughts. 

If you try to ignore the problem or postpone taking action, you will open the door for troubling thoughts to enter your mind and overwhelm you.  

This is what a great many people do, and they end up hurting themselves.

(See book, "Dealing With Destructive Thoughts" by Joan Boney, Amazon, e-Book and paperback)

*****

7. Acknowledgment

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

God is my strength and power: and HE maketh my way perfect.  (2 Samuel 22:33)


For this God is our God for ever and ever: HE will be our guide even unto death.  (Psalm 48:14)


If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  (James 1:5)

*****

When Pam Padgett and I published our graphically illustrated guide to using a Kindle tablet in 2016, we needed a cover for the book.  

I turned to God and in fervent prayer said, "Please give us a cover for the book".

Almost immediately I was reminded of building blocks, the type children enjoy using.  

I pictured using the old 1930's, ABC building blocks.

But when I went to Amazon and looked at building blocks, I saw this rather spectacular modern set of building blocks which we ordered and used to design a book cover for our book.  

*****

In November, 2018, when Pam and I decided to write this current book on Handicap Helps, I turned to God again and begged HIM to give me a cover for the book.   

(I find writing to be very easy.  I do not find covers to be easy.)

Immediately, I knew to put the book in red background and to put the title in very shakey handwriting.  

Next I saw an image of an emoji that was beside himself, and I even saw his hair standing up sort of in an electric way on the top of his head, a person who was totally bewildered.  

And then I had the subtitle,

 "You want me to do what?" 

With this we had the book cover which I believe was given to us by God.

*****

I was totally delighted with the cover of this book.  

The face on the emoji was just exactly the way I felt inside when I returned home from the emergency room of the hospital after learning that I had several broken bones in my right arm and upper shoulder, and after I faced the overwhelming challenge of being unable to get from my chair to a porta-potty 8 inches from the foot of the chair, and had the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my entire life.  

But best of all, the cover makes me laugh. 

***** 

*****

Email to Joann

To Joann

 I am dictating this message into my Kindle so there could be some errors in the typing but I think you will be able to read it anyway 

 This story is not as bad as it is going to sound so don't be alarmed 

 Sunday morning at 7 AM I fell in the little bathroom headfirst into the shower 

 I didn't break a hip or a leg or anything like that... I was pretty sure I had broken my right arm or wrist and that is what it turned out to be ...but it's a very simple break and it required no surgery – sprained my left hand a little bit ... They put a cast on my right arm 

The good news is I can function in my bedroom I am able to get up and get to the porta potty safely even by myself in the middle of the night 

 I don't believe I need therapy at this point... I have been taught through all of my falls so much in therapy that I feel secure in what I am doing but if I did need therapy I wouldn't hesitate to go through the doctors office and get a new set of therapy things but there's really not anything for us to do... I know how to get up out of the chair safely I think and use the cane in just the one basic step to get to the porta potty ... everything is so close to me and everything is going exceedingly well with the very minimum of pain.. I'm not even having to take pain medicine except maybe a Tylenol at night 

 concerning the fall and the reason for the fall 

 I woke at 7 AM after a very strong night of sleep and I was a little disoriented ... I knew I was disoriented when I woke up ... I should have just sat back down on the bed but I did not ... even  in route to the bathroom it wasn't normal because I kept hitting things with the walker that I normally can avoid ... I got the cane and started into the bathroom and just everything happened ... so it was that heavy sleep and the night of disorientation that I attribute to the fall 

Here is the exceedingly good news ... the previous falls that I had on my head caused the lenses in my eye operation to slip and it was as if I was looking through a bifocal.. I could see the line across my vision ... I would have to raise my head in order to skip that line 

 I realized one day after the fall the recent fall that the line was no longer there I think the lenses in my eyes  readjusted with the fall and went back to the correct setting ... the eye doctor had told me that it had slipped and I think with this fall it went back because I don't have that line across my eye anymore 

 I fell very hard on the right side of my head and I think it jarred that lens ... it makes me laugh to think of this 

 I thought you would enjoy hearing this

Joan