I Couldn't Get To The Docs Today

[SalpalSally]

Got all dressed up and ready to go at 11:00am for my appt at 11:30. DD got here right on time and I drove my indoor scooter out to the garage. Tried to transfer into mini van and could not do it.. We tried for a long time and I just couldn't lift my legs up into the van. Then I was weakened and slid to the garage floor in my brand new jeans.

DD couldn't get me up so called 911 and they picked me up and set me in my scooter...went inside and had a hard time transfering to sofa. Finally made it and I'm still here, sitting on one of pals potty pads. It seems that I hurt my good leg, in the fall.

I'm hoping my not so good leg will heal with rest and I'll be able to get up later. I guess, since I cannot go to the Docs anymore and he doesn't make house calls, I'll have to have a visiting nurse/HHC come to my house to check on me? Do any of you have HHC and if so how does it work?

Cry cry cry cry cry cry cry....soooooo down!! Help me get up please. Please pray for me :o

[stillstANNding]

Oh, Sally, what a day! What do you think happened? Do you think you are that much worse or that the getting ready wore you out?

And you were wearing those tight new PJ jeans! Oh, my! Trying to find an up side here: were any of the emergency guys hunks? A girl could get used to that (thinking of our cabana days).

i'll keep you in my thoughts & prayers,
ANN

[agate]

Sally, that fall was so uncalled for! So sorry you had this problem. I hope your leg strength will come back pronto. Maybe plenty of rest and eating foods with lots of vitamins will help?

Maybe you could get to the doctor in a wheelchair. The local chapter of the MS Society might have one to lend you. You'd need a lift-equiped van but the local transportation system might provide that.

Visiting nurses work out well. Or maybe it depends on the community you're in. My impression is that in larger towns the services are better.

I used to have a visiting nurse give my Avonex shot because I was having problems doing it myself. My hands weren't up to it.

[Gary]

Oh Sally I am so sorry. It just isn't fair. I live in a really small town about 50 miles from Boise. I say this because we have really good HHC folks even in our area. Granted it does take a bit longer to have them come out.

I have used them for IVSM several times. Despite all the health care workers in my immediate family no one wants to start an IV in my arm!

Sending good thoughts your way.

[Cherie]

Here we have a lift van that costs $5 round trip to appointments. You could just be liften in on your scooter, out to the docs and back in to go home. They usually ask for 48 hour notice of appointments. I am sure there has to be something like that in your area. Ask the NMSS or MSF if there is something near you.

Hope that leg feels better quickly and you wake renewed tomorrow.

[nuthatch]

((((Sally)))) Some days really suck! Sounds like you had one of those days today. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully it will be much, much better.
It's very upsetting to not be able to do something that you could do just yesterday, and not know if/when that failure might happen.
I am forever nagged by feeling the need to develop a back-up plan or safety net for the next challenge I may face, which is why I buy "equipment" a little before I actually "need" it. I'm always trying to stay one step ahead . . . what a way to live!

For instance, I cannot stand for more than a minute or two while holding onto a grab bar for dear life, and move my feet at all, thus making it very difficult and frightening to get into or out of the shower. Right now, DH helps me by actually physically moving my useless feet himself and helps me to pivot onto the waiting shower bench. After the shower, he pivots me out, into my waiting wheelchair. But I ask myself daily, how long will I be able to do that? In an effort to stay one step ahead of increasing disability, I am searching for a wheelchair friendly house to suit our needs that includes a bathroom large enough to adapt with a roll-in shower. Just trying to stay one step ahead . . . it sucks!

Dial-a-Ride type services are something that can help you get out. My elderly parents use it almost weekly to get to appointments. They use something called Paratransit here in CA and it costs $2.60 per trip within 60 miles. They have to give 24 hours notice.
I'm sure there is a service like this where you are.

I've used HHC for IVSM several times too. The nurses have been friendly, well trained in what they do and more thorough than the doctor with much, much better bed-side manner too.

I hope you can find solutions that work for you. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Joan

[Gabriella7]

Sorry Sally....

Sorry to hear about your situation. You've already gotten some good advice so I'll just relate what happened to my neighbor. You know you can always find a situation that is worse than the one you find yourself in.

She had taken a shower with her husband soaping her back when she began to slid down the wall tile on her backside. She had fallen to the bottom of the tub/shower and her husband could not get her up. He called 911 and 4 firemen arrived to lift her up. She said she was as naked as the day she was born. Neither of them thought to put anything over her.

She was laughing about it and I was too as that is my "worse nightmare".

Hope you have better days.....

Gabriella:angel:

[Moderator #7]

...For all you endure.

[nuthatch]

Thanks Mod7

Amen, Gabriella. It could always be worse for sure. I remember the times (yes there have been more than one!) that I had to be picked up from the bathroom floor by the hunky firemen who put me in a sling thing they refer to as a taco. I was so embarrassed but was glad I was not naked!

[SalpalSally]

Thank all you wonderful people for your kind and helpful support.:o

While my leg is healing, I cannot transfer to get to the potty and have been using Pal's doggy pads.:ambivalence: Does anyone have a better idea, like maybe poise pads or something?

I hope this is a temporary situation.....Please.....






.

[Lazarus]

thinking of you

(Stillstanding) Ann thinks the way I always do---try to find a positive or funny aspect in the worst of times. But your situation that day stops us all. I do hope things are better.
Linda

[Jeanie Z]

:) Sally I'm sorry this happened to you. Do you have days when you are stronger than others? I do and sometimes I cannot do simple things then a few days later I can. Like putting my hair in a ponytail which I do daily. Some days I cannot get the band on tight enough and it has to be redone several times those days. Other days I can do it easier even though it still is an effort.

Night before last I fell changing from my scooter to the bed in the middle of the night. David was asleep and had his hearing aids out. I yelled several times but he did not hear me, so I finally was able to reach his foot and pull and yell. He got up and helped me up.

However I now weigh 200 and it is not so easy for him to lift me. I am going to be extra careful and try to stay off the floor. You and all this board are in my prayers. Jeanie :)

[Gabriella7]

Pads

Sally, Depends underwear will work for both #1 and #2 whereas Poise pads are just for urinary incontinence. I've had accidents with both and I depend on Depends. A friend wears the poise pads for urinary problems. Hope you only need them for a short time.

Gabriella:angel:

[SalpalSally]

Thanks Jeanie and linda. It's always reassuring to have your support. If that happens to me Jeanie, I'd have to call 911.

I just thought of that and that's what I'm hoping Gabriella, that this is only temporary. I usually #2 every 5 or 6 days, thank heavens..lol

[polava]

Sally,
I’m using Cather since all 11 hours sitting home by myself and hate to be wet down there, train my body to go w/#2 when my husband gets home. Need to say that I can’t stand up, walk or move my feet. But I still think it could be worst (can’t seat in my wheelchair)
Head up – smile, tomorrow is new day

Ava