Duct Tape Free Zone

Maggie finally got her new wheelchair seat cover yesterday.  It is a little piece of neoprene or whatever the heck that stuff is made of.We have been waiting for it for months. MONTHS. There is absolutely no reason it should have taken so long, but that's just the way it is in Maggie's world. I think you can refer to the concept of supply and demand. Not a ton of demand, so not a lot of suppliers. You take what you get and you are supposed to smile pretty.

The new seat cover presents a new challenge for Maggie and I have no doubt she will meet that challenge head on.. She moves so much that she wear through these things at vulnerable spots. The front of the seat takes the brunt of her movement and that's where it wears out first. Of course once Maggie actually tears it, she starts ripping it with her hands because ...well, because she CAN.

When the tear was small I covered it with some leopard skin duct tape. That worked for a while, but Maggie wore out a little more and then pulled on that. I added more leopard skin duct tape. And then again, but I was out of leopard skin and went with zebra. As that wore through we left the jungle theme and went with good old industrial duct tape (which is the strongest of all). Maggie has been cruising in this seat for the last several months.

With the new cover, she is now in a Duct Tape Free Zone. You will note, however, that the cover for the foot box also needs replacing. There's no duct tape, but it is worn through. We'll get that by summer. Of course by then the seat cover will be ripped again. Any wonder I feel like I'm on a hamter wheel?

Purty, ain't it? Any bets on how long it stays intact?

I give it until April 1. Plenty of time to stock up on themed tape.

Going round in circles all the time.

Another busy week. It sees that all  do lately is run here and there to deal with something Maggie needs. This is nothing new, of course, but I'm finally getting to the point where I realize I have to get some help. The hamster wheel is going faster and faster and I am getting old and slowing down. Bad combination.

The realization hit last Thursday when a combination of events happened that had me racing north and south on the freeways. I had a meeting in San Rafael, which is 20-30 minutes north of San Francisco. I needed to be home by 3:30 to lift Maggie from her chair to the bed for some of her afternoon procedures. The meeting went long and I found myself flying down the freeway praying there wouldn't be any traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. Fortunately there wasn't, but it was nearly 4:30 when I arrived and poor Maggie was a bit uncomfortable because of the delay. I had to be in Corte Madera for a dinner at 6, and that meant I had to turn around and head back across the Golden Gate. As a bonus,  traffic is a certainty leaving the City in the evening.

This presented a problem for the next set of procedures, which should be three hours later. I would still be at dinner and I couldn't make her wait again. The nurse and I decided to do the next set very early, like an hour later, so that Maggie wouldn't be uncomfortable. That would buy me some time on the back end. It wasn't optimal, but we had to make do.

I never have to do things like this because I generally 1)don't have meetings during the day, 2)don't have meetings or dinners out of the City, and 3)don't schedule things when Steve is out of town, which he was.The reality is that it takes two people to deal with Maggie. I depend on the nurses but I have to face facts, we need more help. Even those nurses who can lift on their own need my help to order and fetch supplies, fill prescriptions, get the laundry done and drive Maggie where ever she needs to be

As I jumped back into the car to head BACK across the Golden Gate Bridge, I thought to myself,  hmm, if I had a normal life I might have spent the last 90 minutes having a cup of coffee or wandering around a mall killing time before my dinner. Instead I spent an hour driving 25 miles south and  then another 10 miles north again so I could  help Maggie for 45 minutes. I spent time and gas going around in two huge circles.  It was ridiculous and exhausting, but I was choiceless.

Yesterday Maggie had a doctors appointment, so I drove her to school, and returned. I went to work at the hospital , ran back to school to get her so I could come right back to the hospital for her appointment. More circles.  It's time to figure out how to continue to care for Maggie and live some semblance of a life outside of this house. I can't keep doing it the way I have been.

I'm getting dizzy