Fun with being disabled/dependent

[ysobel]

For those of you just joining us, I am severely disabled, to the point of being literally immobile, both actively and passively, except for, uh, my fingers and my jaw and, sort of, my wrists. I can use the computer fine -- technically, it's not ideal, since if I have one hand on the keyboard the other can't reach, which means I'm typing with my left hand on the keyboard (but at a slightly weird angle; the finger position I learned for home-row keys, ASDF, would get me WQDF instead) and my right hand using a stick. My typing speed is reduced from what it was with two-handed normal touch-typing, and I make a lot more typos, but nevertheless, the point remains that I can use the computer without someone else here to help me. But pretty much everything else -- including dressing, bathing, food preparation, and going to the bathroom -- I can't do, which means someone else has to do it.

It is really fucking hard to find people that are willing to fit the schedule I need. It would be one thing if, like, I needed an hour or two in the morning for dressing + housecleaning; but what I need is, most of the time, ten-minute visits every few hours.

Right now I have three aides. One (B) has a dayjob, so does evening stuff and alternate weekends. One (D) covers morning/daytimes and alternate weekends. And one (C) moved in with me a few months back (I needed a live-in aide, she needed a place to stay) and does meals and overnight or emergency toileting as-needed.

A couple of weeks ago, D started complaining about numbness in her left hand, along the pinky side. I, having had ulnar nerve problems, promptly said "That's an ulnar nerve problem. Go see a doctor." Which she did, eventually, at the point where her whole hand was numb; this was last Tuesday. And the doctor told her not to use her arm, and so she said "I need a week off, starting, um, now", and so I said "okay" and arranged to have C do the daytime stuff.

Monday morning, D shows up, ready for work. I'm kind of wtfing at her, partly because I hadn't known she she was coming, but mainly because it didn't seem sensible (there were plenty of "are you *sure*?" type questions) but hey, it's her decision. She was wearing a wrist brace -- though it looked more like one for carpal tunnel, especially as it had the thumb immobilized -- which made some things awkward, but ... well, really, I think she was going stir-crazy. (She has no hobbies as far as I know, isn't a reader, etc. And she goes stir-crazy even when she *is* coming over every few hours.)

Today, she had a doctor's appointment. And guess what? The doctor told her ... that she shouldn't be using her left arm.

This ... is shocking to nobody except her.

(At least I *have* C to cover daytimes etc. For a long while I only had D and B, and due to dayjob B can't cover daytimes, and so that ... would have been bad.)

Comments

[cesy]

Mm, 10-minute visits every few hours is difficult.