Wapsi Square Forum

EMTs came promptly, lifted Kate back into bed. I hate to think what the charge will be.

Kate says she's been trying to get hold of her case manager, who called her back one time last week - on the day that Verizon's mobile service was pretty well kaput over the entire Atlanta region*, last Mon­day (31 July).

But not since.

Meanwhile:

Kate's wheelchair has a replacement for the arm rest that is supposed to support her bad arm comfortably.

A guy from Care Medical (who supplied the chair) dropped around to mount it, and did a lousy job (using only one screw) which promptly came loose when the nut came off the screw.

The reason he only used one screw is that the holes in the arm rest don't line up with the holes in the wheelchair's arm.

And the reason for THAT, it looks like, is that they supplied an arm rest for the LEFT arm**.

Care Medical is now on the list for Monday phone calls.
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* Verizon is, of course, Kate's carrier. The woman has my number - i'm on Net10, using different towers; she could have called me.

The next day AT&T went down hard in the area. If one were a touch paranoid, one might query TMobile's status on Wednesday...

**And the guy either didn't notice (which is possible, i guess) or just elected to not mention it.

"The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet." - Damon Runyon

Any news? Did they fix things?

Not yet, no.

We fixed the chair arm, anyway.

The reason it looked like a left-hand armrest is that he mounted it backward.

Oh God, really? That's...

Yeah, I got nothing. Hopefully that will help a bit until you can get more assistance.

Anyone else tempted to take a few days off work and drive to FPF with a trunkful of carpentry tools and wood to build some friggin ramps and maybe a lever swivel lift with a counterweight or pulley system or something? I dunno where y'all are and I'm a bit strapped for cash for a couple weeks but I'm still tempted.

GlytchMeister wrote:Anyone else tempted to take a few days off work and drive to FPF with a trunkful of carpentry tools and wood to build some friggin ramps and maybe a lever swivel lift with a counterweight or pulley system or something? I dunno where y'all are and I'm a bit strapped for cash for a couple weeks but I'm still tempted.

Yes. Very tempted. Plenty of time, no money presently.

I recall FPF is in the Atlanta GA area... his logins at my board resolve to bellsouth,net, which supports that memory.

Well, we could drive there, but the problem is that once you get there, good luck trying to get out.

(He lives in the ATL, if I recall.)

jwhouk wrote:Well, we could drive there, but the problem is that once you get there, good luck trying to get out.

(He lives in the ATL, if I recall.)

Meh. If you're going to be bringing lumber and nails, what's the problem in bringing along enough cubic-hundredyards of concrete and rebar to rebuild the freeways?

Just don't make the visit next weekend or on Monday. Eclipse Fever is highly contagious.

Ugh I could only get Monday off, so I'll probably be leaving here Saturday or Sunday to see it. Thank goodness I've learned a trick or two driving in Chicago - hopefully I'll make it there and back again without getting clobbered by some sun-blind moron.

GlytchMeister wrote:Ugh I could only get Monday off, so I'll probably be leaving here Saturday or Sunday to see it. Thank goodness I've learned a trick or two driving in Chicago - hopefully I'll make it there and back again without getting clobbered by some sun-blind moron.

Or some moron driving in sun-viewing goggles. I'd bet on that, too.

AmriloJim wrote:I recall FPF is in the Atlanta GA area... his logins at my board resolve to bellsouth,net, which supports that memory.

BellSouth?

We're on Charter.

Kate had her second session of outpatient physical therapy today.

They made her push a shopping cart loaded with weights down a corridor.

The biggest problem we have is that only two of the three doors between her room and The World are wide enough {barely} for her wheelchair...

Hmm. Well... might be able to take the doors and frames/jambs off to get an inch or two of room for the interior ones. The door into the house can't be deconstructed like that due to security issues...

Also depends on the age of the house, of course.

Taking the doors off helped my mother get her wheelchair through.

Of course, she tended to carve up the doorframes then.

--FreeFlier

Those are repairable.

FreeFlier wrote:Taking the doors off helped my mother get her wheelchair through.

Of course, she tended to carve up the doorframes then.

--FreeFlier

After peeling the existing doorframe off (preferably carefully), measure the thickness of the wall. Get THIN strips of wood, paneling basically, as wide as the thickness of the wall plus a half-inch to an inch, a pair of them at least six feet in length - or if you want to be a bit fancier, one strip for the width of the doorway and two strips for the height of the doorway.. And thicker strips, an inch or two wide and half to 3/4 the "excess" width of that thin strip, same length as the thin strips (make the one for the top longer by twice the width of these strips). Use those materials to re-frame the door.

This light thin framing will not, and is not intended to, support an actual door. If you need a door, hang a curtain.

But it will do a passable job of protecting the wallboard, so it won't need much repair when it's time to put real door-frames up again.

Warrl wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:Taking the doors off helped my mother get her wheelchair through.

Of course, she tended to carve up the doorframes then.

--FreeFlier

After peeling the existing doorframe off (preferably carefully), measure the thickness of the wall. Get THIN strips of wood, paneling basically, as wide as the thickness of the wall plus a half-inch to an inch, a pair of them at least six feet in length - or if you want to be a bit fancier, one strip for the width of the doorway and two strips for the height of the doorway.. And thicker strips, an inch or two wide and half to 3/4 the "excess" width of that thin strip, same length as the thin strips (make the one for the top longer by twice the width of these strips). Use those materials to re-frame the door.

This light thin framing will not, and is not intended to, support an actual door. If you need a door, hang a curtain.

But it will do a passable job of protecting the wallboard, so it won't need much repair when it's time to put real door-frames up again.

Durnik, is that you?