The medical equipment store
A recent development for one of our household persons required a trip to a store that sells all kinds of medical equipment. We just needed a shower chair, but it was a bit overwhelming and sobering to see all the things people can need for simply living day to day. There were wheelchairs from toddler size to adult; hoists for special beds, again in a variety of sizes, infant to adult; and any number of bewildering therapeutic items. Of course I have seen people of all ages in wheelchairs, and in various states of disability, but coming into this big room full of their daily necessities struck me. When I asked for one of those doughnut seat pillows, and was told they didn't carry them, a voice piped up from the depths of a huge orthopedic lounging chair, telling me to try Walgreen's. A woman I hadn't even seen was buried in the chair, reading. She told me how she had some logistic problems with the doughnut cushion in her wheelchair, but that it would be fine for regular seating. Her cheerful pragmatism was a sharp contrast to the potential sadness of the place. I left, hoisting the shower chair, and gratefully walked home.
posted by isabelita at 1:11 PM
4 Comments:
Those places can be overwhelming, and depressing. But they can demonstrate the amazing creativity of people who are determined to squeeze every drop of enjoyment from this life, unimpeded by uncooperative bones, muscles, and nerve responses.
True, mfm. And it makes me want to go out and leap around as long sa I can.
oh, i hear you. the amazing thing is, you do cope. you take baby steps, you break things down into do-able bits. life gets smaller, more focused, but at the same time, worlds open up inside. and if we're lucky, barriers fall and we can have a helpful stranger point us in the right direction.
hope you can find, as Peter says, the Gift Wrapped in Shit. :-)
My dad had one of those shower chairs. Combined with the handheld shower head thing, he was independently bathing until hospitalized near the very end. Sometimes the shower took a reallllllly long time, but it was important to him to get it done on his own.
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