Two jobs done in one day - and more to think about

Yesterday was a red letter day for us! At long last, we now have a 'disabled' parking bay right outside the house. It took a while, but boy do we need it. Initially we were told to apply for it only when it really became necessary, otherwise our application could be refused. Well, that made sense. So we wait until it reaches the stage when parking any further away than right outside the house is really out of the question. We apply for the bay. Then they tell us it will take six months before the process will be complete! However, I have to say that having explained our situation, they did agree that they could probably speed things up a bit - that was a number of weeks ago but today, it happened.  It took them all of about fifteen minutes to organise. Impressive.

 Later, Roy from 'Medequip' arrived with the bed raisers (custom-made). What a great job. I thought they'd be unsightly and, although useful, present an ugly reminder of yet another adaptation to meet a further deterioration in Roch's physical condition. But no! They are wooden and Roy actually went to the bother of using a dark woodstain to match our wooden floor. The raisers are fixed to the floor and the legs of the bed rest inside them, bringing the height of the bed up to a more comfortable level for Roch to sit down and to and raise himself to a standing position. You would hardly notice them, and when you do, they look quite attractive. Thank you Roy, a true craftsman. Thank you Rachel, for organising it. Only thing is, it's more difficult now for him to put his shoes on when he's sitting on the bed. Ah well, you can't have everything...

Today wasn't so good. I was out and he was alone.  He was in the bathroom at the sink and his left leg went from under him. He managed to land with his throat somehow supported by the edge of the sink - but as this position was clearly going to end up choking him, he let himself fall backwards, happily missing any sharp edges. He rested for a while, then slid his way out of the bathroom along the smooth floor of our hallway to the bottom of the stairs, where he managed to bring himself to a standing position. Quite an adventure. By the time I heard about it, he had recovered from the shock and mercifully hadn't injured himself. I imagine he must have been quite shaken. I called to check in with him after his fall but he didn't tell me what had happened in case 'it spoiled my afternoon'.  Well, yes but...
Good thing we agreed that he should never lock the bathroom door. Should we be thinking about one of those alarms people carry around? Time to talk about strategies.