A Few Of My Favorite Things - Part 7: WeMo Light Switch

There are a lot of weird problems that come with paralysis.  One of the ones I noticed very quickly after I came home from the hospital was turning off the light at night.

Getting in bed at night is non-trivial for a paraplegic, especially when they are new to it.  Transferring from the wheelchair to bed, or from bed to the wheelchair can be a bit hairy, especially in the dark.  When I first moved into this apartment, I was brand new to these transfers, and I did not feel comfortable doing them in the dark.  My solution was to have a night light running in my room all the time.  This solution was a compromise.  There was a little bit of light when I was doing my transfer, but not as much as I really wanted.  Then there was more light in the room while I was sleeping than I would really prefer.

Smart phones are fantastic.  I held out getting one for several years while some of my friends pressured me to get one.  Ultimately, I did get one, only about a year before my injury.  I don't know how I'd ever survive a spinal cord injury without one.

I use my phone for everything.  I use the alarm feature many times a day to remember to take pills, or to empty my bladder.  I use a grocery list app to share my grocery list with Gus so he can pick things up for me if he goes to the store.  I use several chat and email apps to stay in contact with my friends.  I use the camera to take pictures for the blog.  I use the calendar to keep track of doctor appointments and dinner dates with friends.  I use the contact list to keep track of all the doctors and therapists I've seen.  I use the IMDB app to find out what actors were in certain movies.  And now I use WeMo to turn my lights off at night.

The WeMo light switch, by Belkin, is a smart light switch that uses your home WiFi network to talk to your smart phone.

WeMo on the right

There's not a lot to say about it except that I love it.  I can now get in (or out) of bed with the lights on, and then turn them off (or on) when I'm ready using an app on my phone.  It may seem like a little thing, but it makes my life a LOT better.

Update (5/20/2014) - My friend, Ben Parees, wants credit for introducing me to the dorky world of home automation.  It's true.  He did.  Thanks, Ben!  If you run into him, ask him about his project to automate the opening and closing of his mini-blinds in correspondence with the position of the sun!

A Few Of My Favorite Things - Part 6: Reacher Grabbers

The world we live in is designed around people with functioning legs.  Spend one day in a wheelchair, and this fact becomes painfully obvious.

I live alone, and if I need to reach something that is either too high, or too low, I have to use a reacher grabber.  I don't especially like having to rely on a fancy tool for something so simple, but I don't really have any other options.

I have an assortment of grabbers, and each is useful in its own way.

My collection

If I could have only one, it would be the Duro-Med 26-inch.  This is the one they recommended when I was in rehab.  It has decent grip strength, and it has excellent precision.  If you drop a pill under the table, this is the grabber you want.

Duro-Med 26"

I own four of these that I keep in different rooms.  In rehab, I remember them specifically saying this one was good if you want to grab a cloth to wipe something up on the floor.  I haven't tried it yet, but that's probably true.  I keep one in the bathroom to help flush the toilet since I can't get my chair close to the handle, or to pick things up if I drop them in the shower.  I keep one near my bed, and when the HO was keeping me from reaching my feet, I used it to help put pants on.

This grabber is also somewhat effective for pulling things down from high cabinet shelves in the kitchen.  My strategy for managing my kitchen space is that I keep just about everything that I use every day on the counter where I can reach it.  My kitchen is very small, and I can't afford to waste any space, so some things that I don't use daily have to go in the upper cabinets.  I have my friends put things up there when they come.  Extra food has to go up there sometimes, so when I need it, I just use a grabber to pull it down.  Most of the time that means pulling it off the front of the shelf, and either catching it, or letting it hit the counter.  I try to put durable foods up there.  Putting anything back up on a shelf is tricky at best.

The grabber I use more often for pulling things off shelves is the Unger 32-inch.  It has a longer reach than the Duro-Med so it can reach things on higher shelves, and the jaws open a lot wider so it can grab larger things.  The inside of the jaws also have a rubberized cover, so it has a chance of gripping a bottle.  The head can also turn 90 degrees which is convenient for grabbing vertical boxes.

Unger 32" and PikStik 20"

The problem with the Unger is that it does not have very good grip strength.  If it did, it would be much more useful.  Once I pull a box of cookies off the shelf, the odds that the Unger can hold it for a graceful landing are very low.  For that reason, that's about the only thing this grabber is good for, but sometimes it's the right tool for that job.

The jaws of the Unger aren't very precise, so it wouldn't be good for picking up a pill, but another issue is that it's just too long.  It's hard to appreciate until you try it, but using a grabber that is too long is very awkward.  One reason the 26" Duro-Med is so useful is that it's a very convenient length, but sometimes you want something even shorter.

The PikStick 20-inch is such a grabber.  I'd say this is my least useful grabber, and I haven't really used it much.  I bought it to use to help with putting on pants, and I think it would have been perfect for that job, but I stopped needing a grabber for that at about the same time it arrived.  Its head turns 90 degrees like the Unger, but I'm not sure if that's a useful feature for a grabber this small.  Its grip strength is also not very good.  It might be weaker than the Unger, so if I were to give up one of these grabbers, it would be this one.

A grabber that I would NOT want to give up is the Grappler 33-inch.  My aunt sent me this when I first came home from rehab, and it took me a while to appreciate its usefulness.  It's a little bit heavy which makes it a little bit clumsy to operate, but it has incredible grip strength.  It's also the longest grabber I have, so if there is something up high, and I want to have a reasonable chance of not dropping it, this is the grabber I want.

Grappler 33"

It was designed as a trash pick-up tool, and it's made almost entirely from steel so it's super strong.  The jaws also open much wider than any of the other grabbers so it will pick up things they won't.  The jaw tips have rubber booties on them so it has reasonable "gription" as Gus likes to say.  Most recently, I used it to take down my wall clock which is well out of reach so I could replace the battery.  I also was able use it to put the clock back up.  None of my other grabbers could come close to doing that.

At this point, I feel like my grabber collection is just about complete, but the Grappler is so impressive, I am considering buying the 24-inch version as well.  That would give me a smaller, lighter option for those times when heavy or large things aren't quite as high up or as far away.  After that, I think I will have a reacher grabber for every situation.

A Few Of My Favorite Things - Part 5: Door Pulls

Going in and out of doors is an important part of life that everyone does many times a day.  You probably don't give it any thought, but if you rely on a wheelchair for your transportation, you know every door can be a challenge.

When negotiating a door, you almost always have to operate the door with one hand while you maneuver the wheelchair with the other. Driving a manual wheelchair with one hand is challenging.  Doing it while leaning out of your chair to reach the door handle with the other hand will make you question how badly you really need to leave the room.  Add in any additional complications like a spring-loaded door closer, a bumpy threshold, or a fragile item on your lap that needs to go with you, and the profanity will start to flow.

For a lot of the doors out in the world, there is nothing I can do.  They suck and that's that.  But for the doors in my apartment that I use every single day, there are options.

I got this idea from something I saw in a video by this guy.  He has done lots of really helpful YouTube videos about how he manages his paralysis; if you're recently paralyzed, you should check him out.  I was watching one of his videos, and I noticed something in the background.  He had a handle mounted to a door near the hinge that he could use to pull the door closed behind him.

One of my biggest door-related annoyances in my apartment is that whenever I leave, I have to go out, turn completely around, roll back across the threshold, grab the door handle with one hand while backing myself across the bumpy threshold with the other, trying not to hit the wheelchair with the door as I do it.  It's awkward and difficult and annoying.  If I'm taking something out with me, I have to take it off my lap since it will probably fall off my lap while I'm closing the door.

When I saw it in the video, I immediately recognized how nice it would be to have a handle on the door that I could reach from outside without rolling back in.  The guy in the video (I don't know his name) used what looked like a drawer pull for his handle, but I know he owns his house so he probably just drilled mounting holes in the door to attach the handle.  I rent an apartment, so that's not really an option for me.  Fortunately, I'm a problem solver.

 I bought a drawer pull that mounts using #6 screws inserted from behind, like this one.  The screws that came with it wouldn't work for my purposes, so I had to buy some flat head machine screws that would fit, like these.  Then I got some 1/8" x 1" aluminum bar stock to mount the handle to.  Before my injury, I could have done this myself in my garage, but I had to get a friend to do it for me.  He cut the bar about 2 inches longer than the handle.  He drilled two mounting holes in the aluminum, and countersunk them so the screw heads would sit flush.  He cleaned up the rough edges, and assembled the whole thing together.

Looks like this

Now I had a handle mounted to a plate that was perfectly flat on the back.  I use a product called Command Hooks all over my apartment to attach things to walls with adhesive stickers that are strong, but removable.  I borrowed 4 of the small command strips to mount the handle to the door.

The finished product

I put one on the front door, and one on the door to my balcony.  Now when I go out, I just have to turn slightly, grab the handle and pull.  It works ridiculously well, and when I move out of this apartment, I'll just pull the tabs on the command strips, and it will come right off.  At least that's the theory.

The one on the balcony door

What it looks like on the back

It seems like a little thing, but it really makes my life a lot better.  I smile every time I use it.

A Few Of My Favorite Things - Part 4: Prefo Boots

If you are paralyzed, one of the things that will happen to you is foot drop.  Since you aren't walking or standing, over time, your calves will shorten, and your feet will start to point down.  To combat this, you may sleep in a prefo boot.

My first prefo boot was given to me after my very first surgery.  It has a rigid frame, and it holds your ankle at a 90 degree angle.  In the hospital, I would wear it on one foot at a time while I was in bed to try to keep my calf stretched.

The other purpose of the boot is to keep pressure off your heel.  This became especially important for me when I got that horrible pressure sore on my right heel.  In order to get that wound to heal, I had to wear a prefo boot all the time.

What I have discovered about prefo boots is that they are not all created equal.  When I was at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, they gave me one made by DeRoyal.  This was a pretty nice boot, and much nicer than the one they gave me at UNC.  I ended up buying a second one, and using them all the time when my heel had that wound.

Later, I discovered another brand of boot that is much nicer than the DeRoyal, and I now own two of them.  If you need to use prefo boots, I strongly recommend the one made by LEEDer Group.  It has higher build quality, it seems more comfortable, and is generally more secure than any of the others I've seen.

One of my LEEDer boots

They call it the KYDEX-PRO Ambulation Boot Orthosis.  This type of boot is also known as a "heel contracture boot".  The one by LEEDer is also adjustable if the frame needs to be a slightly different shape.

Another thing I like about this particular boot is that the kick-stand is more secure than the others I've used.  These boots have an arm built into the back of the boot that can fold out to keep your foot upright when you're sleeping on your back.  I never use the arm, but on some of the other boots, the arm will flop out to the side when you don't want it to.  That's not a problem on these.  The arm snaps to the center securely, and it is hidden by the boot cover so you don't see it.  Also a unique feature of these boots.

If you have to pay for them yourself, these boots are also cheaper than the DeRoyals, and I think they're American made, but I'm too lazy to look that up.

I spent several months wearing these things against my skin at a time when I wasn't able to wash my feet, so they got pretty nasty.  I bought some spare covers for them so I can swap them out and wash the liners.  Swapping liners isn't the easiest thing in the world, but at least you can wash and/or replace every piece of fabric on them. 

They are a little bit heavier than the other prefo boots I've used, but I think that is a result of the quality.  They make it a bit more difficult to throw your legs around, but I think the tradeoff is worth it.

If I ever have to buy another prefo boot, which is doubtful because these will probably last forever, it will be from LEEDer Group.

Accident

I got an email on April 21st from Cullen, reminding me that it was the two year anniversary of my injury.  I suspect focusing on it would be unhealthy, but it never really occurred to me to do so.  It just doesn't matter that much to me, but Cullen did remind me just how far I've come in that time.  I was going to do a post about that, but I don't really feel like it.  Instead, I thought I should tell this story.

I need exercise.  I can't afford to lose what little strength and endurance I have these days, but I hate lifting weights indoors.  The weather here has been fantastic the last couple weeks, so I've been going outside to push the wheelchair around the neighborhood.

A few days ago, I had a bit of an incident.  I didn't think to take any pictures at the time, so I enlisted the help of some friends to reenact the event.

There's a nice gentle hill in the front of the neighborhood that I think offers the best workout, and the return trip goes through the parking lot behind some of the apartments.  Coming downhill toward the playground you have to go up the ramp to get back on the sidewalk.

Buddha Bear demonstrates the approach

The concrete on this particular ramp has experienced some settling since it was poured which creates a substantial lip that I have to wheelie over. I've done it many times. Usually I just slow down, lean back, and pop my front wheels up.

Like this

On this particular occasion, I was tired, and I had been getting bolder about hitting the bump with a little speed.  I popped up the front wheels a little too early, and they came back down before the bump.

Incorrect

The chair stopped dead, and I was thrown forward.  By the time I realized what was going on, my butt was still in the chair, but my hands were on the ground in front of me.

Not pictured: profanity

Then the wheelchair rolled backwards out from under me, and I crumpled to the ground.

Awkwardly

I haven't tried a floor transfer since rehab 2 years ago, and my arms were extremely tired from the exercise.  I knew I could be in trouble.

Fortunately, it was 4:30 on a Friday, and there were a bunch of people around.  Within a few seconds, several of them rushed over to help me.

Not pictured: several more people

Most of the people who came to my aid initially were smaller women.  They offered to pick me up, but I wasn't sure they'd be able to lift me.  Fortunately, after a second, a taller guy showed up.  He offered to pick me up.

Not pictured: rescuer nearly pooping his pants trying to lift me - I assume

I was back in the chair less than 2 minutes after I fell out

My pants had fallen down in the process, but as I always say, "If you're into personal dignity, spinal cord injury is probably not for you."

Once I was back in the chair, I wanted to finish my exercise, but since my pants were down, I figured it would be best to head home and check for injury.  Also fix my pants.

My apartment building is about 200 yards downhill from here, and one of my neighbors insisted on walking me home.  It wasn't necessary, but was nice just the same.

I could not find any evidence of injury except for an extremely minor scrape on one knee.

Overall, I think this was probably a good experience.  It's the first time I've legitimately fallen out of the chair, and it happened at a time when there were a bunch of people around that could help.  I learned a valuable lesson about negotiating pavement bumps, and I learned that it's probably best to exercise at times when people are around.  I also learned that I really need to learn to do floor transfers.

Special thanks to Gus, Evelyn, and Buddha Bear for their assistance in this reenactment.

A Few Of My Favorite Things - Part 3: Floor Mirror

The third in my series of favorite apartment mods was actually an accident.  When my friends put my dresser in my bedroom closet, the attached mirror wouldn't fit.  Not knowing what to do with it, they leaned it against the wall in my bedroom, just outside the closet.  I use it every day.

My floor mirror

When my flexibility was seriously impacted by the HO, I was unable to lean forward, and I couldn't see my feet at all.  Even in bed, I couldn't get close to them.  If I needed to see them for any reason, I had to use the floor mirror.

I really only use that mirror to check on my feet, or sometimes to look at things on the bottom of my wheelchair, but it's the only place in my apartment where I can do that.

I've used it to check on foot injuries, and I've used repeatedly with bare feet to make sure my feet are situated on the footrest such that they aren't dragging on the carpet.  That's a bigger issue than you may realize - if my toes are dragging on the carpet wrong, they could get dragged under and injured badly.

The view from in front

I used it once to figure out that something was stuck in my front caster.  It's just a nice thing to have around.

A Few Of My Favorite Things - Part 2: Furniture Risers

This will be a short post about a short problem.  Namely, some of my furniture was shorter than I wanted it to be.

When I first moved to this apartment, I already owned a table and a couch.  I had a lot of expenses at the time, and I didn't want to buy new furniture.

I spend a lot of time at the dining room table, and that table was just a little bit lower than I needed.  The edge of the table would scrape my thighs when I rolled under.  The simple solution was to put risers under the legs.

There are products on the market that do the same job, but Gus fabricated mine.  For the table, he used pieces of 2x4 cut square.  He then cut a piece of 1/2" plywood that fit on top.  He used a hole saw to cut a circle out of the plywood that fits around the table leg.  This keeps the leg from falling off the block.  He attached the plywood to the 2x4 with some wood screws, and spray painted the whole thing black to look nice.

One table riser

This raises the table up about and inch and a half.  Exactly what I need.

The end result

The other piece of furniture that required lifting was my couch.  The problem I had with the couch was that it was very difficult to transfer off the couch back into the wheelchair.  It was just a huge step up to do that transfer, and especially when the HO was still a problem, that just wasn't easy.

We did the same thing for the couch legs, but we used 2x6 for the base, and 2 layers of 3/4" plywood on top.  The first layer is to add extra height to the couch, and the top layer has the hole cut to make sure the leg doesn't fall off.  We used a pretty large hole saw for this one.  I think it was about 2-1/2", but any size larger than the couch leg would have been fine.  We made this one wider because it was taller, and we didn't want it to be unstable.

The couch riser

This is another modification that I take for granted, but I can't imagine living here without it.