Backtracking

Today has been a nice peaceful and relaxing day with not a lot happening! We have done leg exercises and also some arm exercises (!!) and Pete's arm is definately looser and not so painful today. He tried to move his fingers and whilst I was holding his hand to see if he could I certainly felt a flicker go up his hand by his thumb so feel sure it is starting to wake up.
Anyway, in the absence of anything else to say I thought I would backtrack to when we were preparing for Pete to come home. We are very lucky in that we live in a large ground floor flat so there are no stairs or steps to negotiate once he is inside. The first, and major, alteration was I had to get the bath removed and a walk-in shower installed. Pete's brother Gary's best mate is a plumber so that was easier to arrange than it could have been if we had to shop around for one. The next thing was to measure all the doorways to ensure the wheelchair could get through - box ticked! Then study all the rooms to see if the w/chair could get around. With a bit of rearranging in the living room (which is huge! we have 3 sofas, a desk, a bureau, dining table and chairs, 2 coffee tables, an ottoman, various small tables, tv on a large stand and a chinchilla cage!! And still room for him to get around!!) this was sorted. The bedroom was fine as there is lots of room on his side of the bed and he sleeps nearest the door, so no rearranging there, then, in the kitchen I just had to move a couple of things by the door so that he could get in and out. The spare bedroom has a sofabed so that leaves plenty of room and then the bathroom just had the shower put in and a grab rail put on and then a man came to screw a frame round the toilet just so that there are arms there for him to hold onto. I was a bit worried about this as some frames are awful but this one is quite unobtrusive and I don't notice it now. Pete also had a prescription written for us to collect, free of charge, a perch stool for him in the kitchen, a shower chair and a bedaid which goes under the mattress and has a rail on his side for him to hold onto when getting in and out of bed. We put this on the bed and then asked him where he wanted it positioned - before we knew it it was out the bottom of the bed - he wasn't having that and he has managed perfectly fine without it!! The last thing we had done was the toilet frame and when I rang the hospital to say it was fitted they said he could home that day! Perfect! I must just say that he did come home for a visit so that they could assess what he would need. We also have a very long, straight hallway which was ideal for him to practice his walking. The only other thing we had to have done was the half-step and grab rails by the front door which were after he was home. By the way he can now get in and out that door very easily, all I do is place his stick in the right position and just make sure his bad leg doesn't do a right angled swing!! All in all, not too bad and nothing we can't easily live with.
Today a new game has come out on the iPad! Pete is a big fan of Angry Birds and today the Star Wars version came out so he has been busy on that tonight! Done quite a few levels already. This is actually quite good as it helps concentration and using his left hand. He is naturally right handed but has adapted to his left hand remarkably well.
Yet another long epistle, once I start can't seem to stop - but as I have said before - this is my therapy!