10 April 2010
The alarm problem was reinforced today when I found myself stuck on the lower of my two office chairs. The main chair I have built up with three cushions and can manage to stand up by leaning on an adjacent table but the other one was too low and I struggled for over 10 minutes find a way of getting to the telephone to call for help. Clearly, the wrist alarm must now be worn at all times the only problem being that one needs quite a lot of strength to press the alarm button so I’m going to have a word with the makers, Possum, on Monday to see if it’s possible to make it more sensitive to touch.
The problem of getting up and down from seats will shortly overcome as I am about to buy two special cushions called ‘UpEasy’- one manual and one electrically operated. The manual and works by exerting a light pressure on the arms of the chair and then the cushion rises gently to  put the sitter into a standing position. The electrically operated one works the same way except that it has an electric motor which requires less strength in the arms and hands to activate. Like so many other things for the disabled the price of these relatively straightforward pieces of equipment seem extortionate — the manual version costing £100-£120 and the electrically operated one around  £200. It is certainly worth shopping around between the various suppliers of disabled equipment as the prices between one and the other can vary up to 20 or 30%.
Grand National day. Through my friend Kit I backed Arbour Supreme – it fell! Ah well that’s my once a year bet over.