Bed Ladder

My hip replacement surgery date keeps being pushed back by more urgent cases. It's going backwards at the rate of 2 months every month - current estimate is October/November (it was supposed to be this month!). This is because I'm listed as a Category 3 patient (non-urgent), so anyone at a higher need pushes me down the list. Unfortunately Canberra has the longest waiting lists in the country, at the moment.

I was feeling pretty despondent about this all, so I called my surgeon last week and spoke with his lovely nurse / secretary Karen. She said Dr Smith only has 1.5 public patient surgery days a month, which equates to 3-6 surgeries, so it could be another 6 - 8 months (in addition to the 10 months I've already been waiting) before I'd finally get my operation, which I'm not happy about. (For non-Aussies : "public patients" means those chosing to be covered by the Australian government health care system, Medicare, which provides subsidised medical care and free hospital treatment for all citizens.)

Karen made the very sensible suggestion of seeing my GP to have my category revised - I think I'd qualify as a Category 2 now (surgery within 90 days), as my level of disability is increasing daily. I need to use a 'sock aid' to put my socks on now, am in pain most of the time, and am using a walking stick whenever I'm out. I'm also needing extra pain killers to sleep through the night.

So I'm seeing my GP tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I wanted to show you something clever my husband made for me - a bed ladder! It's basically just a rope ladder with dowel rungs. You tie the ends to the foot of your bed, and use the rungs to 'climb' yourself into an upright position.

An easier and cheaper solution than those overhead 'trapeze' grips, like is used in hospital. I'll use this once I'm home from hospital and needing help to sit up in bed.



Mind you, he used this as an excuse to buy himself a drill press! I figure it's a fair cop, though ;)

The main downside of this design is you still need to have someone position the ladder on top of the bed, while you're in it, it's not so easy to get into position yourself when in bed. Hmmm, maybe there's a way of letting it hang down the side, and adding a tether to hold it in position? There is a rather nifty cloth strap version which has solved this particular problem. I'll have to see what improvements we can make!

Here's your Petal photo for today :

Chihuahuas are solar powered puppies - this is her favourite spot in the mornings, up on the couch, in a little cushiony bed, with her ball, in the sun!