We have our usual 'Sunday morning' routines into which we slip but the broadcasting of the Paralympic Games in Paris provides an alternative to the diet of Politics programmes at the weekend. Our Eucharistic minister will still be on a well deserved holiday for a few days yet so we shall not see her for the best part of another week now. But the trip to the park is still on our weekly 'to do' list, particularly as the weather is set fair for a few days.
A day or so ago, we received a phone call from one of the nurses who specialises in Meg's condition and who keeps in regular touch with us to offer us practical as well as emotional support. I knew that she was a little worried about the elastic supports that I have adapted to keep Meg's feet from slipping off the wheelchair footrests when I wheel her up and down into town and wanted to contact the OTs (Occupational Therapists) to check out the safety aspects of the supports. I think the OT's respond more to calls from fellow professionals than they do to patients and their carers because they had responded very promptly and positively on this occasion. After a telephone call, two OTs turned up at least one of whom knew Meg pretty well from previous contact with her. The two of them checked out the ankle supports and gave them the OK so I shall send a message to the specialist nurse which I am sure will reassure her. The two OTs had taken the trouble to call in at their stores and brought with them two quite specialist little flat cushions.These are designed in two layers such that one layer can slip over the other but it will not work in a reverse direction. This they thought might be incredibly useful to prevent Meg from slipping out of her wheelchair and they took the trouble to hoist Meg in her sling to seat her on a chair and check out that this little aid seems to work as intended. I showed the system that I have particularly in the late afternoons after the carers have left but before the final evening call to keep Meg secure in her chair. This involves a variety of little 'tricks' one of which is to tilt the chair cushion somewhat backwards and another of which is to utilise a cushion to give her back straight rather than slipping down the chair. Finally, I have a system to support Meg's legs and feet on a low stool with a blanket on it. When the OT's saw how I had to make these improvisations to keep Meg safe and secure they said they were going to recommend a special chair for us which might help to keep Meg's posture in the correct position given that she has to sit for up to four hours between the penultimate and the final visit of the carers for the day. So this was an incredibly positive intervention and I fervently hope that if a more specialist chair can be provided that it will assist in keeping Meg in the correct orientation. I proudly showed the OTs the new sofa brought into commission and as the two carers called at the same time as the two OTs we had quite a houseful and the four of them started to wonder about hoisting her onto the new sofa. We soon realised that this was not going to be feasible as the leather panels of the sofa extend to ground level and hence the 'legs' of the hoist cannot be fitted underneath. The two OT's were completely unfazed by this apparent setback and reckoned that we could remedy the situation with some risers to fit under each sofa foot (which they referred to as 'elephant's feet' which they must resemble) The two OT's were a jolly couple and one of them announced to me that she was getting married next Saturday. So I gleefully told them about the earliest feminist slogan which was apparently scrawled on the back of a toilet door in the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1967. This slogan was that 'a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle' The soon-to-be married OT was so taken with this that she was going to try to introduce it into any of the wedding speeches which she might be called upon to deliver. In conclusion, I must say that I have the highest regard for OT's who almost uniformly have an incredibly 'can do' orientation to the dilemmas faced by patients and their carers.
There is really disturbing evidence emanating from the troubled war zone of Gaza this weekend. There is evidence Israel could be establishing infrastructure in Gaza signalling plans for a long-term military presence in the Strip. Satellite imagery, gathered over months, has mapped the creation of a new corridor in northern Gaza that is almost a kilometre in width in some places. It reaches from Gaza's border with Israel to the edge of the town of Beit Hanoun. The IDF has bulldozed farmland, orchards and buildings to create the corridor, which allows the IDF some freedom of movement while denying Gazans access to their homes, many of which no longer exist. One analyst has argued that corridors are well-honed colonial techniques of fragmentation and separation. In the history of Israel's occupation, corridors have been used to fragment Palestinian territories, particularly in the West Bank. What these corridors are doing, is that they will be preventing access, preventing return of residents. The implications of all of this is that it makes any peace treaty incredibly more difficult if not impossible. We have reports this weekend also that there may be a cessation of hostilities not for any evident military reason but because polio is rearing its ugly head as a consequence of the destruction of much of the social infrastructure in Gaza.
Meg have been fascinated by the series that we watch on BBC iPlayer by David Olusoga called 'Black and British - a Forgotten History' from which Meg and I have learned so much. For example, I learnt that known in its day for being the second best selling of a book after the Bible, Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' has had a global presence ever since. While it may not have the wide readership it did in the 19th century, it continues to be one of those books that many people still know about without ever having read it. Stowe's book is known for its position against slavery, often depicting the harsh, cruel conditions that slaves had undergone in the Plantation south. Olusoga even revealed that Queen Victoria had a secret meeting with Harriet Beecher Stowe at King's Cross in 1856.
© Mike Hart [2024]