Mid-February update

Dear All,

This time I have put you all in BCC as was suggested some time ago, but I have not done it before. I send myself the main copy. I hope this suits you all.

Progress is going now very nicely. Graham's fancy laptop computer and professional voice activated software has been ordered. He will also have some typing sticks as well as a big trackball, which he should be able to use to move the cursor on the computer. All of this will come around the same time that he is ready to move, we hope.

The apartment will be vacated soon and then it will be modified to suit Graham's needs. We don't have any concrete information on how that will be done yet, or exactly what will be done, but once the report on his home needs is completed, we will make sure he gets what he needs.

There is hope that Graham will return to work at Clio, part time to start, of course -- sometime in the not too distant future. It is still 'early days' for Graham as it is only just over year since the accident. But I know he really does want to return to work. It may be that a stair lift for wheelchairs can be put into the building to get him up to the Clio floor. In case you would like a look, here is a website: http://dealers.garaventa.ca/mckinley/index.cfm/page/sl-artira that shows these lifts. They can go around corners and they fold up against the wall when not in use.

Graham has been having regular help from his Personal Assistant, provided by the Department of Rehab. Doug comes in once or twice a week to work with him on the computer, doing the typing for Graham. This has meant Graham has taken over his own banking and other computer work. Thanks again to Clio folks for all their wonderful help and gifts that have made it possible for Graham to go online.

My next trip there will start a week before Graham is going to move into his apartment. I will make sure everything is ready for his transition and then stay another two weeks to make sure everything goes smoothly. We don't know when that will be yet, but I am guessing mid-late March for my arrival. I will stay in the apartment for the first week but once he has moved in I may very well stay elsewhere so that he and his caregivers can adjust without too much constant interference from me! I will, of course, spend plenty of time with him as well.

I have put all the updates I wrote in January onto the UFOESP blog (www.ufoespblog.blogspot.com) now and will put this one there as well.

Airasa is in regular phone contact with Graham and I am writing to him via email. I know that people continue to visit him and that he has made it to church with help from people in the church family.

When we seven come over in July-August for the celebration, I feel confident that Graham will have progressed a lot and will becoming more competent at moving around his world. I am very excited about it and grateful that I have been able to help.

May you all have a wonderful February and may spring bring flowers, sunshine and happiness.

Love and peace,
Linda

A week after leaving - 31st January

Dear all,

I meant to write sooner, but I have been busy with the party for Airasa and Ian that went off without a hitch on Saturday night. There were lots of people who came to Leeds from out of town, so we were busy from Thursday through Sunday. Yesterday, I confess, I just rested and sorted out my papers from the trip to California!

I do hope Graham got to church on Sunday to celebrate his 59th birthday surrounded by friends. I forgot to mention it in my last email so some of you may not have known about it being on Sunday. It has spurred me to think about coming to visit every winter for a couple of weeks around his birthday -- next year being his 60th I will most definitely be there!

I am in touch with the California Department of Rehab and other people who are continuing to help Graham. Things are moving slowly towards his next change of circumstances. When the apartment is vacated in the middle of February it will be renovated for Graham. Once all of the equipment is in place, he can go to RISB for his two-three weeks of rehab in preparation for living with a caregiver. I plan to be there the last week he is in RISB and the first two weeks he is in his apartment to help make a smooth transition.

It will be great for him to be LIVING his life finally! He will be able to have his own schedule, his own food, and have his meds with him so he can have more adventures outside! I know that going back to work will be the next step, but first he has to become confident living away from the constant oversight of an institution. I know he can do it! Of course he will need all of our help to do this, but I am confident each of you will do whatever it is you do best to help Graham as he makes the transition from one situation to another.

I think I covered everything else in my last letter.

I just want to say thank you again to all of you kind people in Santa Barbara who made my stay so delightful. I look forward to seeing you all again in about mid March (that is my guess anyway).

You can still write to Graham in care of Marj at MarjAF@cox.net as she sees him every week. Sooner or later he will be up and running with his own email but he is not yet to the place where people can write to him there. He makes the trip to the post office himself with a visitor at least once or twice a week now, so cards and letters to his PO Box are most welcome -- PO Box 1507, Goleta CA 93116

Have a good 'rest of winter' and see you in the spring.

Love and Peace,
Linda

California Updates Nearly Over 21st January

Dear All,
Another update for you since my last one. So much happens in a day here!

We have been to visit Rehab Institute at Santa Barbara now. It is like a palace compared to BVCC (which Graham calls Buena Vista Chaos Centre!) with very posh surroundings, a pool, rehab for 3 hours a day both PT and OT and fancy bathrooms in every room. It will only be a 2-3 week say which is too bad as I could see him really liking it! One thing that was a bit disturbing is that in the main they do all their transferring from bed to chair and so forth manually --- meaning a person lifts and moves them rather than a hoist. I could see the terror in Graham's eyes when we were told this and even though we were rassured that this is safe both for the patient and for the backs of the caregivers, frankly I am sure this is NOT the way for Graham to be moved. As I have said to him and others, even if he was never dropped or slipped in a transfer, he would fret about it all day every day and that would not be good for his general life attitude. Fretting over that seems very pointless when all these nifty hoists have been designed to help someone like him.

So I went online and found ceiling hoists with tracking systems that would take him from bed to open space to be put into a chair, or right into the bathroom over the tub for his shower. This seems like an ideal way to move him, and we have had a couple of positive emails from people who use this sytem. It has so many advantages over all the other ways of moving him -- it would mean one person could do it and that person would not need to be strong; the bathroom would not need modification as the track would take him directly over the tub for bathing; there would be no bulky portable hoist to park in this or that corner; it is good in both wet and dry conditions; it is not even that expensive when thinking about costs of normal hoists and shower chair and walk in shower! So I am pursuing that with the various agencies and insurance. It might be we would have to have someone install it at our cost but I think the insurance company will pay for it.

I have also looked into fancy beds that move and undulate under the person so that bedsores/ulcers are prevented without someone moving and shoving and pushing and placing pillows under him. This would mean better sleep for both him and his caregiver who will be living in.

The apartment folks are going to refurbish (paint and repair) the apartment; and the carpet I chose (mottled blue and brown, tight loop) is actually a very special carpet they are going to put in for him, not anything like the usual types of carpets. They are so nice at the apartments and looking forward to having Graham back there. We have paid the holding fee and only have the rest of the security deposit to be paid by the 1st of March. Ruta has kindly assisted with getting this to the manager as Paperback Alley, her bookstore, is literally around the corner from the apartment building. Ruta has also agreed to check Graham's mail at the apartments every once in a while, which is a big help too. Thank you Ruta.

We have made arrangements to go to church again, which I feel is vital to Graham's mental health. He had a church member visit him a couple of evenings ago and at the end of the visit they prayed together. It was very helpful to Graham to do this, and so if any of the rest of you church family members who visit him were to suggest a little prayer when you were leaving, I sincerely believe this would be incredibly beneficial to Graham.

We had an outing to a nearby shoe store (just across the main road and one street down) which is called Footlocker. We had talked about him needing bigger shoes and hoped we could get something slip on or moccasins. However, this is a sport store so at first we were thinking when we got there it would not work. However, I spotted some Converse Allstars, which are canvas and not all padded and stiff, and we got him a lovely pair of those that are so much easier to put on and off. He has seen the podiatrist, who cut his toenails and cut off the ingrown part of his big toenail. They are going to take the root off that side of the toe next time, as it seems to be a continuing problem. ahh, I just checked and see I told you all about the shoe excursion already, but this does have extra info so I won't delete this paragraph.

We had a very good meeting with people from California Dept of Rehab again and a fellow named Doug came in as well. He is going to be helping Graham with various things for the next few weeks. He, along with these women from DOR and ILRC, will be part of what Graham has been calling the "Linda Committee". Of course when I come I spend 8-10 hours a day with him, doing whatever is needed in general care, correspondence, and so forth, but also sorting out his worries and he will naturally miss me when I am gone. But we have a lot of more knowledgeable people now helping him, people who know the system and where to find help and money for that help.

We have found out, for example, that he can have BOTH Medi-cal and Insurance. Now I didn't know that before! It means that some of his needs will still be paid for by his insurance company while other things will be covered by Medi-Cal. There are also grants that are available that the DOR and ILRC folks know about, so when Carol from ILRC came yesterday afternoon I rather bombarded her with questions about all of this. It is very reassuring to know that Graham has so many powerful and knowledgeable people working on his case.

I had a list when I came here 11 days ago and yesterday we went through the list (which in fact Graham had added to when I arrived) and we have managed to find everything that was lost, put in place things that needed to be put in place, set up his computer onto the internet (thanks again to Clio for the laptop and for the internet connection), order his powerful computer and voice software, start the process of getting him a voice activated phone (thanks to Craig), get his finances into his hands to some extent (we have gone online several times now to his bank and he has seen what he can do and I will pay things electronically from England for a while until everything is set up for him to do things himself), and generally get well on the road to putting him into his own apartment.

The next step is that the DOR is going to go to Clio and see how Graham can return to work. Naturally he won't be going back for a 40 hour week -- that may never happen. But he can start slowly at an hour or two a week perhaps. He might be able to do work from home. They might be able to modify things at Clio so he can get his wheelchair upstairs on some sort of lift. In any event, work will be the next thing to get happening in the near future.

I know that Graham truly wants to return to working. He has said that he does not want simply to be entertained but wants to do something meaningful for the community. We all know his mental capacity for putting words together, so he will possibly become a writer rather than a proofreader. He can read and summarize things or he can write interesting things that others will want to read.

All things considered, Graham is really only in the first stages of this life changing experience. One year on is not very long when we consider how much of his life has been changed.

Once he is in his own apartment he will be more the captain of his own ship, be able to direct his life in his own routine. When there are 149 other people to look after, he is only one tiny part of a huge impersonal jigsaw puzzle of caretaking at this home. When he is in his own apartment, he will be able to get up when he wants to, eat what and when he wants to, and have a shower more often than he gets at present!! He will be able to LIVE his life rather than have people simply moving him around from place to place and feeding him and giving him his meds. It will be a very different situation.

I know he is apprehensive about the move, but when he saw the photos of the apartment I think that helped. Also the concept of the ceiling hoist, giving him such freedom of caregiver choice and of confidence as he has to be moved from place to place, is a wonderful thing to contemplate. Like those of you who have visited him and seen him in his powered chair will have noticed, this chair has given him freedom of movement that he did not have before. He is like a kid with his first drivers licence!

He has been to the post office several times now -- this is something any visitor can do with him as he can't put the key in the box and take out the mail, but he can roll there and it is good for him to get out. He has also now experienced going to the local shops for getting a sandwich at the deli (before I got here) and to purchase a new pair of shoes. These times rolling around outside are tricky, but the more he does it the more confident he will become. Going to church is an outing that needs to happen every week if at all possible. He probably needs someone to go to BVCC at 8:30 on Sunday to accompany him to church and go back there after it is over, at least for the time being. I know it gives him more confidence to have someone with him right now. It means having Easy-Lift be available regularly, so making the arrangements with them is something he can't do by himself of course.

This Sunday we are being picked up at 9 and they are coming back to church at 11 to take him back to BVCC. Sometimes it is longer at church, other times this shorter stay. I know he feels a bit overwhelmed at church with all the friends there who stop to say hello. He is mentally slower due to the valium they have him taking, and he also has trouble controlling his breathing as he has no control over his diaphragm, but he does enjoy being there and I noticed last sunday he asked for someone to help him be repositioned in his chair, which is a constant concern for him, too.

I have never before witnessed such a large, helpful and kind support system as Graham has. The ladies from DOR and ILRC have remarked that Graham has in place many things other people in his situation will never have.

Thank you all for helping. I know people have remarked that what I am doing is wonderful -- but it makes me feel good to be able to help Graham adjust to his new situation and find a life he can live. It is an opportunity for me to be compassionate and loving. It is gratifying to see Graham as he progresses along the road to recovery and finding equilibrium in his life.
OK, long and newsy and hopefully full of my usual enthusiasm for Graham's improvement as he slowly takes the reins of his own life.

Thank you again to all of you. I have been happy this time to see my friend Elizabeth twice! I have also seen another friend. I have been blessed to stay with Marj and Jim again, who are the kindest most hospitable people in the world.

I have even managed to send information about my peace work to two local schools and make the tentative arrangements for the party in the summer!

I will be leaving at 4 a.m. on Tuesday and currently plan to return to be here in the spring the last 2 days he is at RISB and the first 2 weeks he is in his new apartment. I think my presence then will help him to settle into this huge transitional time. He will not have me here when he goes to RISB but I am sure the local folks will all be ready to lend a supportive hand when he needs it. They will be doing so much rehab with him that visitors will not have as many free hours to see him there! But I know in my heart that all of this is going the right direction and by the time we are here in the summer I expect he will be well into living his life to the full. I expect to stay right in his apartment, on the sofa bed in the spare room, so that I won't need to impose on anyone's hospitality then. However, I will love to have meals out with anyone when I am here than, as I have done this time -- Pepe's is really good for Mexican but I am open to other suggestions.

OK, enough of an update from me. I may write one last one before I go, but if not, I think this pretty muich covers everything! I will probably write one final one when I get back to England.
Thanks to you all for all your support for me while I have been here and of course for your ongoing support for Graham.

Love and peace to you all
Linda

PS Don't forget you too can walk for peace, or do other things for peace -- see www.movingforpeace.blogspot.com for information!

Another California Update 18th of January

Dear all,

We went to see Graham's new apartment yesterday. It is just perfect for him. The main room is very large and the attached kitchen has an alcove for the appliances around the corner but an open space for a table as part of the main room. There will be plenty of space for him to live in that room. He is thinking about using that for his bed, rather than a bedroom. I have to agree it makes sense. The bathroom is going to take some modification and I am told a wet room could be Very Expensive so if any of you are plumbers/bathroom experts, or know someone who is, could you let me know so we can get a quotation for the work? The two bedrooms are a good size and I believe one will be for his caregiver and the other will be for his computer/study. I am going to prevail upon him to put a sofa-bed in that bedroom for visitors. My thought is that he would be in the main room where is bed, television, chairs for visitors, table for eating and so forth will have plenty of room. We have been discussing using a ceiling hoist rather than a moveable hoist -- this would take up less space and save his caregiver's back as well. The room I think would be his office/guest room has an angled door I am sure he will be able to get through and the hallway is not long and narrow but instead is and odd shape but basically I think he could turn his chair around in it.

When I come back later this spring, my intent is to come the last two days he is in the Rehab Inst. of Santa Barbara (RISB) and then the first two weeks he is in his own apartment. If he has a sofa-bed there I will be able to stay right with him and his caregiver and be of more help then if I am staying elsewhere. I will be able to go out with him in the neighborhood and so forth. If any of you have a sofabed you were thinking of getting rid of that still has some good in it, please let me know.

I also chose the carpet for Graham's new apartment. It will be a tight weave in dark blue and brown mottled. It should be easy for him to roll around and will be warmer. The managers are going to renew the whole place for him so it will be freshly painted and ready when he is ready. They are being so extremely helpful and kind. I asked both Flora (manager) and Marvin (caretaker/handyman of the apartments) if they would help Graham during the day if he needed help. They both readily said yes. We are going to get him an alert button he can wear around his neck that will alert the office or Marvin so that Graham will feel secure when he does not have someone with him. He won't have someone there 24/7 so this is important for his safety, security and peace of mind.

The logistics of him moving in depend on the apartment being finished and furnished before he goes to RISB so that the two intense weeks (or so) he spends there will be immediately followed by him moving to his apartment. So there is a lot of perfect planning and accomplishements to be done!

Yesterday was a Good Day. I went to the apartment, and then I went to Paperback Alley where Graham has worked and even was tempted and succumbed to buying a book! Louise was there as Ruta was already on her way to Graham with a nice Mexican burrito for lunch. I also stopped in at the local bank and discovered that unfortunately it would NOT be an easy thing to change to a nice friendly bank who would help him. The change is really difficult and he would have to be able to sign things or have someone on his account who could. So after that very productive interview I decided that for now I will do Graham's banking from England as it is already all set up online. I do my own banking this way and feel that until Graham has all his fancy computer and software I can do this for now. Once he gets the computer, software and mouse being provided by the Cal. State Dept of Rehab, it won't take long for him to find his own way to do these things. I know eventually it is his desire to do as much for himself as possible, so I expect to turn this over to him when I visit in the spring.

I then took the bus back to BVCC and found out how relatively simple it will be for Graham to use the buses and it will only cost him 60 cents as a disabled user. The bus will put out its ramp and he will go in and the driver will fasten his chair in the right postion and then later let him out wherever he is going. I still hope to do this while I am here but there seem to be so many other things to do as well!

When I got to BVCC it was only a few minutes before Ruta showed up and we feasted on Mexican food. Yummy. Thank you Ruta! Ruta also agreed to help with the payment transfers to secure the new apartment as she is right around the corner and she can get the necessary money orders for the holding deposit and security deposit. Thank you again, Ruta, for this help.

Betty Davis came along to visit and after a while of sitting in the sun and chatting, I said to Graham how about going for a new pair of shoes as there is a place just across the road. He accepted the offer and as we were wheeling out of BVCC Marilyn Gross showed up. We bid Betty farewell and Marilyn accompanied us to the Footlocker. It was a scary trip for Graham -- the furthest he had been before was the post office next door. The pathways are not all that easy to negotiate in some places -- narrow in some areas so he had to take care not to go off the path, and steep inclines for the exits and entrances to the crosswalks, with various other bumps along the way. I think whoever makes these pathways for people in wheelchairs ought to go on them in a wheel chair themselves and see how it feels.

However, Graham did very well and we went to the footlocker where a lovely young man helped us to find a pair of Converse Allstars in black and white with the low heal. They are slightly larger and easier to put on his foot than the pair he got in England so hopefully this will help those who are dressing him and also when his toenails get so long waiting for the podiatrist to come every 2 months, they won't be pushed into the end of the shoes. Also they are just canvas rather than all that padding in most tennis shoes. We were feeling so chuffed we went on to the post office as well and got 3 pieces of mail there.

This is one thing visitors can do with Graham now, take a stroll to the post office with him. He can get there, of course, but he can't put the key in the lock and get out the post. This is a nice thing to do with him, so perhaps when you visit you can ask if he would like to go over to the post office.

You can see it was a busy day and after we had a meeting with visitor Vera about money things I think I left him quite tired and ready to watch the 5 o'clock news on KCET!

I came home to the laptop being hopefully prepared to go online when I take it in today. There was a problem with it hooking up to the internet for some reason on Monday but Jim did a checkdisk and defrag and it appears ready to be hooked up there. Of course he won't be able to keep it there with him as it would be tempting for someone to take. We have not figured out yet how to accomplish him having it there but for now I will take it home with me every night and bring it back every day. He has bought an extra keyboard so that anyone working with him can sit next to him with the laptop on the tray table and both see it and then type on the keyboard away from having to be right in front of Graham.

We will hopefully be doing a Graham update today!! Stand by (as Bill P says!)!

I know Graham is a bit frightened of moving to his apartment as it is a big unknown. He is also a bit intimidated about going out, but the more he does that the easier it will get. His power chair is a marvel and I am so grateful that he has that. Once he is in RISB he will re-learn how to feed himself and do some other rehab. He will quickly learn (with a special tutor from CDofR as well) to use the computer again. We also hope to have his voice activated telephone in place.
So you can see things are moving along.

Thank you again to all of you who visit Graham and who write to him. Soon you will be corresponding with him by email!

We are set to go to Church again on Sunday so will see many of you there.

Kind regards to all from sunny California,
Linda

California Update 16th January

Dear all,

Today we should get the internet connection in Graham's room at BVCC which will be excellent. Though he won't be able to do computing himself, others will be able to do things with/for him. He kindly purchased an ergonomic keyboard to set up with the laptop which will mean he can have the laptop in front of him on the table and I (and other helpers) can use the keyboard separately so he will be able to see the screen without someone reaching over him to use the keyboard.

The news so far is as follows:

We will be going to measure his new apartment tomorrow and see what modifications need to be made for him to get around it. We hope there will not be too much that needs to be done.
We have met with people who are going to be very helpful in getting the equipment he will need to be on the computer himself and eventually return to work. The laptop and voice software and roller ball mouse they are getting him are far more sophisticated (and expensive!) than we or Clio could afford so for now this lovely laptop is an interim solution. When the fancy equipment arrives they even provide him a trainer for several hour long sessions to get him up to speed using it. Then he will be able to bring his lap top to work to use there and also have it at home. /we are also awaiting a voice activated phone to come to him as the paperwork has been done now.

In the week I have been here so far I think a lot has been accomplished. Thanks go especially to Craig for his extra duties in taking me places to collect stuff (thanks to Herb for storing things we have collected) and helping to find the strong box, thanks to Marvin at the apartments spotting it under Graham's bed in the old place! Any worries Graham had about these things have now been allayed. Even the key to the strongbox has appeared! Thanks to Louise who was keeper of the keys and head honcho for the storage area. Graham now has all the cards and codes and keys for the storage area and when the time comes to empty the place out, I am sincerely hoping he will forego bringing his books to the new place. I have said how they will collect dust and that it would be difficult for him to be living in a dusty environment given his inability to sneeze, blow his nose, or clear his throat without some kind of help.

Yesterday we made it to church and it was a warm and lovely experience. everyone there is so kind and i know how important it is for Graham to get spiritual input. The people at the church are very kind to him and to me. I would like to say thank you again to everyone for your support these past few months in visiting Graham and helping him to keep his spirit up.

When he is in his own apartment I envision him rolling to church rather than having to depend on the easy lift van. however at this time it is helpful to him to be transported until he gets totally confident with his power chair.

In the cards I have been writing for him he often expresses his worries first but then ends on the positive note about how things are moving along for his life. We have much to be thankful for.

OK, enough of this for now. As soon as Graham has an email address we will give it out and you will be able to write directly to him!

Kind regards to you all,
Linda

California Update 13th January

written the 12th with more update below from the 13th

Dear all,

Well in two days a lot has been accomplished but I will just give highlights. I am using Graham's laptop computer and it is hard to type on this little keyboard. I hope to borrow an ergonomic one to make it easier on myself. The computer was very kindly donated and given to him by one of his colleagues at Clio who got a newer one. I can tell you though, this one is very new to me! Thank you very much Regina!

The internet connection in Graham's room will be set up on Monday, again thanks to Clio friends. Also the Voice Activated Software is being purchased by them today so that it will all be ready for Graham to re-learn the skills he had in England with the computer. We also are getting him a large roller ball mouse. I don't know how soon, but Graham will be writing to you all himself in the near future.

Yesterday Craig and I went to the apartment complex to see Flora and find out about his new 2 bedroom place. It is in the same little group of apartments, just below and across -- apartment A. It is easy access from the parking lot and into the door. On the 17th some folks from rehab are coming to measure his chair and the doorways of the new place and see what modifications need to be made. The kitchen can stay the same as Graham can't use his hands and thus a caregiver will be providing his meals. The bathroom will have the tub removed and the floor and walls all tiled so that he can be rolled into the room for a shower in this special shower chair. The doors will be removed and special floors put in that will make it easy for him to get from place to place. Flora, the manager of the apartments, is really keen to have him there and they are doing whatever is necessary to make sure it is ready for him. In fact, it could be ready for him to move in on the 1st of March. The previous tenants are moving out mid-February.

Graham and I are going over to Rehab Inst. of Santa Barbara (RISB) for a tour and a chat. They will assess him and he will probably go there for 2 weeks of intensive therapy to prepare him for moving to his own apartment. We are busy trying to locate caregivers now. He will have one who lives in and others who come in the day to give him a hand.

We have rented the storage space until the end of April for now and he can make decisions about what he is going to keep and put into his new place and what he will have to let go of.

Graham is really very capable in his new powered chair. It is a very fancy machine that turns on a dime and lets him tip himself into different positions so that he can relieve pressure on his body. Once he is out of bed he seems to be much happier because he can move around the facility as he wishes.

Graham has regular visits from people here so that hardly ever does a day go by without one or two visitors.

I am being well cared for by Marj and Jim Friestad (thanks to you both) again. Also, Craig has been coming by to the center as he is currently underemployed. He has been very helpful as we start this transition period. Thanks, Craig.

Graham's television is great. Big screen and can play both videos and DVDs. This was a gift from Ron at Clio when Graham first arrived.

Graham has a lovely memo board at the foot of his bed which is filled with cards and pictures and must give him comfort when he is lying in bed.

That's it -- short update but with lots of info. There is a lot to do in the next 10 days.

update on 13th January

We had a meeting with some special helpful people yesterday who are with the California State Department of Rehabilitation and the Indepdendent Learning Resource Centre. They will be people who will help Graham to get into the new apartment and it be all set up properly for him. They will also help to find him some financial help to pay for some of the stuff he needs. They can help find caregivers as well. This was, of course, excellent news. I see them doing what I would do if I stayed here, only doing it better as they know the system! It was a great relief to meet Susan and Carol. They really know how to get things done. They were very reassuring in saying that Graham will be able to cope, as others have done so, and they will help him every way they can.

Craig and I went and talked to Flora the apartment manager as I mentioned before, and they are already talking about how they will modify the new apartment so that it meets Graham's needs. The floor will be covered with industrial carpet, easy for his powered chair to get around but also warmer than tiles or linoleum. Graham has said he might take the living room as his bedroom/main room and have one bedroom for his study and the other for his caregiver. This makes a lot of good sense. He will be able to have some of his beloved books with him, but I have suggested he consider that the dust they will collect would be difficult for him to deal with -- both in terms of cleaning and also in that he can't sneeze and help himself! There are lots of other things he has in storage as well, so I think he will have to consider a cull in the near future. One day at a time, of course.

I have been writing post cards for Graham, sorting out some of the worries he has, finding things and so forth. By the end of the day we are both very tired!

We have arranged for him to go to Church on Sunday. I will go to BVCC at 8:30 a.m. to make sure he is ready by 9. The van will come and get him at 9 for church at 9:30 and will collect us again at 12 to go back to the center. I think it is important that he get to church again. It does not seem all that great a distance actually so that when he is more confident and used to his chair, we all think he will be able to roll there without use of a van.

OK, enough for now -- I need to get myself ready to go there again.

Have a good day everyone.
Kind regards,
Linda