Joystick adjusted, another injury, trip to the ER

It was the next Wednesday before the vendor showed up to adjust the new power chair's joystick. I was in the manual chair but they moved me to where I could watch him working on the joystick in the hallway.

He loosened up the fasteners on the joystick. Then he put it in a better position for me. It was more towards my body on the left. He also put a different joystick cover on it which was longer and easier to get my fingers around. But it was slippery. The other one was not.

He got the joystick into position and I went down to lunch. I told him I thought I could make it work. I certainly hoped it would.

I wondered why the same tech, John, did not come and put the joystick in the right spot. But, I did not ask the vendor that.

I asked the vendor if we could do anymore modifications to the armrests to raise them. He told me if I wanted the armrests re-padded by an upholsterer, I would have to pay for it myself. The answer was just that abrupt. I was rather surprised. I wondered how a vendor eight years before was able to re-pad the armrests and not charge me extra, or complain about it.

I was back in my power chair. We had kept it charged.

I still had to set my hand ON the joystick in order to use it. That just made me nervous. I was afraid the chair would get away from me like it did in the beauty salon in June.

That weekend on Sunday I was going through the doorway to the back dining room. I was trying to make sure I did not hit my right foot. Then things went awry and I did. I scrunched my right toes pretty good and my foot. It scared me.

I told my nurse I hit my foot and I wondered if it was broken. I asked if someone could look at it. She said because it was the weekend I would have to go to the ER to have my foot and toes checked out. She said it was breakfast time and they did not have time, or extra staff, to check my foot out. She said my doctor was called and he wanted me sent to the ER. I guess this is standard operating procedure on the weekend.

I was told to eat my breakfast. But since they did not want me standing on my foot, I was not allowed to go to the bathroom. No one even offered to get the Hoyer pad and lift me to the toilet. Soon after I was heading to the ER.

When I got there, I told them I needed to go to the bathroom to have a bowel movement. They asked me why I did not do that before I came. I told them my nurse would not allow me to stand and transfer to the toilet.

They x-rayed my foot out and when they found out it was not fractured, just bruised, they got me up onto a bedside commode. But, my bowels would not move.

I spent about three hours at the ER. It was not a great day.

I wondered how many times I would be injured using this new power chairs joystick – in the wrong position – before it was put in a better position for me.