The week I am getting a ceiling hoist…

Day 2

I am writing this on day 3 as I was so frazzled by the end of the day yesterday. All the major installation occurred on the second day. I had to get up, dressed and in my power chair mega early and off the installation engineers went. Lots of scrambling about in the loft ensued and until about 3pm. When I sneaked the odd peak, my room looked no different until mid afternoon. Then it started to take shape, the h-track was bolted to the ceiling and to the joists in the loft. The electrician arrived to connect it to the power which took about half an hour and the final bit of track needed to be put in place. This was the tricky bit as it was the gate that joined up the moveable track in my room to the static track in my bathroom. It was millimetres out much to the lead engineers annoyance so they said they’d be back in the morning to fix that and then do a load test to make sure it was all safe.

Feelings today are a bit more positive as what is there already clearly shows how useful it is going to be. Yes it will mean a huge rethink as to the way we, me and my PAs do things, but change can be good and I know that we have reached the point where health and safety is an issue that must be addressed. I have got heavier (middle aged spread has come early!!), my PAs have been with me for a long time, they and I are getting older and I have become less mobile and more wonky and awkward to move around.

Will update later on or tomorrow on day 3.

That’s bonkers! These miscommunications do happen when there’s a lot of bods involved mind you. We had a slight issue today where one company had told the other the wrong thing. Hope it gets sorted soon.

Have been using hoist for over a week now. On Friday, it stopped working – always a Friday or a weekend when these things happen. I had just transferred to the shower chair when it stopped so for the return transfer it was back to using the mobile hoist.

Luckily the engineer lives round the corner and popped in on the way home. A wire had come out at the top which meant it hadn’t been charging. It was reconnected and all was well until last night when my PA noticed the wire out again. On closer than inspection it seems that the wire is getting knocked every time the hoist moved through the door, it’s getting caught on the bit of wood that is under the lock gate – don’t know the technical term

Teething problems are to be expected I suppose but I’ll be glad to have a break from equipment malfunctions!

This is proving to be a real learning experience. Me and my team of PAs are having to work together, head scratch and try different methods but I feel we are making progress. There is an awful lot to remember. I think it will probably take a few months before it gets established as part of the daily routine.

The OT will return in the next few weeks or so to watch it in action and write up a proper handling plan. She has been very thorough and has liaised with all the relevant bods throughout the process. She had the job of submitting the application. It has been jointly funded by my district council (in the form of a Disabled Facilities Grant) and my housing association.

Blimey, I’ve just noticed it’s been 4 months since I contributed to this thread.

Four months on and the ceiling hoist is firmly established into my daily routine. One of my PAs commented the other day that she was having a job remembering the manual handling old routine.

I admit that it has opened my mind a little to doing things differently and I have also found silver linings in taking on this new piece of equipment. Here’s an example: my physio observed yesterday that my hips and pelvis are much looser than usual, my range of movement has improved. I am convinced that this is due to the regular rolling I have to do to get the hoist in place. I was pretty chuffed at this revelation! I need to be mindful that my knees are a bit stiffer, hamstrings are tighter as I’m not straightening my KAFOs to stand as often but that’s manageable if I build stretches into my getting up routine.