stress

I am sooo stressed. I have a physical in about a week and am sure my BP is off the wall. It all centers around Richard's power chair. While having this chair gives him a small degree of independence he so needs, it is driving me up the wall.

1) We had to provide medical records (EEG, MRI, neurological/orthopedic evaluations) to the VA Clinic in Eugene for Richard, showing a medical need (April) and wait several months for a recommendation from the Dr. there.

2) Go to Roseberg to the VA Hospital (July) to be evaluated and take measurements.

3) The chair was approved (Aug), along with a lift to facilitate it being transported. But since our vehicle is not of sufficient weight to handle a lift, they canceled the order (VA does not pay for any sort of chair transport other than a lift). So when I called (early Sept) to see what was taking so long, I was told not just the order for the lift was canceled, but the whole thing - including the chair. They were sorry and would look into it. Long story short - the manufacturer didn't get the cancellation and the chair was delivered to the VA that same day. It arrived here just before Richard's birthday (mid Sept), but was too big and did not have the reclining feature we were promised.

4) A representative came out (early Oct) to remeasure and ordered a new seat for the chair. It arrived and they came and took the chair to Eugene, promising to have it back the next day. It did not come back for four days (mid Oct). But it did have the right size seat (several inches narrower to allow going through doors) and it did recline.

5) We had been looking at trailers to haul the chair all this time. They were available, but so far outside any one's budget that it was down right depressing. Rick was looking on Craig's List in the Seattle, Portland and Salem areas. He found several that sounded promising and we actually called some. We settled on a very small trailer in Salem, went up and looked at it, and made arrangements to have it delivered (late Oct). It is just the right size and very light. easy for me to handle.

6) We next had to put on a hitch and electrical harness to the car. We called everywhere, went to dealerships, private parties, wrecking yards, everywhere we and anyone else could think of. Finally we went back to the first place we had called, U-Haul. At $314.55 they were the least expensive and so we bit the bullet (early Nov).

7) But when I tried to hook up the electrical to the trailer, the connections wouldn't marry. So I called a friend from church who is a retired electrician. He came over and took a look. He bought some new parts and replaced the outdated connection and some lights, as well, another $20.00.

8) Our grandson Chris spent a couple days making minor modifications to the trailer. He attached PVC hoops and added a cover to keep the chair dry. He put in grommets to the tarp and attached hardware. He modified the tailgate to serve as a ramp. Parts and supplies were in the order of $100. But the ramp was to short and if he made it longer, it would have been too heavy for me to handle it. By this time Richard was chomping at the bit to use his chair to go to church. So we did. It was a bear. I had to put blocks under the tailgate and put an additional piece of plywood from there to the ground in order to get an angle that the chair would climb. By the time I got home I was so stressed from trying to load (even with help) that chair I didn't even want to talk about it.

9) We called the folks who had put the ramp on the house when I broke my leg and were told that for safely reasons, they didn't do ramps on anything mobile. So we called Love, Inc. They were going to give us the number for the folks who had just said no. On finding they wouldn't do it, the woman on the phone said she would ask her husband if he would give it a go. He would, and he did. He went way out of his way to do it (2nd week in Nov). It works great. This same guy is working on getting a trailer winch to help raise and lower the expanded steel ramp that he gathered materials for from as far away as Salem and fabricated in his shop, then attached to the steel frame of the trailer. So far, parts and supplies for this ramp have come to only $58.00. Two problems, the trailer is now so heavy and off balance that I can neither lift the end of it to attach it to the car, nor move it to the driveway without someone else's assistance.

10) Will the additional weight from the winch help with the balance or will it just make things worse? So many people have tried to help with this. So many "things" have happened to complicate the issue. I need to be able to manipulate this trailer, load and unload the chair. I need to be able to move the trailer from the street, up a short incline to store it in the driveway, all of these by myself.

Please pray for me. My nerves are absolutely shot. I am scheduled for surgery in December and all this needs to be done beforehand so I can recover without being stressed. Yes, I need to leave it in the Lord's hands.