Let me tell you about my Wednesday evening that led to the police knocking at the door about 6:30 AM on Thursday.
I was typing on my Laptop, which sits on a bedside table alongside my bed. Let’s go back a little and let everyone become more aware of my physical limitations caused by a neurological disease, which is progressively deteriorating my nervous system. As a benchmark of quickly the disease has progressed, I was bow hunting in the Colorado Flattops Wilderness area at 11,000 ft. in the fall of 1990 and the next year I was able to shoot a Pope & Young record antelope in Wyoming. Since then I have been confined to my bed for nearly three years.
Back, to the bedside table that was built custom to fit my needs. I had the builder put casters so it could be moved for cleaning. I felt the affects of fatigue creeping in as I tried to fish my email response. As I tried to type the last word, my left elbow slid off the mattress, and the table took off like a ethanol-dragster leaving me hanging off the side of the bed.
I tried for a couple hours trying to get back on the bed. Finally, my arms gave out and I rolled onto the floor. However, I was wedged between the bed and the bedside table and another hour to hour and a half passed before I was able to reach my cell phone which was about 2 ft above me but seemed 10 ft high. I was finally able to dial the correct numbers to call for Ralph and Nancy Dooley who I knew had a key.
I explained my predicament and I had called them rather than 911, to keep the responders
from having to break into the house. Dooley’s arrived first and called 911 after realizing I couldn’t just be lifted. The rescue squad arrived and asked how I suggested they could help me. I asked for a backboard which would arrive on a fire truck in a few minutes. Meanwhile, Ralph and the Rescue Squad made room for the backboard. The fire truck arrived and I was back on the bed in five minutes.
All is now well in retiree land.
I was typing on my Laptop, which sits on a bedside table alongside my bed. Let’s go back a little and let everyone become more aware of my physical limitations caused by a neurological disease, which is progressively deteriorating my nervous system. As a benchmark of quickly the disease has progressed, I was bow hunting in the Colorado Flattops Wilderness area at 11,000 ft. in the fall of 1990 and the next year I was able to shoot a Pope & Young record antelope in Wyoming. Since then I have been confined to my bed for nearly three years.
Back, to the bedside table that was built custom to fit my needs. I had the builder put casters so it could be moved for cleaning. I felt the affects of fatigue creeping in as I tried to fish my email response. As I tried to type the last word, my left elbow slid off the mattress, and the table took off like a ethanol-dragster leaving me hanging off the side of the bed.
I tried for a couple hours trying to get back on the bed. Finally, my arms gave out and I rolled onto the floor. However, I was wedged between the bed and the bedside table and another hour to hour and a half passed before I was able to reach my cell phone which was about 2 ft above me but seemed 10 ft high. I was finally able to dial the correct numbers to call for Ralph and Nancy Dooley who I knew had a key.
I explained my predicament and I had called them rather than 911, to keep the responders
from having to break into the house. Dooley’s arrived first and called 911 after realizing I couldn’t just be lifted. The rescue squad arrived and asked how I suggested they could help me. I asked for a backboard which would arrive on a fire truck in a few minutes. Meanwhile, Ralph and the Rescue Squad made room for the backboard. The fire truck arrived and I was back on the bed in five minutes.
All is now well in retiree land.
