Yesterday morning, during his shower, Roberto fell (slid) out of his wheelchair (we have a roll-in shower and he has an old wheelchair that we use as his “shower chair) onto the bathroom floor. Since I cannot lift him on my own, I had to call 911 to summon the EMTs/fire department to help get him up and back into the bed.
It was a clusterfuck from the get-go. My goal was to have them hold him in an upright position while I finished cleaning his backside (no, not pretty, but it’s part and parcel of living with paralysis). May as well finish the job he started. Normally, he can do this himself, and sometimes I help him with it and other tasks.
The first thing the idiots did was ignore my request to stand him up. They wanted to sit him in the plastic shower bench we have in the corner that basically serves as a shelf for our shampoo bottles and other bath products. The seat is too short and I told them that wouldn’t work. But would they listen to me? Nooooo. He then slid off that back onto the floor. Then they tried to get him back into his shower chair and again, he slid. They finally got him back into the chair and I navigated him out of the bathroom into the bedroom. Then, before I could say anything, they were attempting to lift him from where the chair was (at least two feet away from the bed) onto the bed. I hollered, stop! But it was too late. They damn near dropped him on the floor. What is UP with these imbeciles? The chair should have been moved as close to the bed as possible to transfer. I hope they’re better at putting out fires than they are at trying to get a paralyzed person back into bed.
Personally, I wish I never needed to call them. Most of the time, I am left feeling like they are judging both of us and that they don’t like what they’re doing. Not every job is pleasant, and not everyone is meant for every job. I couldn’t do their job any more than I could be a nurse. It’s just not something I’m cut out for. But that’s one reason I’m not doing it. If you don’t like the smell of shit in the morning, if you don’t want to handle someone’s naked, wet body, then get the fuck off the force, no?
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