It's Been A While
It has been 7 months since I last made a blog post. We have all been through a very strange and somewhat difficult time in that period. It is still hard to comprehend all the changes that have happened in our lives and will continue to happen. We all wonder what the future will hold.
For Isabelle and I this has only compounded all the issues in our lives. Our worlds have shrunk substantially. We depend on the love and support of family and friends in many aspects of our lives, and with social distancing and isolating our lives have changed. A couple months ago Isabelle returned to work 2 days a week as a physiotherapist at a private clinic. Almost immediately after she started the clinic had to close because of the coronavirus. The weather here in Chilliwack during the spring and early summer was cold, wet, and uncomfortable. It made our world even smaller as there were fewer and fewer places to go.
When B.C. finally started to open again Isabelle finally got back to work. Then, for the last 2 months I have been sick and in and out of the hospital. Sometime during the summer my body started to retain fluid and I swelled up rapidly throughout my body, hands, and stomach, and particularly bad, my feet and calf’s. They got so bad that the skin started to break down and wounds on my ankles would not heal. Then, to top it all off, I ended up with a raging urinary infection. Of course, being the male of the species, I just shook off all the signs and ignored them. Finally, I collapsed and was comatose in bed. Isabelle spoke to our public health nurse and then called the ambulance. I ended up in emergency for one night (I don’t really remember much there) and 3 nights up on the ward. They sent me home as all I was doing was waiting for test results. I was getting very nervous about my health, mainly the fact that I could not contact the nurse if I needed to in the event of an issue (I can’t push the call button), and I was very worried about bedsores.
It turned out I had a raging urinary infection and I had to take IV antibiotics 3 times a day for 3 weeks. Isabelle became my nurse and had to learn to give them to me here at home :-(. On days when she was at work, I had to go to the hospital for my IV. Since then I have been going to the hospital every day for IV diuretics. My body has started to release the fluids, but I fear I still have a way to go. It takes up a great chunk of our afternoons. Once this course of treatment is completed, I am sure I will be on diuretics for the future.
My Foot Was so Swollen
I could not even get close to buckling my sandals
Now for the good news! Yes, Isabelle is back at work. Like me being a pilot, Isabelle being a physiotherapist is part of what she is. And I am so happy and proud that she is back doing what she loves. She is trying to keep her work down to 2 days a week but, she has been so well received at the clinic she works for that the boss is always trying to get her to work more. It is a delicate balance trying to keep clients happy and the work/life balance in order. I am not surprised she is in such high demand. She always had an excellent reputation as not only a physiotherapist but as a person who cares about her clients.
The other news is that during all these events and issues I have been going to school! I started in early July to earn my certification as a Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification Professional (RHFAC Professional) - doesn’t that just roll off the tongue? What this means is that I have been certified to work with builders, developers, cities and schools in helping with the design, build, and renovation of living spaces, office buildings, schools, recreation centres, parks and trails, as well as any other part of the built up community areas that should be accessible to persons of all abilities.
This certification is based on Universal Design. Universal Design is based on the principle of:
“the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaption or specialized design”
-(Ronald Mace, 1988)
What Universal Design emphasizes is that it is not just providing accessibility for people like me, in wheelchairs. More so, it is not even only for persons with disabilities. The plan of Universal Design is to make the built environment to be as inclusive as possible for all persons. So not just persons with disabilities, but persons of different shapes and sizes, parents with children in strollers, people carrying large bags, persons with service dogs, pregnant woman, persons who speak different languages, tourists, the list goes on. People think of accessibility as wider doors with buttons for persons with disabilities to push, but it is much more than that. The placement of electrical plugs, the use of proper signage, colour contrasting between floors and walls, proper wayfinding, etc. Again, the list goes on.
My new company name is Rolling Through Life. We have changed my website address to: www.rollingthrough.life. It will also include information about my motivational speaking part of my life. This is something I have always enjoyed.
This blog post is starting to get long so I will sign off here. I will be posting more about my new profession As an Accessibility Professional, as well as more information about accessibility for everyone, not just for people like me.
Until the next time,
-Jim