We have slings!

Back in February we had a ceiling track hoist put in the girls bedroom. The idea is that it avoids the need for manual lifting. About 8 weeks after the tracks and hoist were fitted we realised that the electrician still had not been to wire it in to the elctric supply! We alsohad not recieved he slings with which to hoist Eve. Along with many more ommisions in the service provided by the Authorities this was getting annoying and so we sent an email informing them that these things were stil outstanding. A little while..maybe a week t o ten days later the electrician arrived to conncect up! The OT rang us to lt us know he slings were on order and would be with us in time for her visit....we then made a date for her visit and life went on.
I realised on the Friday before the OTs arranged visit that the slings had not arrived and so I sent an email informing her of this! The response was to cancel her appointment and she would chase up the order. It took a few exchanges of emailto find nother date we were boh available for another apppointment...OT needed to come to show us the hoisting technique before we were able to do his ourselves!! So date was set for Tuesday 15th July.....however, Thursday 10th July we realised the slings had stillnot arrived! urgent phone call to Social Service dpartment and i discovere the OT is not in until Monday...I have 6 appointments on Monday and know I will neither remember to ring nor be available for her to ring me! I ask to speak to the OT assistant who thankfuly is working but is not available right now...I leave a message for her to ring me back urgently! This was probably around 10 am....why is then that I leave the house for 15 minutes at 11.30 to collect Eve from preschool and she manages to ring back in that time? Now I love my husband dearly! he is hard working, caring, dependable.....apart from when it comes to taking messages and asking the right questions of professionals! However he did manage to follow through the problem of slings not arrived, even though he for to to ask the other question about the missing bed. (A height adjustable profiling bed was also ordered in February and still not arrived!) The OT assistant agreed to ringthe stores and se if they had arrived from manufacturer and get back to us! so when returned with Eve I immediately rang backtoremind her about the bed! She was on the other line and I could only hope that she was actually chasing our orders! When eventually we did manage to speak information was sparse and promises in plentiful supply! unfortunately the OT herself would need to follow up the bed but assistants were able to chase the slings!
An email lterin the day informed us the slings were indeed with the Stores but they would not be abl to deliver them before our appointment on Tuesday. All was not lost though as OTA was going to go and fetch them! So appointment was set for 11.30 am Tuesday 15th July!
now since he OTs last visit of course we have made some drastic changes to the access to our home! ie wecan now get the girls in their chairs from the car to the house and back again without any lifting. However, there was one area of the ramp that does not actually meet with legislative requirements, the slope is more than the regulatory 1 in 12 gradient! We wee fairly confident that the OT would spot this and make something of it! of course in 22months despite admitting it is need they need to meet, it had remained unmet until David had changed things! So I was quite interested in seeing heir faces and hearing their reactions when they arrived! They knew Eve finished preschool at11.30 and made their appointment accordingly. I in the meanime aranged to collect Eve early so as to be their ready to record their reactons!

So of course as i returned with Eve at 11.15 they were already heir and talking to David who was agreeing with them that the ramp was too steep and that it was his fault! ARRGGHHH!
I pushed Eve up the ramp to greet them and David said that Mrs OT agreed the ramp was too steepin that short piece my retort was.
"well it is a hundred times better than what you have provided so far!"
in fairness she did put he hands up and say that she could not argue with that! She alsosaid that she would be asking for the Council to pay to put it right as the access was still not suitable!
So we went onto the hoists, i pushed Eve'schair into the front rom before pointing out that of course Daddy would have to carry her from there to the bedroom as we could not get her chair through! Mrs OT looked a little flustered as we pointed out the chimney would need to come down for us to be able to get Eve through the house! She commented that it would be coming down in the adaptation works! I explained that our plans included tha but theirs didn't.
"ahhh well we know our plans are not actually going to be happening so that's OK! if your plans allo for it!"
I resisted the urge to point out that it also showed that their plans were not going to meet need!
we moved on through to the hoist! Oncewehad discovered the best position for hoisting and ensured Eve was safe in these slings for now...of scoure in the last 6 months she has grown some and the life of the slings was now shortened, however they acknowldged that we would be needing new ones reasonably soon.
As they were leaving there was more discussion over the Ramped access. MrsOT acknowledging that david had made a good job over alland that we had proved that it was not necesary to take over the whole area of the front patio as ramping! I pointed out that this backed our constant refrain that having cared for our children 24/7 for 18 years we did actually have a good knowledge of what would and wouldnt work!
I think she was totally oblivious that her parting comment to David about the council being asked to put right the inadequcies, was actually received by him as critisim! May be if she had been a fly on the wall for the rest of the day she may have begun to realise it!
We had sandwhich and a coffee as soon as they left and then for the next 21/2 hours David was takng up decking and adjusting ramp falls!

By 5 pm he had removed the steep section and resighted it at the correct fall! unfortunatelyit changed the angle of the edge and some ofthe decking is no longer useable so this mornings work will involve a trip to the timber merchants for more decking!

Those of you concerned for my well being with the dreadfully distubed nights will be plased tohear I slept for 2hours almost whilst this was happening! Then David insisted I went to bed at 10 pm and he would stay downstairs to care for Eve. I had a delicious 5 hours of undisturbed sleep before waking refreshed at 3 am! A wash and teeth clean woke me fullyand I came down to allow David to get some sleep! Between alarm sounds I have ironed the days washing and sorted some more into the machine. Had a cup of coffee...Robyn, I dont drink tea but yes that cup of coffee drunk whilst still hot is the best of the day! Now I am enjoying the peace and quiet...inerupted by the huff and puff of the oxygen concentrator and the snorts of Darth Vader over the intercom...she is sleeping but the effort of breathing has left her so weary. Despite it all she still manages to keep her smiley, cheerful outlook.

Prayer request:-
That paperwork for admission comes through, ( the lack of paperwork confirming her admission has me slightly anxious that it has been overlooked)

That we are able to continue meeting the needs of the family during this time of worse sleep than usual.

That Drs are able to identify Eve's problems and have the wisdom and skill to make the best decisions.

That David and I are given the strength and grace to accept the decsions that are made and to continue to care for the children meeting their needs daily with whatever is nvolved with ensuring Eve's needs are met too!

That God will be glorified through whatever the outcome is.

We would also apprciate prayer for the decisions concerning our adaptations that we will be allowed to get on with works soon.

Thank you!
Tina