Welcome to Comfort Aids. My purpose in publishing this blog is to make life more comfortable for people with physical handicaps, and senior citizens who just are not as strong and agile as they used to be. Emphasis will be placed on helping those patients suffering from various injuries and illnesses that have left them with clear active minds but who are unable to communicate with their caregivers. I plan to do this by:
1. Acting as an Internet storehouse of knowledge about tips, techniques and products (including their sources) that make life more comfortable for people with physical handicaps;
2. Providing personal assistance to caregivers for patients with clear active minds but who are unable to communicate due to medical and physical handicaps; and
3. Document my thoughts, and those of my spouse and caregiver, in hopes that others with similar challenges will benefit from my life experiences.
I am drawing on my experiences of having battled, and so far won, a range of health and physical issues including:
· Total paralysis;
· Inablity to communicate with caregivers beyond blinking my eyes although I still had my mental capacities;
· Arthritis in my knees and ankles (stemming from injuries when I was young and indestructible);
· A fused ankle;
· Spinal stenosis;
· Guillain Barre’ Syndrome (GBS);
· Chronic Inflammetory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP - the chronic version of GBS);
· Avascular necrosis of my left hip requiring a total hip transplant caused by large daily doses of the steroid Prednisone;
· Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both wrists;
· Progressive dysarthria and dysphasia (slurred speech & swallowing problems); and now
· Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease).
I thank God for seeing me through these challenges. I can always look around me and see someone who is in much worse condition than I am. God keeps helping to overcome these obstacles in my life; I feel that he is saving me for a larger purpose. I hope this blog is it.
I hope to keep the tone of my blogs positive, upbeat, Christian and humorous despite the seriousness of the subject.
Please feel free to give me your comments and suggestions or to ask for assistance with your challenges.
