Fax to my general practitioner!

November 30th, 2010

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Wishlist

Dear Ladies,
Please send me the following prescription:
Voltaren Emulgel 1 kg
Have a nice Advent season!

My dispenser!


Voltaren in 200 gram tubes is for kids.
With 1 kg I just get through Christmas season.

 

Translator BL

Quadriplegic Tips XVII

November 22nd, 2010

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I am totally convinced that I own the coolest

Floss dispenser

of all times.
Manfred the fisherman motivates me every morning anew to do something meaningful with the day, provided that you define the “nonsense” that I permanently produce as meaningful.
Everything is to my opinion more meaningful than to sit on the couch and wait with the PS2 plastic fishing rod that the fish virtually bites the bait on TV. (No joke, see older blogpost).

Well, if the fish is delicious!

Back to the floss. The usage of floss in traditional technique leads with my light-fingeredness, with the emphasis on “light”, inevitably to undesired self-bondages and strangulations.

There are these little flossers with which you have to watch out that you don’t swallow them. According to latest rumours the new floss holder with integrated span mechanism and rubberized grip handle of the brand GUM:

Floss holder type Flosbrush

looks exactly like the strange thing which is lying on my table since the last midsummer. The engineer was probably quadriplegic. This great part is not available at German retailers.
But ask your dentist or druid on the corner (pharmacy) if they can order such a thing. The old model doesn’t have a span mechanism yet, but is also good to handle. The new one will be launched in the next weeks.

I don’t know yet how much it will cost.

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXII

November 16th, 2010

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When I was still “footer” I got up depending on my shift at 04:30 h. It is clear that it is quite dark at this time if you are going around the bed and the bedside lamp has been switched off before. My shinbone every now and then bumped into the edge of the bed frame and lost.

For this reason I acquired at that time a battery-operated

LED night light with motion detector

which I used quasi as under-bed illumination. These things are meanwhile quite low-priced purchasable in the do-it-yourself store or sometimes at the discounter for less than 10 €.

Now I have the LED light standing on my bedside table. So I just have to wave with my hand to turn on the light.
This is great because due to the paralysis of the legs/hips I am lying literally like a beetle on the back and can’t reach the switch of the normal bedside lamp without greater difficulties. The lamps also make sense on the floor of the flat, so you don’t have to switch on and off all lights when rolling from room to room.

Equipped with rechargeable batteries I see daylight at night for around 3 months.

LED = light-emitting diode

Translator BL

Technical Aids for Quadriplegics

November 11th, 2010

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With my buckled Tetra fingers I can’t open cans any more.

I think that I might succeed some day with this

plastic bow

.

The can is standing on a non-slip mat (see older blogpost).

The leverage is considerable.

The opener is distributed by the Company Brix Denmark.
The company produces other openers as well.

With this part it should be possible to open an

Eintracht- Frankfurt Adlerschoppe

.

It is incomprehensible to me why the plastic bow is called J-Popper.
Let’s think about it…

Translator BL

Wheelchair Tuning Part XIX Competitor

November 8th, 2010

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In the land of opportunity I have discovered it.

The chain-drive

Off-Road Wheelchair, Type: Renegade.

Whether on sand, snow, dirt road or creek bed, with this hell of a chair you get through almost every terrain.

Unbelievable, but true, watch the VIDEOS.
The wheelchair has a 7 gear hub in the driving wheels.

It has winter accessories, with

snow chains, blades

and a

snow shovel,

to clear the gateway from snow. The

fishing rod holder

is rather funny I think, but the

gun holder

beats almost everything I have seen so far.

The price is fair, the basic model is available as of 4500$.

One time with this thing through the city of Frankfurt!!!
If the gun has a medical device number?

Source: Renegade USA

Translator BL

Simply great! Part III

November 6th, 2010

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In an older blogpost I have bashed a little on this wheelchair, I would like to apologize for that.
The special wheelchair with cross tyres was standing in India.
It is one of worldwide

530.000 Low-Budget Wheelchairs

(April 2012 already 639.000)

in 77 countries which have been especially developed by the organization



and donated to people in need.
The target of the project is to provide 20 million wheelchairs worldwide for free.
Each wheelchair costs only 59,20 USD including delivery.

Have you ever considered the donation of a wheelchair?
Just “go“ to the website of FWM and have a look.

Link: Free Wheelchair Mission

Unbelievable but true, a tool kit is inside the footrest.

Source: Free Wheelchair Mission

Translator BL

Wheelchair Tuning Part XVIII

November 3rd, 2010

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I have got the impression that there is the general opinion that all wheelchair drivers are going to bed before dark.

Otherwise it is inexplicable for me that non of the wheelchairs I have seen has but one reflector on the front side.

This is a striking lack of safety!!!

Safety regulations of that kind are not known to me. One could almost think that we are allowed to be knocked over in traffic.

With luck one has at least a bicycle reflector put in the spokes.

The big discounters every now and then offer silver-coloured

spokes reflectors.

These were not allowed for bicycles for a long time, but are perfect for wheelchairs.

For bicycles it is: front white, side orange, rear red.

My tip:

Paste your wheelchair especially on the front with adhesive reflectors, buy orange bike reflectors, spokes reflectors, or even better reflective

tyres.

Reflectors for arms and legs

for cyclists can e.g. be sewed on the backpack.

With a head light you can see holes in the ground at night

(see older blogpost).

Blinking rear light of a bike, figure something out, be creative, paste reflectors at the inside of the car door so that it is seen from far when it is open.

I don’t have the desire to be run over by a car because of serious safety lacks on a wheelchair which apparently nobody is interested in.

The “Stiftung Warentest” (German product test foundation) is not interested in testing wheelchairs either
(see older blogpost). (My latest status).

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips und Tricks XXI

November 2nd, 2010

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Almost all wheelchair users are using bicycle gloves which they buy every now and then at the discounter.
My needs for these quality products were plentiful, the more expensive ones weren’t any better for wheelchair driving either.
I got the tip to switch to sailing gloves because they are more robust and additionally reinforced at the forefinger to let the ropes run through for sailing without burning the fingers.
Furthermore the glove fixes very well around the wrist which is very important for me as quadriplegic for braking to not loose the gloves. The velcro tapes are fixing well, and the leather is out of one piece. The gloves are available in Antara leather or Neoprene.

Sailing Gloves

The price starts at 10,00 €.
Source of supply can be enquired.

Contact: rollinator@eigude.de

Now I am just missing a sailing boat.

Translator BL

Tenerife Part V

November 2nd, 2010

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I already mentioned the accessibility of Los Cristianos. They have equipped a special area for us wheelchair and scooter users on the beach over there.

You can drive in your wheelchair on wooden planks almost into the water.

If you really would like to go into the sea there are two wheelchair lifeguards who lift you with a hoist into a

Beach Wheelchair

and move you across the sand into the sea.

The guys have pushed me across the beach at a run. I was shocked that Spaniards can move that fast, respect.

Swimming in the sea for the first time after 3,5 years, what a feeling!

I was hardly in the water, and the big fish die-off began.

Translator BL

Wheelchair Tuning Part XVII (Competitor)

October 30th, 2010

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A real rarity:

Bought by a German in the USA and photo taken by me in Spain, an

Israeli Foldable Scooter.

This scooter is completely foldable. With its two batteries it has coverage of around 15 kilometers. Basic but functional.

The grey colour reminds somehow of the military!

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XX

October 29th, 2010

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Los Cristianos in the south of Tenerife is exceedingly accessible, but quite hilly and only to cope for fit wheelchair users or with extreme pusher.
Wheelchairs, rollators, crutches and rented scooters or electric wheelchairs belong to the townscape.
An alternative to electric wheelchair or scooter is an approximately 60 kg heavy, little tractive.

Minitrac or Swisstrac

I call this thing a mobile cider crate.
With some practice the docking is quite easy. The tractive power is remarkable. I didn’t have any difficulties with gradients, provided that the floor plates were not too slippery.

Curbs are no hurdles at all. The docking bar in the mid of the wheelchair can be de-installed easily, even with a foldable wheelchair.
The some year old Minitrac has passed my 10 day test quite well. Although it was mounted to my wheelchair in a little unconventional-creative-spanish way, it was technically absolutely alright.
The Minitrac a German and the Swisstrac a Swiss product are quite similar. I only heard good things about the Swisstrac, but haven’t tested it yet. I have seen the new Swisstrac on a fair, the new docking station is easy to handle for quadriplegics.

I like these small things, and they fit into any trunk, if a well-trained pedestrian is found to lift it.

The colour was disgusting: pinkish red with glitter effect! Ugh…

There is one comment worth to be translated from the chief engineer of Swisstrac

Crazy Flash IV Addendum

October 29th, 2010

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The fire department in Frankfurt has upgraded and switched to

Emergency vehicles with pedals

(see older blogpost).

Please note the blue fire water bucket on the front.

Translator BL

Eigude Shame Part X

October 26th, 2010

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I might seem to be a notorious complainer sometimes, but some companies get away with stuff that’s a bit too cheeky.
The photos were made on 05.10.2010.

Tested “good” by the German product test foundation in 4/2006!
When the DVDs were tested I was still pedestrian.

Translator BL

Signs Part V

October 26th, 2010

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This sign kindly indicates that the way ends 100 meters further ahead on the mole at the sea.

If you are not Jesus of Nazareth, it is also dead end for any pedestrian.

Eigude Shame II Addendum

October 26th, 2010

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.