I had plenty of time, as driving there takes only 5 to 10 minutes. I switched the gear of my wheelchair to maximum speed, as I did not want to be late. The driving distance was short, but the building, where the barber shop is located, has stair lift at the entrance.
I swept full speed over the first street crossing. Due to the mechanics of my wheelchair, I found myself in the same situation, that many rodeo riders encounter when the horse bucks: I was thrown face down to the ground.
“This is what you were warned about!” said a voice inside me. I was probing in my mind, if I was injured somehow. My left ankle felt bitter. Three strong men gathered around me, and in a blink of an eye, I was sitting in my wheelchair again.
I continued my way to barber shop. After arriving to the entrance, I waited a while for a person responsible for the stair lift. After I set myself to the lift, it jerked on, lifted me up a few stairs and got stuck.
The lift did not twitch forward or backward, and I had to stay and wait for repairman. While I was sitting there and waiting, my injured leg started to cramp. I thought that it would be better to go to see a doctor and x-ray it.
The repairman was able to manually lower the stair lift. I headed my way to the health care centre, and after I got an admission note, I drove to the x-ray unit. The queue number 555 in the x-ray unit told me that everything was fine.
X-ray pictures did not show any fractures in my leg. Apparently it was “only” badly strained. I needed help from two people to be able to go to the toilet.
When I was supposed to go home, the reality hit me with full force. How on earth would I manage at home on my own when I needed help from two people just to go to the toilet.
After pondering it for while with a nurse, I acknowledged that I had no other choice than to get along by myself.
After I returned home I was pondering a while at the doorway of my bathroom, how can I transfer to the toilet. The solution was most obvious: I move backwards with my wheelchair as close to the toilet as possible, push up the armrest (my new wheelchair has flip-up armrests) and move to the toilet. I do not need to stand on my feet at all.
For some disabled persons this is everyday life, but until now my feet could bear my weight very well, so it has been more natural for me to park my wheelchair in front of the toilet seat, stand up, turn around and sit on the toilet. This is what I did also in the hospital.
Why did I not see in the hospital the usual way of handicapped people to transfer to the toilet?
The hospital had a toilet for disabled persons, which has a place for a wheelchair beside the toilet seat. However, the toilet for disabled persons was – like in many other places – a storage room for health care stuff of the hospital, which is why the surroundings of the toilet seat were entirely blocked up.
It is sad, that not even health care professionals pay attention to the solutions, that should help people with disabilities or diseases to get along by themselves. People everywhere are complaining about the lack of nursing staff, and they do not see the potential of the persons, who need assistance. It would make things much easier for everyone, if people would pay more attention to solutions that help us act by ourselves also in situations, when we have some kind of functional limitation.
Disability is a very flexible concept. It is not bound to an individual. When people find solutions to compensate the disabilities of handicapped people, it is evident, that a hindrance caused by a disability depends on factors in the outside world.
My day started shady, but at sunset I was happy that I got an opportunity to study the ‘hidden dimensions’ of my wheelchair, and I learned a new way to act. It is not only a question of going to the toilet, but also taking a shower and going to sleep.
It has been natural for me to stand on my feet and turn around, but in recent years I have asked myself, how could I prevent my knees from becoming twisted. I saw this episode as an answer to my question. My new way to act does not only treat my knees with care, but it saves my time as well, because I do not need to balance myself on my legs.
When we talk about the Law of Attraction and balancing the positive and negative energies, this incident illustrates very well my own attitude towards everything. It is very simple: I myself attract happenings and situations that trigger new ideas and help me to improve my overall situation.
One should under no circumstances immediately reject negative things. We should humble ourselves, look at everything and try to see the guidance and lessons that the universe has prepared for us. When there are so many exciting and compelling things twirling around us, we should remember that after all, the most important thing is what we need, not what we want and desire. When we remember this we begin a dialogue with the universe.