It’s a New Year to start Moving Forward with Disabilities in Retirement ...

New Year means new space.

As Curly was turning another year older right before Christmas, we decided to spiff up his therapy room. We have a three-car garage and only have the van vehicle. Simple solution. The other two stalls would become his therapy room so we can do routine therapy at home. Walls were spruced up, donation of tools and workshop equipment given to needy organizations, floor resurfaced and lastly a new heater and AC unit.

To give him his own support system we added pictures of all the grandchildren to the wall for inspiration.

One of the greatest things we added were the floor mats. We ordered them from Uline. They protect the floor for when the ramp comes down and cleans off his wheels before he goes into our home. We added another one at our front door as it does such a nice job of cleaning off the wheels.

Our northern friends find it interesting that we cringe when the pool is heated to 85 degrees in the winter. The real problem is the outside air temperature. That may be in the 40’s in the am and warming up to the mid 60’s in December. We learned our lesson last year that it can cause you to get pneumonia. This year we are playing it safe.

Garage therapy room is heated at 68 and in the summer we will cool it to the mid 70’s. We have the laptop out there so Curly can do his Music glove therapy; MusicGlove Hand Therapy Glove for Stroke Patients (flintrehab.com) along with his FitMi: The High-Tech Home Exercise Program - Flint Rehab. They become useful when the computer can be left out on the table all the time. We also have a therapy bed for his stretching which I think may be the most important part of therapy. On the inspiration wall we installed a similar bar we have in our family room with the wood backing making it possible for him to practice pulling himself up. Luckily, we kept a few tools!

The times we go out there are so quiet and peaceful. Phones left in the house. We both can concentrate on his therapy. Sometimes I may see that the fingers need to be adjusted on the music glove, etc. One of the new exercises we added was playing catch with the basketball. This helps Curly to open his left hand up and use the muscles in it. It brings back many memories of us playing basketball in our junior high years at a friend’s home. Curly says I never forget anything and smiles when I share one of the stories. A reminder that these years have some great memories in them that help us Moving Forward with Disabilities in Retirement.

Try something different in the New Year, go on a trip, try a new therapy or enjoy an old story from the past, remember to move forward. Happy New Year!