Quote from: SpeedDialer on September 16, 2022, 07:23:16 AMI admit that despite doing LL in Athens now, I have not been very disciplined w/ making a budget and am curious what you guys would put as cost estimates for this
I'd haphazard a guess of 60k USD, but maybe that's a lowball estimate
The recent strength of the USD might help
I am not sure if montaza is actually more expensive than apartment if you add in all the variables- b/c it includes breakfast, toilet paper, help from the hotel staff, there's the elevator and lift for the wheelchair, you don't have to fix stuff, you don't have to think about utilities, it has some handicap rooms. You can go downstairs (or actually probably its better to just take some pictures of their menus, then call the front desk with your phone) and pay 12 euros later for a full meal if breakfast buffet wasn't enough. Anyone wanna chime in?
That's roughly how much I am estimating, but I would be interested in your breakdown of expenses once you start doing grocery shopping, trips to PT centre, etc.
Will you be staying in a handicap room?
Observations/tips two days ish after LL surgery
I'm staying in the handicap room for about 2 weeks
I'm still theory crafting the best way to transfer on/off of beds and taxi seats. Accidental clicks have been a big problem- its not that painful but its jarring/feels very wrong and stressful
Currently I think the main thing is you want to slide your butt (by using your triceps/lats to scooch over) and not want to bend legs first. If bend leg first then the legs get rotated relative to your body -> accidental click, feels a bit stressful when it happens
Unfortunately its often to hard to scooch to the right place and I'm still working out the best technique to transfer off of beds without causing an accidental click
I think maybe I will try leading with my butt but am not sure
Any veterans want to chime in?
Had two accidental clicks when trying to transfer from bed to walker today.
The rotating of the legs/unstable feeling is a bit scary when using them to stand up (when transferring from bed to walker)
Once I'm standing up straight with the walker, its alot less scary because I know I can hop with the walker and get to the wheelchair if need be
The sink is very close to the toilet, which I think may make it awkward to transfer from walker to toilet and need to work that out
The act of getting shorts on is a bit annoying, I think I might look into a button style shorts like these post surgery shorts https://www.amazon.com/Post-Surgery-Shorts-Womens-Unisex/dp/B00EDH6N16/ref=sr_1_11?crid=2VI36CLVJ5W42&keywords=handicap+shorts&qid=1663371128&sprefix=handi%2Caps%2C930&sr=8-11
If I was going to do it again, I might get these post surgery shirt and shirts. Not really needed if your clothes are loose enough but probably easier:
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Post-Surgery-Shorts-Tearaway-Unisex/dp/B00EDH6NIY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=MT83ZQDMCPNU&keywords=post%2Bsurgery%2Babrei%C3%9Fbare%2Bshorts&qid=1663375412&sprefix=post%2Bsurgery%2Btearaway%2Bshorts%2Caps%2C110&sr=8-1&th=1&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EDH5X9Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A36VPWXO1LYBY7&psc=1
Sadly amazon.de doesn't ship these specific items to Greece
the shirt is less helpful since once your IV needles are removed, its easy to put on/take off shirts
The grabber tool-> the handle end of it is like almost as useful as the pincer end of it
The handle end is bigger/harder can be used to push/move objects a few feet away + push the slippers onto your fight after they are loosely put on
Can also be used to lift bags that are some distance away
The handicap rooms of Montaza- I believe they have 3 beds, at least mine does. which is actually useful for just using two beds to put stuff on so you don't have to bend down to the ground
the TV in this handicap room is in a much nicer location relative to the bed, I might use it later if my legs get better and if has an HDMI port (I think it doesn't though, think it only has VGA)
the exercise bike I got looks daunting. Looks like an accident waiting to happen if I make an error when trying to dismount it, currently only planning on using it if a nurse is around
When I'm on my wheelchair with my grabber, I feel very free
Currently when I want to move the wheelchair but carry an object, I shove that object into my shirt which acts as makeshift net to hold the object in (wonder if there is a better less silly way?). I attached a small backpack to the wheelchair which should also help for smaller objects.
Getting on the bed is somewhat stressful, but putting some pillows on it to land on seems to help (less of a drop down)
If I can improve my technique for getting on the toilet, it will decrease my fears alot
The side button shorts are a good idea - I'm going to get some I think.
Does the hospital provide you with the grabber tool and exercise bike in your hotel room or did you have to pay for that yourself?
I had to buy the grabber, thank god it came the day I needed it
May be worth to buy a foldable one before you come just to ensure you have it
Today was rough, couldn't do a wheelchair -> walker transfer, several hours later a nurse came and saved me
Gonna take more painkillers to hopefully prevent this from happening again
The thighs swelling alot is painful on a wheelchair, the space is tight
It is hard to judge whether I need to take a tramadol pill in order to do wheelchair/bed transfers. I guess I could try to gauge the pain from stretches first to determine whether I want to take a tramadol pill that day
I'd recommend having both the phone, the grabber, and the tramadol pills (says Tramal on the box, maybe the brand name) all within easy reach from both your wheelchair and the place you sleep.
Pain from attempting to stand up from the wheelchair made the transfer difficult/resulted in me being stranded on the wheelchair. So having both the phone to ask for help and a tramadol pills within reach at all times give you ways to deal with this.
In the mornings, I'm very stiff. Takes me a long time with small movements to be able to do the stretches and still takes me a long time to do the transfers (taking me multiple attempts)
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