... suddenly stepped into the car

     Continuing to use the transfer board as an incline we seem to discover new ways of transferring Patti between wheelchair and our car. 

     Sunday, Patti suddenly and without hesitation stepped into the car laterally while sitting inclined on the transfer board one foot following the other. I watched in stunned surprise as she safely completed her slide into the car seat. It’s been over 3 years, or more, since Patti has stepped into a car! This motion would be the equivalent of how an able bodied person would enter a car seat.

     Talking with her she had no idea what she had just done. You normally have to lift her legs in and out of a car.

     Patti’s leg strength always tests just fine; her problem is that MS related myelin damage has short circuited her brain’s ability to communicate with the muscles. I can only guess that Patti’s increasing comfort with the transfer board as a tool, and the variables of MS symptoms and fatigue just happened to all hit the optimum zone at the right time.

     Dinner at home with veal parmesan and ziti plus a ritual yearly viewing of Christmas Vacation with the Griswolds was of more interest to Patti <grin>. Feats of transferring are just the means to an end.