My Dad’s a Goldfish – A dangerous tilting to the side

Sometime after the Goldfish died we put his house on the market. The solicitor emailed me after the photos had been taken for the sales brochure. At the end of the usual solicitor-speak explanation of how things would proceed he added, ‘There appears to be a boat winch bolted in place in the hall cupboard?’ Like maybe I didn’t know.

I emailed back, ‘Don’t all bungalows come with their own boat winch?’ He suggested we remove it before people came to view the house. He didn’t have much of a sense of humour.

Why did we have a boat winch bolted to the floor of the cupboard in the hall?

It all began when the Goldfish started to tip to one side. He seemed quite unaware of the fact he was tilting over.

We’d encourage him to sit up straighter but there was no response. We tried propping him up with cushions stuffed down the side of his wheelchair but that didn’t work either. No sooner was he propped up than he started sliding over to one side again.

Driving anywhere became a nightmare. I’d look in the mirror, see he had tipped over, head almost touching the floor, stop the car and hoist him partly upright, rearrange the cushions to support him and drive off. Ten minutes later, I’d have to repeat the process.

We spoke to the Occupational Therapist. I think I’ve said in previous posts we were so lucky with our OT – she was fantastic. She really cared about the Goldfish. She should be cloned. She immediately referred the Goldfish to the specialists from Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital (succeeded by the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital). They visit the various regional hospitals and the Goldfish was lucky to get an appointment almost immediately.

The DH took the Goldfish to his appointment and was very impressed by their can-do approach. It seemed our problem was by no means unique. They could help. The only drawback was that, even when the wheelchair was ready, the team would not be back in Dumfries for weeks. When the DH offered to drive up to Glasgow with the Goldfish, they, seeing our desperation, agreed.

The DH was so excited when the Goldfish tried his new chair he texted me to say it was a miracle – he could sit up straight again. The chair was wonderful. It was easy to manoeuvre except for getting it in and out of the house. Neither Wee-sis nor I could do it. The steps were shallow and we had a ramp but the chair was unbelievably heavy. We did try. Coming down, even backwards was terrifying. I don’t know how the Goldfish felt about it – he seemed remarkably calm. One tiny slip and I knew the chair would be on top of me.

We had to find a solution or acquiring the wonderful new chair would curtail the Goldfish’s outings unless the DH was always going to be around to take the chair out and in the house. Wee-sis and I could manage everything else, including winching the chair into the Doblo. It was the vehicle winch which gave us the idea – so we fitted a boat winch inside the hall cupboard, which was directly opposite the front door.

It worked a treat.

• Boat winch
• Dementia
• Wheelchair