Lifting

OldLincoln ~ So sorry to hear about what you and your wife are going through. Over the years I’m sure you’ve both learned that its not always strength alone that gets the job done but rather a combination of brains and brawn ~ in that order. I was thinking about your post as I was loading my 250 lb wheelchair into my van and marveled that the hoist (Bruno) was powered by my van’s 12 volt battery. It has a swing radius of 45+ degrees and it occurred to me that it doesn’t have to be a wheelchair on the end of the critter, not does it have to be in a vehicle either. So, I thought why not next to a bed or anywhere its needed and adapted to lift someone with the added feature of the swing radius. Because of its absolute importance to me I have a spare in case the old one goes kaput. I bought both of mine used – one off of ebay for less than $250 and the other from a ‘chance meeting’ in the wheelchair corral at a concert. Long ago, I used a gear box removed from an old Caterpillar tractor to lift large logs – the gear box was normally powered by a PTO (the engine) but I noticed that it could be also be easily operated with a hand crank. Because I experience physical weakness on a daily basis (CIDP, and to me a book is heavy – and dictionaries, forget it, and can’t make it to the mail box on two crutches anymore). But I haven’t run out of ideas or what’s possible. As a care-giver you have totally different perspective and asking ‘what do you do?’ shows me me the ‘brain’ part of the formula is intact. I’m sure what I wrote is not your solution but wanted to share the thoughts. Best to you both…