HELP! 🆘😶😥

November 2015 🇵🇱

I woke up during the night with a terrible pain in my arm. I think it just involuntarily moved, while I was sleeping and got stuck in a very painful position. Every night before leaving my dad would position me in a somehow comfortable position (well as comfortable as I could get, because “comfort” is definitely not the appropriate word for describing where I was 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🙄). He would usually put me on my side, placing and moving all my limbs for me, since I couldn’t move anything…The pain was so strong that it woke me, but I couldn’t lift myself to look 😨, couldn’t call for help 😶, couldn’t move my hand to get relief. My neighbour (new one-Bogusia) was fast asleep in a bed just 2 metres away. We were separated by a curtain, but since we enjoyed each other’s company, we never really pulled it across. The main door was closed and there was no one around. I open my eyes 👀, feeling this excruciating pain 😖, I try to move, but nothing is happening..absolutely nothing.

I look up to see where this call bell is. My dad mounted this device (he made himself from scratch👨🏻‍🔧)above my head, consisting of a plastic bottle and some adhesive tape 🙉🙈😂. I have to say my dad always has amazing ideas of how to make something from nothing..he’s a very talented handyman 🥰👫💑. I really regret not having a photo of how it looked, because you would get a right laugh out of seeing it. Unfortunately it didn’t function (not because it wasn’t made well, but because my head/neck strength wasn’t enough to push the call button with my forehead), but the idea was great 👍. Since I could only lift my head and move it sideways, he used this monitor that was attached to my bed, above my head. He used a bottle for an extension so it could reach me and then taped the call bell around it. When he positioned me for sleep, he would pull it, so it was right above my forehead, the call button facing me. If I had to call for help, I would just lift my head, pushing the call button with my forehead…well it worked a few times when we trialed it, but it was moving meaning that any slight movement in any direction would restrict me from being able to press it 🤷🏻‍♀️ on top of that it was so stiff 🙄, even people with functional fingers and thumb would find it really hard to press it. Definitely something that needs to be changed 😠, only making life harder for patients…

Anyway that night it also failed me. I tried multiple times to lift my head to press my call bell for help, but my forehead banging off it has moved it until I wasn’t even reaching it anymore 🙄. Now there was NO WAY I was getting help 🤦🏻‍♀️. I was praying to myself that a nurse would come into the room 🙏 and I waited and waited..still in huge pain! At that moment I started thinking what can I do to alert my neighbour? 🤔 this was my only way out. She would wake and call for someone 🚨!

I could only use my tongue and teeth to make some kind of noise 👅🦷👀, hoping I would wake her up. Think Klaudia! Think! You have to be creative, and I can tell you one thing, when you’re in pain or need help the brain works surprisingly fast 🧠🙉😂. I started by grinding my teeth, but that wasn’t loud enough 🤷🏻‍♀️, so I started hitting my tongue against the palate of my mouth. It wasn’t a very loud sound, but done continuously could be heard 🙉🙈. After only few minutes I hear “Klaudia is that you? Are you okay?”, as Bogusia approaches me in the dark room 😶👀, “I’ll call the bell, to get someone for you”…I’m thinking Oh My God! It worked! as I see a nurse entering the room.

Later, when Bogusia was telling the story to my family, she said that initially when she heard that “special sound” I was making, just before opening her eyes she thought it was just a leaky tap in our bathroom 😂🙈🙉. The most important thing is that I managed to wake her up and get the help I needed. Well, that was very creative! Well done to me 👏💁🏻‍♀️! I guess that creativity in a tough situation is something I have in common with my dad…😂

🦋Creativity is Intelligence having fun~Albert Enstein 🦋

🦋 Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it…🦋