Buns of Rubber Bands

I posted in early April about working on getting pressure mapping done with my chair's seat cushion. What started in March is now complete in late May, which is actually pretty quick for medical services. The final solution ended up being fairly easy as well.

Sitting on mapping grid

In order to test a seat cushion, an electronic mat is placed on it and then I sit on top of it. The mat is connected to a computer that displays a map showing how much pressure is being exerted at all points.The results look similar to a weather radar with blue okay and red cause for concern.

After rescheduling once, I had my initial testing done two weeks ago. Arriving at the hospital, my assistant and I circled the parking lot a few times, along with other cars, unable to find a parking spot of any type, let alone an accessible one. We ended up parking on the street, but could only come up with $1.00 for the meter, or 80 minutes. I hoped the appointment would go quickly and not return to find a parking ticket.

Original test

Using three people to lift me up and slide the mat under me, results were surprising. Most of my seat looked good, but their was a bright red area directly beneath one of my pressure sores. Tilting back helped, but it still showed up red. One of the therapists felt the pad under me and discovered I was sitting on the metal base of my chair.

For the past 20 years, I've used a seat cushion called ROHO. It has small rubber pockets filled with air so the user sits on an air mattress. Mine had deflated enough that I was partially sitting on bare metal. Air was pumped back in and the reading improved, but not by much. I was told I should be making adjustments to the air weekly, something I never knew before. However, since numbers were still bad, it was decided to get a different seat type. This past Thursday, I went back for the new cushion.

New cushion

This time, we found parking right up front and hoped inside would go as well. Once again, it took a small army to lift me up, take out my ROHO, insert the new pad, and the mapping system. This type was gel with a large hole in the middle to eliminate pressure completely. Sitting back up, the results were even worse. Not only was there pressure in the same area, but also now on the right side. It looked similar to recent radar in Iowa with recent storms coming through.

Final result

The new cushion obviously wouldn't work, so our attention returned to my ROHO. With rubber bands,  some cells could be tied off and mimic the hole of the other cushion. None were in the therapy room and the office could only find two, but the therapist got it to work. After another lift and seat transfer, I awaited the results. Now, everything was blue with a few light green spots. Tilting back had even more improvement with all blue.

After nearly two months of work, doctor's appointments, and approvals, all I needed were two rubber bands from the office secretary. Such are the experiences of the quad life. I'm thankful God has provided technology to help detect problems, but also for simple solutions. I will see what adventures await this week.