Many of my friends know how into technology and home automation I am. I really enjoy fixing things. I always have. I can remember early on in life fixing things around the house. My technology crippled parents would be amazed when things like the toaster oven or microwave were working again after I fixed them. Or the time I ended up converting all of the hard-wired rotary phones in the house to modular jacks and touch tone. I ended up saving them $$ on their leased phones – you know the real heavy ones with the loud hammer bells? I also used to get hand held video games and take them apart to see what made them tick and then put them back together again. Sometimes a screw or part might have been missed so i’d do it all over again. I LOVED IT.
My wife asked me to fix her towel rack the other day and I was worried I’d have to call someone and pay them as this would be something I could do no problem. But MS has taken away a lot of skills from my right hand and arm so much that I so gladly would give just about anything to have back. It sometimes brings me to anger or tears the things I can no longer do that I loved so much. Well I’ll be damned, I actually did fix the towel rack for her. It might have taken me a couple minutes longer and I invented new ways of doing it or holding and propping things up but it made me feel worthy again. I even had the energy to put all the tools away and clean up afterwards.
“Tools” were then and even now a very important part of how we can get things done. I’d like to share with you some things that I use to try to make my life with MS a little easier.
Neato Robotic Vacuum! Does a better job than the cleaning lady! Cool patterns too! http://www.neatorobotics.com/
Grabber Tool. Why bend over if you dont have to? Unger 92134 36-Inch Nifty Nabber Pick-Up Tool with Aluminum Handle
NEST – Thermostat – www.nest.com – Control your heating and cooling right from the web or your smartphone!
I will post more tools of my trade that make MS life much easier in my next post. To be continued…Part 2!