On the wheelchair and elg gifts

I was put in the wheelchair again today. Alberto, weekend wheelchair guy, used a lighter sling to do the job. It featured a tight but light mesh supporting surface and only 2 attachment points per side instead of 4. In the photo below, the lighter sling is hanging from the back of the wheelchair, whilst the other one is the back of the brown chair (black with pink straps).

The wheelchair itself is adjustable as to angle of the back and just how the legs are angled and supported. The latter is a big tricky as my left foot is encased in a boot with a large heel. My right is in a sock, so there is a relative height issue. The chair is also not designed to be propelled by the occupant. The wheels are caster wheels, clearly intended for indoor use.

That did not stop the Mole from pushing me outside to enjoy the last gasps of Indian summer and some sunshine. Foresight meant that I had a fleece jacket to wear. It was the first time that I had worn a piece of clothing other than a hospital gown or a sock since the 2nd of September. Unfortunately, neither the Mole or myself remember to bring a camera or iPhone with us.

Back in my room, the Mole produced a package Louise had mailed from Norway. It contained a variety of items themed after my totem animal. The Norwegian word for it is “elg” the root word of “elk”, a term which British settlers of North America applied to the animal sometimes known as wapiti. They adapted the Algonquian word for the species as “moose”. For sake of fun, I going to use “elg” to describe alces alces related things for the rest of this entry.

There was a small card with an elg drawn on it by Tessa who will be 6 in January. There was a package of slices of dry elg and juniper berry sausage, a small can of elg candies (anis flavoured), an elg key chain and a pair of boxer shorts with elg on them. Last but not least was a pair of socks which evidently were meant to signal support for Norway’s vibrant LGBTQ elg community. ;-)