As mentioned in a previous issue, in March I injured a few vertebrae in my lower back as a result of which my re-hab instructors warned me against BLT, which is Bending, Lifting or Twisting, any one of which could put me back in the hospital.
Avoiding BLT is complicated for those of us husbands who do chores around the house, including feeding the animals, taking out the garbage, doing laundry, etc. In other words, the normal job description of a modern-day married guy.
I discovered that most of those chores could be accomplished without violating BLT by just slowing down, avoiding unnecessary bending, and just being very careful. There were some though that required imagination and good friends. One such job was feeding the cats in the room adjoining the garage. Their dishes were on the floor, and the litter box was in the same area. Putting the food down and picking it up, coupled with bending over to clean the litter box, were two direct violations of the BLT rule. A friend who has a very creative mind started with the germ of an idea to raise up the dishes, and went on to develop a system that consists of a platform to hold the animals’ dishes up to an elevation that made servicing them possible without bending down hardly at all. The same with the litter box. That was accomplished by having a piece of equipment attached to the platform that could be raised or lowered by the use of readily accessible pedals. That allows me to raise the platform to deliver the food dishes or clean the box, and then lower it so the animals can stand on the floor and relish the easy access to their meals and toilet. Quite an invention.
There were, however, a few tasks that, for the life of us, we could not devise a way to handle without violating the laws applicable to those of us with damaged spines. As simple as it may sound, one such challenge was moving garbage cans, or carts as they are now addressed, to and from the street for pick-up by city garbage trucks. They become heavy with discarded food and containers, and pushing the cans to the street was more of a strain than I was permitted to undertake. To this day, a cure for this chore is some distance away.
However, on a few occasions a neighbor taking their morning stroll has offered to take over this particular task just as I was about to embark on my forbidden journey. The initial time this occurred, it was a young, fit lady who did not hesitate to grasp the situation at hand and offer to replace me for this particular activity. I was shocked and was barely able to articulate my acceptance of her proposal and my thanks for her offer.
I would be remiss if I did not also recognize the many times that our daughter has stepped in to take care of our chores. There truly are angels in this world.