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After agreeing to write something for this column, I was rather shaken to find that this section was established primarily to enlighten the readers to creative ideas in home living. This is truly a fine purpose, but goes far beyond what I am planning.

My parents and I live in an aging (1861) farm house not far from the home of Blaine Hart (see T.J.G., Aug. 1958, p.8-11). The elderly house does have an advantage in dimensions over some with less age and size. We had an extra room large enough to install an old model bath-tub so that it is a couple of feet from the back wall and is elevated a foot from the floor. The folks use the Hoyer lift to move me from the bed to the tub and back again. The sling is left in place during the bath and is simply rehooked to the lift after the water is drained.

Steel shapes for the frame work of the tilt table were cut from an obsolete hay loader by my father. A local shop welded them into place and added an old automobile steering gear. The steering gear provides a good mechanism for raising and lowering the table without too much exertion on the part of the person turning the crank.

To move from the bed into the chair, we recline the chair until the back is just below the height of the bed. The chair is then backed against the side of the bed. I am grasped by the ankles and pulled around and out into the chair. Even my mother can do it. The lift is used for the trip back to bed.

Most of my traveling is done on the chaise lounge or reclined wheel chair in the back of the station wagon. Two planks 2" x 6" x 6' (similar to Blaine Hart's) facilitate loading. Occasionally I ride on the front seat. The folks do the loading by backing the reclined wheel chair against the edge of the front seat; then sliding me over the chair back onto the seat, where they set me up and strap me to a back board. They have found that placing a small sheet of dacron under me for the sliding operation cuts down on friction. The dacron also helps when sliding from wheel chair to low bed or cot or vice versa.

While sitting in the wheel chair I usually use positive pressure or an abdominal respirator. For several months I used a console model Monaghan for inflating a home made plastic bag worn under my corset for my respiratory aid. The bags are made by heat-sealing polyethylene film with an iron (using paper between the iron and plastic to prevent over heating). More recently a Multilung abdominal respirator has become available.

A coaster or skate made with roller casters permits me to move my left arm on the lap board and to turn pages or do a little painting. Other gadgets which have proved useful are prism glasses and the remote control on the Zenith TV.

A considerable part of my time in the past two years has been occupied in making short abstracts of articles dealing with metallurgical subjects. Journals containing papers about metals are mailed to me by a group at Western Reserve University. After reading the journals and selecting appropriate articles, I make a short summary and an abstract in a special form adapted to machine searching. I do this work while rocking on my bed with the help of another person, who sits on a high stool at an elevated table close to the bed turning pages and writing the abstracts as they are dictated. Later, I check the summaries and record them with a tape recorder. The journals, the abstracts for machine searching and the tapes are returned by mail.

The editors asked me the secret of my productivity. The secret is to have a person who is a vigorous worker helping me.