Yesterday marked 532 days that I have been in my motorized wheelchair. I just re-posteded on Facebook the post I wrote and published the day I received it. Since I have had the chair, two different techs have come to my house to tighten it for a total of three times. I have been texting my last tech to come over and tighten my chair because it was getting pretty bad. It felt dilapidated. The arms were sagging and the control panel joystick kept falling over and the headrest needed adjusting. It still worked but was uncomfortable to control. The leg rests were pressing into and hurting my calves.
Because the tech was not answering my texts and probably because my insurance changed, I needed to call Binson’s, the place I got my chair. my Mom did the talking because my speech was not good enough to talk to them myself. Now, get a load of what needed to happen to get my wheelchair serviced: absolutely blew my mind!
The first thing I needed to do was to call my neurologist and get a prescription to get my chair evaluated. That wasn’t a problem but it would take some time, but okay.
Here is where things get a little bit complex.
So, my neurologist will send over the prescription to Binson’s. Binson’s will send over the request for service to both Medicaid and Medicare to see who would cover what because having MS, I am covered by both.
Once it gets decided who is covering what, I need to take my chair to the place to get evaluated. They will not do any repairs but will just see what the problem is and what parts (if any) they need to order and then that’s it.
Then, there is more paperwork on either Medicaid and Medicare’s parts and then parts needed to be ordered if need be.
After all of that is completed, I would take my chair back to the place that it got evaluated and they would be repaired.
The woman told me (Really, my Mom) that the whole process would take about 10 weeks for my chair to be fixed.
WHAT?! That’s just insane! Not to mention that my chair does not travel by itself. I need to rent a vehicle not once, but twice at 100 bucks a pop.
My Mom went to my cousin Cathy’s house last weekend for lunch with a number of my aunts. My cousin is an engineer and she has been working in Dearborn since this summer. My Mom asked her if she could come and tighten my chair one day after work.
Yesterday, my cousin, Cathy, came over with her tools. It was crazy to watch her mind work because she knew exactly what she needed to do and had the arms tightened, my head rest readjusted, and the leg rests fixed so they did not hurt my calves within 30 minutes.
I had not realized how uncomfortable my chair was until Cathy adjusted everything that needed to be adjusted. She told and showed my Mom what needed to be tightened regularly. She told me that if anything else needs to be adjusted that I should just call her and she will come fix it.
I am so beyond grateful and thankful for and to my cousin, Cathy! She said and visited with my Mom and I for a couple hours before she left.
Today is the 533rd day that I have had my motorized chair. It definitely has limited me because I don’t have a vehicle to move my chair but now that it is properly adjusted; it feels brand new!