I can clearly remember telling my Mom a couple of weeks ago as I laid on my stomach on my bed just as I was getting into bed and she tended to my pressure sores because, NEWSFLASH: After 15 years of being in a wheelchair full-time, those things tend to happen. I know that I am beyond blessed to have my Mom to take care of these things for me and the years, we have found that this works the best for me!:
But back to a couple of weeks ago, As I laid there flat on my stomach, and it was a culmination of not being able to find a comfortable position at all in the day and still not being comfortable laying flat in my bed, with my head on my pillow, I turned it to the right and told her, “This hurts.” I didn’t yell it but rather just said it matter-of-factly because I am resigned to understand this now, 20 years in, this hurts. I buried my face in my pillow and shed a few tears.
My Mom responded with a quiet, “I know.” I learned on Friday that my motorized chair was ordered in April 2018. I get a new chair every five years and now, I understand why that is. I constantly move my chair to recline because three years of sitting in it has taken it’s toll on the cushion. I got my haircut on Friday and because my salon is quite small, I transferred to my manual custom chair to get my haircut and eyebrows waxed.
My Mom asked how I was doing and I told her that, “My knee is killing me (even with my Tens unit on) but the seat is really comfortable!” I haven’t used my manual chair much since getting my motorized chair and during the pandemic, I was not getting my hair cut so it got used even less. I had my Mom take this picture because I think that the belt needs to be tightened. In fact, I KNOW this because the pelvis stabilizer is supposed to be snug.
It’s a nice feeling to and learn and notice that I have lost weight but it is really NOT safe to not have a snug pelvis stabilizer (seatbelt). In the early days of being a wheelchair user, I used to have my tech remove the belts but now, with the progression of my disease, I am not comfortable moving my chair AT ALL without it securely fastened!