I left my house today. That is the first time that I have been outside since December 15th. I got my haircut and eyebrows waxed on the 15th but I left my house because I had a wheelchair evaluation appointment downtown at RIM (Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan). You see, I have had a motorized wheelchair since July of 2018. I am not up for a replacement chair until July of 2023. But now, after 3 1/2 years of use, my motorized chair is having problems. It is not holding a charge very long at all and the wear and tear of the armrests, the head rest, and my pelvis stabilizer need to be addressed, just to name a few things.
My Mom drove me downtown in a rented van that was accommodated my power chair. We had a lot of paperwork to fill out before my appointment. My Mom, as my caregiver, is my secretary. She accompanies me to all of my doctors appointments and she does the rwriting for me because I cannot write anymore. She will fill out the paperwork and have me sign it. That is the only thing I have muscle memory enough to write. That and as a 39-year-old woman, I am legally obligated to sign things at times. Especially when it comes to my medical needs! We plugged my chair into the wall as she filled the papers out because we brought my battery pack with us. Once all that was finished, we got directions to where we were going and then we got in the elevator because we were headed to the second floor.
I was able to propel myself around the corner to the elevator, get into the elevator, get out of the elevator on the second floor, make the turn to see where I needed to go but then, my wheelchair beeped and stopped moving. I have figured out that if I turn the chair off and then turn it back on, sometimes I will get enough power to move. I have been sitting in front of my TV with my chair charging most of the day for the past couple weeks. I turned my chair off once it beeped and stopped moving. My Mom walked up next to me and once I turned the chair back on I flipped it into indoor fast and I started moving and I called over to my shoulder to my Mom that I have to go and I will see her there.
I stopped when I saw Diane standing in her office. She introduced me to his Chris, the wheelchair tech from a company that Dave just started working at. It will be my new wheelchair company. They plugged my chair in as we all talked. I was quite impressed at hearing Diane and Chris talk to each other. They figured out a game plan and I sat there in awe of all of this competence! Tomorrow, my Mom is going to call National Seating & Mobility to have them make an appointment for my wheelchair to be seen.
I will NOT accompany my Mom on that trip and it makes me a little bit nervous but I need to not be seated in my chair to get the batteries and everything else worked on. Diane said that it’s always best to take the chair to Troy to their office resident having them come to see me. She said that that’s only because they have a lot of needed supplies to fix what needs to be fixed once they put my chair up on the lift and check out all the mechanical things going on. So we’ll just have to see I guess! It is strange that Diane and Christie told me 3 1/2 years ago that this chair will become an extension of myself. I told Diane that she is 100% correct but I still have the scars on all my door jambs and moldings based on the time it took for my child to become an extension of myself! I will never get the door jambs fixed because it’s proof of who I have been.
