Friday, August 14, 2009

What a day, it began at 6 AM paratransit “STO” picked me up at 7:30 AM so I could have my manual wheelchair fitted with a different cushion.
Not having used the manual chair for quite some time, why bother when you can sit back and simply move a joystick to go where ever you please. The way I saw it, things are difficult enough as they are anything to make my life easier I will gladly accept and incorporate into my daily routine. Over the last several years my manual wheelchair was only utilized occasionally usually at the airport to board the aircraft and go from the airport to the hotel where I usually end up carrying pieces of luggage on my lap while my spouse pushed me along, upon arrival I normally have a rental electric chair waiting for me at the hotel. I prefer to rent one instead of taking my own there is less hassle with preparation i.e. removing batteries etc. and if I ever encounter problems during my trip it's the rental companies problem not mine.

Friday I used my arms all day to propel my chair onto then out of the bus to the clinic and back upon my return felt like my arms were ready to fall off. I'm not certain what tomorrow will be like yet I can almost guarantee the Advil or Tylenol won't be far away. I made a promise to myself that I would utilize my manual wheelchair on a more frequent basis to strengthen my arms in an attempt to regain some of the muscle mass which I have lost over the years. Not the easiest thing to do yet I don't have much of a choice I realized that by sitting back and doing nothing the old adage of use it or lose it really applies.

My seemingly endless journey of adaptations continues as the new cushion was provided and proved to be quite comfortable. Since most of the items in our condo are adapted for use with my electric wheelchair which is much higher than my manual one the next step in this seemingly endless journey of modifications is to elevate my manual chair to match the height of my electric chair. The main reason for the height being crucial are making my transfers from the chair to the shower seat or toilet facilities safer.
My sole intent was to pick up a cushion, I left with the cushion and another appointment to have the rear wheels lowered by 3 inches, the front wheels changed from 6 inch diameter to 8 inch wheels in addition to longer forks thereby raising the height of the chair.
Hopefully that will be the end of these modifications.

On Tuesday afternoon I will be visiting the mobility shop where they will replace the seat belt on my motorized wheelchair for one which has been crash tested, I'm telling you it just never seems to end.