Remember the time when my wheelchair front wheel got stuck in the elevator? I thought so. Well, today the same wheel came apart when I was being wheeled down the ramp from the van to go to therapy. The tire separated from the wheel itself in a most unexpected way. I think the wheel was still traumatized by the elevator incident.
Still, it left me with the problem of how the heck to get into the health center. The driver first thought he’d go inside and get another chair, but instead I asked for a walker. I needed to get walking done today anyway; might as well use getting inside as my workout. This time, though, I wasn’t being trailed with a chair in case I needed to sit down. We started outside in the hot sun, standing up on an incline to the walker, and then walking over pavement changes and inclines through the door and inside, where I took a short rest on the bench. I was able to stand without two arms to push off and finished my walk into the mat in therapy. I was exhausted, but I did it.
They found me a substitute chair to use until Tuesday, when my new chair arrives. It’s a 24-inch chair which is way too big for me and hard to manouver through doors and narrower passages. And the rims were removed so I’ll have to push the wheels themselves, which is clunky. Plus the brakes are spongey which makes it a bit dangerous to stand up. But it’s not forever and I don’t have any outside activities so I can minimize how much I need to roll around. I’ll love the new chair even more after a few days of using this one.
UPDATE: After 4 hours with this stupid chair, I’m convinced that I have to stay in the apartment and use my walker as much as possible, which I’ve never done. Because the &*$(%# chair’s brakes are terrible and I already almost fell trying to stand up in the kitchen, which I’ve done a bazillion times. I know how to stand up. I do NOT know how to stand up when the chair flies away from me going backwards. The left wheel spins without traction half the time and the chair doesn’t know how to turn. I am not a happy camper.
Random Thoughts of a Disordered Mind 