Hurrah...
At last my motorised wheelchair has arrived and what a palaver it was, to actually be deemed suitable for said, 'set of wheels'
Firstly, one has to be assessed in the home for suitability and then a test drive at the Wheelchair Sevices Centre. All this stretched over a period of eighteen months. I got so fed up being stuck indoors, except when DT could take me out and push me around in the manual chair.
I hated being pushed around, particularly when people looked kindly at me, then proceeded to ask DT of my well being instead of asking me.
Why do people who hardly know you, want to know all the personal details of one's incapacity? After all, you wouldn't stop an apparently, able bodied person, passing by, for their full medical history!
Hurrah!
How things have changed...Now people smile at me and chat, stand aside as I zoom along and more importantly, don't want my medical history. I have yet to go out alone, I'm just building up my confidence. It's easy on a straight path but if there isn't a ramp to go up or down one has to adopt a particular system...For a medium type kerb you have to position the chair eighteen inches away from it, place 'joy stick' in top speed, then broom broom...up and over you go. If the kerb is more than about four inches you have to go over in reverse. This a bit scary, bearing in mind, you're at the mercy of passing motorists!
This why DT has been escorting me, acting like a pseudo traffic cop, sticking his hand up in the air, when required, to slow down the oncoming traffic, whilst I get used to operating each required manoever, with precision... I'm thinking of having a special 'DT lollipop crossing stick', made for him!
So, at present. I'm still wearing 'L' plates...So warning to all neighbours and friends... Keep your children and small animals in until the 'L' plates are removed....
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"Mabrook" would be the appropriate response in Arabic I'm sure- congratulations. It's used for all things from getting married, children or a new job and buying a small electrical household item.
ReplyDeleteLots of great bloggers out in the blogosphere blogging from chairs. Good luck on getting the hang of it. Here in Sweden wheelchair users are entitled to a personal assistant or two a couple of times a week, and my housemate's girlfriend used to use the money allocated for paying the assistants to take he and her out on trips, as she said he did all the things she'd be paying them for! I suppose it's similar to a carer's allowance.
Hello Calfy, how lovely to hear from you and thank you for your kind comments...Mabrook...now there's an interesting word, as you may know, I do have a great interest in 'words', particularly obscure ones!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having a PA, I know my husband used to get fed up pushing me around, However....he doesn't have too now...I've been liberated...Hurrah! Thank God for The NHS!
Are you still continuing your Arabic studies?
Fancy you being in Sweden, I believe some of my ancestors were Swedish
Are you still a Governess?
Sorry about the 20 questions, but I do like to know what's going on!
I've tried to get your Mum to write something on her blog...I miss her anecdotes! I do hope she and Elby are well...please pass on my regards,
Love Di.xx
I'm sure you'll be ready to paint some racing-stripes on your new wheels in no time :)
ReplyDeleteSo pleased you have your new chair and it's working out so well, Trubes. L plates seem a great fun idea :-D Will you be getting a bicycle horn on it?
ReplyDeleteThat is fantastic news, it must be so liberating :-)
ReplyDeleteI am sure it will get easier with time and you will gain more confidence :-)
Freedom to whiz again Trubes! Marvellous stuff, and I hope all goes well.
ReplyDeleteIt's only recently that I've been noticing more of these around, and a good old local chum and I often talk 'chairs' - he's delighted to be out and about again!
Another old chum here is trying to sell his wife's, because she doesn't ever use it, and he only wants £140 for it! I'd buy one just to keep safe for when my ol' legs give me gyp!
Jon once did a modification on a motorised wheelchair - hmmmmmm now there's a thought! My mind is boggling now! lol!
ReplyDeleteHello, at last, Mrs Nesbitt, so pleased to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteA modified wheelchair,,,now then, there's a thing, I wonder if Jon could make mine go faster, it does seem to trundle along rather slowly. DT complains that it makes his legs ache having to walk so slowly....There's no pleasing some people...I almost sold my soul to the devil to get the motorised chair, to save him from having to push me, and he still complains! Actually, that's not quite true, a very kind young Occupational Health Therapist took pity upon me when I said I wanted my independance when I went out.
Instead of being whizzed past things I want to look at when shopping, I can stop and have a good forrage!
It's a total anethema to men to understand a woman's mindset when shopping, In fact it's so complex, I won't go there.
Di..xxx
Hell Scrobs; So good to hear from you; I think I'll get a St George flag and attach it to the back of my chair, that way DT will be able to keep his eye on me when we go out. I could also get a whistle, then I could find him when disappears into the Lingerie department in M&S...This really mind stretching, there's so many dimensions to having one's own chair perhaps your friends in 'Sag Trousers', Corp, couls supply me with an old fashioned car horn, like what 'Genevieve', had.
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited..
Di..
Hi Vino Girl, lovelt to hear from you, Yes racing striped down the side of new wheels would be most appropiate, of course they would be blue and white. Sorry they can't be red and white but, as you probably know, I'm an Evertonian through and through.
ReplyDeleteHope all is good in Vinoland, particularly the gorgeous Vino Dawgies.
Di..xx
Hi Pippy, lovely to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteI have a horn on my chair but it is not loud enough, I have just been telling Scobs that I would like a car horn like 'what' Genevieve the car had, in the film of such!
Hope all is well in 'Pippy land'!
Lots of love...Di.xx
Hi Cherrypie, lovely to hear from you, I am really pleased with the new chair, it makes life so much easier for us both and DT is so pleased that I don't get cross any more, when Ican't har what he is saying to me when we're out and about.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for our little holiday in Northumberland, particularly staying at the Coach House, I've read some very good and possitive comments on 'Trip Adviser'...Can you recommend a nearby Pub or restaurant, wher we can eat on the Sunday...Please? Thanks ever so...Di..xxx
Oh good for you, Di! It actually makes being incapacitated (isn't that a better word than handicapped?) almost fun! Of course, we would all like to be mobile, full of pep and energy, and hop over those curbs, but that isn't reality for so many. I'm so glad you can get out and about and soon on your own, too. What a feeling of freedom you will have that day! Hubby will sit at home and fret over either getting a call from surgery or what time you'll make it home!
ReplyDeleteHi Di :-)
ReplyDeleteThere are one or two pubs within a short driving distance but I haven't eaten in them. We always eat at the Coach House because the food is so good there xx
It sounds a bit scary although my experience of pushing a wheelchair once was also scary!
ReplyDeleteBefore this it must have been like that radio programme, 'Does he take sugar?'!
Hi Leslie, being 'incapacitated', is how I consider myself to be, although i can't walk very far, I can function ok around the home and indulge in one of my favourite pastimes...'cooking'. which now ian joins in and helps, in fact he often takes over, doing the lifting of heavy stuff such as pans etc. In fact, he's turned into a pretty good cook, does a delicious fillet steak au poivre and even a good roast. He could never understand why a roast took so long, until he actually cooked one himself...voila!
ReplyDeleteDi..xx.
Hi Cherry, we will be dining at the Coach House, two out of the three nights we are stating so we will be looking for a carvery or similar on the Sunday, I think Leona mentioned a decent one nearby so we shall go there...Can't wait to go to Northumberland, only fourteen days to go! Ian played golf up there a few weeks ago, said it was lovely but didn't get time to look around.
ReplyDeleteHope all is well in Cherrypie land,
Di.xx
Hi Liz, I vaguely remember the radio programme ' Does he take sugar', was Alan Bennett involved in that, I wonder? I remember Thora Hird in a TV play of a similar title, again, I think Alan Bennett was the writer of that too.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting quite used to using my chair, it is so much better than Ian having to push me around. The next step is to have a ramp made, so that we can get it into the back of the car. Then we'll be able to take trips into North Wales and Anglesey...What was that little adage...'When the Lord closes a door, he surely opens a window'.
My new set of wheels certainly have opened new windows for me!
Hope you are well and mike is making a good recovery from his 'op'. Also hope George is being a good boy..(as if)!
Di..xx
Hi Trubes,
ReplyDeleteGood to see that you're blogging again (though my own output has been a bit limited in the past couple of months.)
I'm sure the new chair will make a big difference. Have you tried popping a wheelie yet?
It must be great to have your independence and not have to rely on your husband all of the time.
ReplyDeleteThose kerb manoeuvres sound rather like skate boarding and a bit dangerous too! Take care.
Hi Lakes, how lovely to hear from you and thankyou for your kind comments....Aye life is grand now that I have my new set of wheels, not as fast as the Honda or the Beamer, but I do get to talk to more people as I whizz along,,,It takes approx. 6mins to get down to the Abbey Pub and 8mims to get back, Ian is getting more exercise, having to pad alongside me.
ReplyDeleteNext step is to get a ramp so that we can load the chair into the Honda and go on longer journeys....Who knows, you may get knocked over by me as I whizz along Lord Street in Southport...Good job Lady Lakes is a doctor..Ha ha!
I've more tales to tell so do pop by again soon...Pip Pip!
Di..xx
Hello Cheshire Wife, lovely to hear from you and thank you for your kind comments. I am really getting quite nifty driving along and havn't had any skirmishes to date. It's just so good to get out and have some fresh air.
ReplyDeleteI do miss driving my car, but at present it is not advisable because of the drugs I take...My own little philosophy on life is, Why worry about things you can't change...deal with the present and the future will look after itself'! In my mind, simple but true.
Hope you and Mr CW are well and enjoying 'the fruits of your labours', in your fruit and vegetable garden...long may it flourish!
Di..xx
Di..xx