Wheelathon

[davidgillon]

So I was out running errands* and stuff from 9AM til 2PM today, chance that I would have managed that on crutches, pretty much zero.

One of the errands was a doctor's appointment and it was the first time my GP's seen me in the chair, in fact first time she's been aware I have it. I was expecting a reaction, I wasn't expecting it to be delight! (And this was old set-in-her-ways GP, not young go-getting GP). And she was adamant that I need to contact Wheelchair Services and talk to them about actually assessing me/getting a chair that meets my actual needs. Even more surprising, an utterly non-judgemental 'are you still walking?"

And just to throw the Wheelchair Services thing into stark relief, half an hour after that, I wheeled up a kerb-cut, the chair flexed because I didn't hit it straight on and it isn't rigid enough, and I managed to sublux a hip while theoretically sitting still. Fortunately it was 10 seconds of 'shit! fuck!' before it re-located itself. but now I'm home and I've been out for the daily waddle, I realise that my SI joint isn't right either. I'm not certain if that's from the same incident or not, but it's going into an email to Wheelchair Services as if it was.

* Doctors, blood test, chemists, buy birthday cards, break for coffee/breakfast, shopping, PC World, garden centre, and rest....

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

I'm thrilled your GP is on yr side re a decent wheelchair, horrified that that heavy steel tank still flexed enough to sublux your hip, and impressed by yr stamina! Six hours!

Read about a new W/C wheel which you pull instead of pushing; they claim the pull uses 8/9 shoulder muscles, while the push uses 2/9.

http://www.rowheels.com

Local to me but I'd never heard of them before, but then I'm a powerchair person all the way.

[davidgillon]

I'm dyspraxic, I'll never get used to pulling in one direction to go the other!

(This is genuinely something I have major problems with, I can handle left/right, but anything more abstract than that and I repeatedly do the opposite to what I need).

[sunflowerinrain]

Can they get you a lightweight chair now? I always had to buy my own, but they're only about £200 for a basic one. I'd love a Carbon Black... if anyone would like to give me £7000...

[davidgillon]

Wheelchair Services will definitely do lightweight, active user, rigid framed chairs (the rigid frame pushes it into the £1000+ range), I know one or two people who have them, but they tend to see cheap and folding as adequate unless you can show them a reason they aren't. I think I can definitely show them the folding chair isn't rigid enough as it's actually causing damage (it's 4pm and I've only just made it out of bed, my hips and pelvis really aren't happy today), but whether that will be enough I don't know. I hope it will be enough to finally get me an assessment, but the assumption was always that I'd have to buy my own in the end, hopefully with Wheelchair Services throwing in a voucher.

ETA: I've now looked up the Carbon Black, so that's what they're called! I've seen pics before, and yes, I'd love one too, but not at that price!