Well, I’ve resisted it for a long time and baulked at the idea. But I’ve had to bite the bullet and get one. What am I talking about you might wonder? Well I’m joining the wheelchair brigade, after months of nagging from my daughter.
Not this double scooter I might add. It’s a pic she took, suggesting it for me and her dad!
Whenever we’ve gone out in the past it’s been a struggle staying the course, because of arthritis pain. I know a lot of my lovely readers share the same problem so you’ll know what I mean. And I’ve only been as far as the dentists since March, so my last shopping trip was many months ago.
The trouble is, arthritis has decided to have a go at all my joints, which I’m not happy about, but you get what you’re given don’t you. This last few weeks have left me hardly able to stand. I’ve always found standing in one spot a problem, but it’s a lot, lot worse. And not being able to go anywhere has really put the lid on it.
Jane started looking them up on line after visiting the local shop that sells such things. She kept saying ‘look at this mum, look at that one mum’ while I studiously got more involved in my crosswords, or whatever. I kept trying to ignore her as best I could but she’s like a dog with a bone. She kept on and on until I looked at what she was showing me.
Joining the Wheelchair Brigade – reluctantly…
I immediately screwed my face up, as a wheelchair is the last thing I’ve ever wanted. But needs must when the devil drives and all that.
I don’t have anything against actual wheelchairs and of course if you need them you need them. I’m suffering from ‘mumitis’. A condition brought on by looking after my own mum who was very disabled with the same problem that I have (and a broken hip). It brings back lots of bad memories of the struggles we had with her, after looking after her full time for years.
Her wheelchair was an NHS one. Red, of course,as they all were then. I don’t know what colour they are now, but it weighed a ton. Taking her out in it wasn’t the easiest of things to do, especially on rough surfaces.
Getting it into the car boot was a nightmare – it was so heavy. When Jane and I took her out, Jane had a job-on lifting it into the boot and she was a lot younger then.
Hard life
Anyway. All in all, I didn’t want anything remotely like the chair she had many years ago, as I saw my mum all the time when I thought about it. That sounds bad doesn’t it, which it’s not meant to be, as we had many funny times with her. But the older and more infirm she got, the harder life became.
When she broke her hip and then started with dementia that was pretty awful for her and us. She struggled on to be 92 when she died, so as you can imagine I saw a lot of that chair. It looked like it had come out of a sanatorium in a sci-fi film. That’s just what it reminded me of. But at least we could get her out and about in it, as the alternative was stay in and go nowhere. Not an option with my mum, who loved going out.
Back to my tale…
Anyway, back to my story. After searching online and not being able to find anything that looked remotely not too old fashioned and ancient, we found one that I liked and duly ordered it. Of course it was out of stock, so I settled down to expecting it to arrive after Christmas.
Only about four days later, it turned up. So Kevin took it to the living room to assemble and have a go there. After I got over the shock of having to face the day when I go out, I thought that I’d better just get on with the inevitable. So I did, much to everyone’s amusement.
I sat in it very tentatively at first as it did look small, which is what I wanted. Being of small stature and not very heavy, I would have looked like I needed to grow to fit a bigger chair, which is quite impossible as you know.
Round and round
Jane grabbed the handles and off we went at ninety miles an hour round the carpet, to the point that I wondered if she thought she was on a ride in the Pleasure Beach. Eventually she stopped spinning me round in circles as I was feeling quite travel sick by then. Next, we tried the cushion that fits into the chair seat to lift you up a bit.
Hubby, who was still busy with his iPad, looked up to see what he thought. I felt as though I was the Princess and the Pea as I seemed to grown four inches in ten minutes. We all looked at one another without saying anything, often more meaningful than words, then I blurted out that I looked like a pea on a drum as the saying goes.
I felt as though I was at the top of a tower block looking down, so after several discussions out came the cushion. More swinging me round in circles, much to her amusement.
Muffin, one of our dogs was petrified, while Koko seemed shocked but took it in his stride and sat on my knee for a ride. I got them all to sit in it one by one and see what they thought and was shocked when they found it fine. They are all a lot bigger than me, and to me it seemed on the small side from back to front.
Not impressed
I was wheeled in front of the mirror a million times to see what I looked like in a chair, and I must say I wasn’t impressed. You see, the trouble is that I am stuck somewhere in my twenties or thirties in my mind. Not my real age at all, so I associate wheelchairs with very old people like my mum. Which of course is rubbish, as all ages have them, don’t they.
Jane tried folding it up and lifting it as though she were lifting it into the boot and said it wasn’t bad, bearing in mind she is suffering from aches and pains like good old me. Generous aren’t I passing that one on!
It only weighs 8.5 kilograms and 6 without the foot-rests so it’s not as bad as some, I think. Anyway, for the time being if I want to go out it’s that or nothing. So hopefully when (if) it settles down a bit I shall be able to do some walking again, which is my intention.
But meanwhile, if you see me, say hello at the wonderment of me in a chair. Although I won’t have my ‘go faster stripes’ on as I’ve not told Jane I want some. Can you remember them many years ago, when people had them painted on the sides of the car? Oh my goodness, there will be something going off when the day arrives that I make my debut!!
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