I have been stuck indoors since the 10th January, only going out for hospital appointments, and I have to admit to feeling lonely and isolated. I have now received my blue badge which means we can park in disabled bays, and we have been using a wheelchair we borrowed from my mum, but we decided to get one of our own given that we do not think I am going to have surgery until the back end of summer. We made this decision for two reasons, firstly because we don’t like the idea that my mum doesn’t have the wheelchair for my stepdad should they need it, and secondly because their wheelchair does not have a parking brake.
Choosing a wheelchair.
Mr H thought it would be beneficial to get a wheelchair that I could maneuver a little myself, so I had a little control back, and when I started to research the chairs available I decided to get one that had arms that pivoted backwards. This means I can go into a restaurant and sit at the table. I also wanted one where the back would fold down as this makes it smaller for transporting. I narrowed my choice to two and in the end I picked the one which I thought looked nicest and by happy coincidence was also the cheaper of the two. I ordered the chair and it arrived the next day. Yesterday (Saturday) Mr H took it out of the packaging and I sat in it for the first time.
The Chair.
My first impression was that the chair looked nice. Not clunky and square like the one we are borrowing. When opened out the chair also locks open whereas my mums chair wobbles about a lot and I feel very insecure in it. The leg rests are height adjustable so Mr H set it up for me and I sat in the chair while he did. The seat felt comfortable, unlike the borrowed chair, and it is lighter too.
A little bit of freedom.
I am quite looking forward to being able to get out a little more. The doctor has given me some liquid morphine to take when I do go out to manage the pain caused by being upright, and now I have a pretty chair to sit in. We have a bag for the back so we can pop shopping into it too. Today while Mr H cooked our lunch I sat in the chair in the kitchen for a little bit . I even managed to maneuver around the kitchen a little and it felt nice to be in control and independent. Of course this doesn’t mean I will be taking myself out to the shops, we live at the bottom of a hill after all, but there is some possibility there. We have also booked to go to our favourite hotel the Eroticon Weekend. I have telephoned to say we need a ground floor room with wheelchair access and we are looking forward to a change of scenery and some time alone.
Sweetgirl x
