Give Me Strength

My power chair Saga continues. I was really hoping to hear back from my durable medical equipment provider about repairs to the seat base of my wheelchair which I broke a couple of weeks ago. As of last Monday there had been no progress made regarding its authorization for repair. I remembered the last time I had this problem with the broken riser arm that I had the boys at U C A T just weld the piece back into place. So I called them in hopes their technician was working and I would just have them weld the piece again. But of course the holidays is no time to try to get services from State agency. It seems any and all folks are combining their holiday time in any Annual time they may have. I cannot fault them, I remember when I was a state employee I did the same thing and who knows how much consternation I caused folks who desperately were trying to get information.. By Christmas Eve I had not received any calls to the many requests I left. It was during that time a light bulb went off in my head: why don't I just take my chair to a welding shop and have them tack the arm back in place. At this point I was getting pretty stir crazy being trapped at home. So on Thursday I began checking out welding shops in my area. Of course many of the smaller shops were also closed until after the new year. I finally found a larger shop said they could do the work if I gave them an hour lead time. I sat on this information remainder of the day and decided the next day, Friday I would drag my chair into the shop and have it do the weld.

I discussed I need to give my chair into the shop with Dianne who was more than willing to do the driving. We decided that it was probably easier for everyone involved if Dianne would just take the chair and I would stay home. She had a full afternoon running around and errands to do. But it all worked out perfectly. She dropped the chair I did some errands and was called within an hour saying chair was done and she could pick it up any time. I was astounded when she brought chair home and I witnessed the excellence of the work performed on the power chair. And even better they did this work free of charge! Why had I waited so long to have this problem rectified? Seriously I think I lost more than two weeks of volunteer work and the physical workouts because my failed chair in my failed actions to take charge. This is a lesson that I continually receive and I do not seem to learn this lesson.

Odd as it is I didn't use my chair the day following its repair, electing to stay in my manual chair as we the family spent the afternoon brainstorming some problems of repair the household. Today however I did mount up and headed out with the family to do some shopping. The tilt mechanism on the chair worked perfectly and this weld job was much better than the last. It felt great to be back in my chair and back in control of my life. However, I have detected a weird popping noise from my front left castor and I'm sure the castor is worn out and needs replacement. So it's back to either the shop or U C A T to see about a replacement. I plan to drive this chair as much as I can in the interim. It just never stops. But I'm going to see the bright side of this challenge and be thankful for my health, my family and when I have because I do have a whole lot going for me.