Armrests And Hope

I have been trying to reach Brian the wheelchair guy for the past three or four days, ever since he left a message about the motors, I'm thinking about getting on the new power chair if and when I orderat. Actually I am a little confused from what he says Brian makes it sound like possibly he is working on an order now to send to the insurance people about further refinements to power chair I'm using currently. I asked about the reality of getting larger motors and he said he would check into it anyway, he got back to me or to my answering service that, yes he can get the motors but the trade-off would be I would lose much of  ability to climb hills in trade for the speed I crave and he continued saying that not only would the ability to climb hills take a hit but the larger motors would also drain the battery's that much quicker. This information really did not surprise me I kind of thought the larger motors might have not only that but with my weight that's also got a be a drain on the batteries.This kind of threatens me however I find few hills and I could possibly live with the drain on the battery… I have before and got fine.

One of the things that has vexed me ever since I got this chair has been the armrests. I'm still trying to wrap my head around why anybody would want to put quick release arms on a power chair like I've got. To store! In the rear for the armrests traditionally is bolted on the chair instead of bolts holding the arm onto the chair there is a quick release button. When one presses this button it must engage something like a ball bearing which allows the arm to quickly become unhinged from the chair. This is the principle for quick release tires on solid frame manual wheelchairs. This technology allows the user to quickly pop off the wheels and store them in the back and allow the chair to be put in the back of the car. I was surprised the generalized the technology to armrests which is still good. If one presses too hard against the armrests that actually will pop the armrest off which just happened to me number of times. Because my scoliosis (which is getting worse and worse) I throw now, a great deal of weight to my right side pushing against the armrest. Casey, my occupational therapist, is also provided me with a 2 inch form piece that I wedged between myself and the armrest which allows me to sit a bit straighter in my chair the only problem is this past to the pressure against the armrest. During the season of inclement weather or cold weather I will wear a jacket of course adding to the pressure against the side of the chair and eventually the quick release button pops off. Now that I wear my seatbelt most of the time when this happens the popping off of the armrest at least they in my chair if not I can see myself falling out of my chair. When this arm becomes disengaged from the main body of the chair I am at, I feel, great risk because the site also houses the joy sick I used to drive my chair. It's very difficult to drive the chair with this arm piece down. Again, if I'm lucky and I have the side of the chair and lock in to its housing arm just sort of the way down however if that peace is not locked into its housing than the arm hangs loose hanging on to the chair only by the court from the drive box and this is very dangerous. The arms, disengaged a number of times when I have been transferring my bed to the chair in the mornings. The drive box is quite heavy and add significantly to the weight of the arm and at times it is all I can do to stay in my chair and tried to lift this disengaged arm at the same time and try to put it back onto the chair. At first I cannot do this now I can but is still difficult and disheartening.

In meeting with my provider, Brian, I brought this up and he almost nonchalantly said yes the company's discontinuing that feature. I was so pleased to hear this that I pretty much lost my anger at being put in this position for as long as I had suffered with this defect. So, the new chair should have permanently attached arms and in the meantime we're going to figure out the specs for the right side of my chair.

So I'm almost a ecstatic about repairsto my chair and having open conversation with my OT and durable medical provider this reality is almost more than I can bear. I just hope I can get the process started and repaired before anything that really happens