Well this SUCKS!!!

John Pollman

Member
Messages
1,332
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
I made a hard decision today. It's scary, but I have started the process of getting a wheelchair. :(

Yesterday morning, the previous 8 days had yielded three falls for me. Two that I didn't break anything, but twisted an ankle and got a bad bruise. Yesterday, I had two falls within two hours of each other. Another twisted ankle (other side this time), and the second time, I landed right on my tailbone.

I don't know how long the process is going to take, but I'm waiting for a call from my doctor. He has to write me a scrip, then I can take it to Binson's and they say that they can process the request; He said that BCBS should cover it and that it doesn't take too long.
I don't want to really need it and then find out that it takes four months or more to get. I'd rather have it already here when the time comes. But I'm afraid that the time is very near. The day I have dreaded for about 3-1/2 years is almost here.

I don't know how, but I will get through this somehow!
 
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John, I admire your strength and your attitude as you go through this. I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt, your decision to be proactive in getting the things you need is a wise one.
 
Better to have and not need than need and not have. Sorry to hear about the falls, that's kind of scary!

There's nothing weak about being a little help along the way when you have the strengthen to admit you need it.
 
John,
Glad to hear you survived the falls with just sprains. Just a thought, because I don't really know your situation, but in addition to the chair, maybe it's time to strategically place some hand rails around the house to grab onto for balance. Looks really don't matter for stuff like this. Take a look at where you are having trouble and give yourself something sturdy to hold on to in those areas.
 
John,

I am so sorry that a wheelchair looms in your near future. I have a friend that is wheelchair bound, he should be the Poster Child for how to live with a wheelchair. He puts that chair between things that are closer together than that chair is wide---and he does it at full speed. He goes through the buffets, clothing stores, to the doctor, etc. as well as any normal bodied adult.

I often wonder how many broken lamps, gouged furniture, spilled food dishes, chipped porcelain, etc. it took for him to get that good. I think what I am trying to say is treat the chair like you treated a motor when you first got one---practice and set goals for yourself. Gee that is so easy to say as I sit here with all of my parts working (well, except the brain), no debts that need payment, etc.

My very best to you sir.
Enjoy,
JimB

ps Have you been given coordination and balance exercises to do? If not, please do inquire about them.
 
John,

I have been stubbornly refusing to spend any time in a chair for over twenty years. No doubt has kept me from doing some things I could have done from a chair, don't know if the trade off was a wise one or not. The usual fear that once in a chair I'd find it too easy to stay in the chair. Only in the last year that I have pretty much had to use a cane full time, it has became the rule instead of the exception with cane/noncane usage probably reversing in the last year. part of the reason was balance and falls. Veered towards a barbecue pit about six feet long last week. While the lid was closed, it was warm and putting out a lot of heat. The third leg saved the day.

I am not walking in your shoes but some that are somewhat similar. The almost nonstop cane usage tells me the wheelchair is not far away, at least for some times. I made six trips to the grocery store, 26 mile round trip, last winter before on the sixth try in three weeks I finally got many of the things I needed.

Things change and to a large extent we have to roll with the flow. Good luck and do what you have to in order to quit falling. Sooner or later something nasty will happen. We don't think much about falls but last year a cousin of mine had a simple fall, whacked his head on concrete and we planted him. I still get on the roof a couple times a year, somehow I think a fall wouldn't be a good idea!

Hu
 
Thank you all!

It's a hard day. The task was much easier than anticipated. I went to my doctor and he wrote me a scrip on the spot. I took it to Binson's and figured I'd get the paperwork started because I had no idea how long it was going to take. Well they took my info and in about 45 minutes, they loaded one in my truck. It wasn't as hard to get as I thought and I'm glad to have it. But it's also freaking me out. I know that a wheelchair isn't the end of the world, but it does make things much more difficult. I'm gonna find a way to get over this hurdle too!
 
...but it does make things much more difficult...

Indeed, but it also makes it more difficult to do things like spraining ankles, breaking wrists, or worse, too. ;)

The things that the chair makes difficult to do now are things that will eventually become difficult either way...with or without the chair. On the other hand, it may make some things easier now that have been difficult in the past. I'm sure it's a big reality adjustment, but I'm also sure you'll handle it with flying colors. :thumb:
 
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