Wheelchair Wrangler in Training

My wheelchair arrived on Monday. Yay!!!

Since I am happy with their service and price, and they also have clever items to help disabled people’s everyday life, I’m letting you know that I bought my wheelchair from A & J Mobility Solutions. If you live in Australia, it may worthwhile to have a look.

I ordered a light weight aluminium one. It felt heavier than I expected. I took time to familiarise myself to different parts and levers. Everything is easy to assemble or de-assemble once I get used to what I am doing. I can even take wheels off by just pushing a button, if I need to. And it is easy to fold to put in my car boot. Lifting and pushing it into car boot is a bit of struggle and I need to practice or find some tricks to make it easier.

I sat on it and fiddled with wheels inside of the house. As it is a small house, there is not much space to move around. It was funny to look at my dogs face. They were very curious, but they were not sure what was happening.

I took the chair out to back veranda and had a bit more test drive. On the concrete surface, it was easy to wheel, and it was amazing to feel how flexible those wheels are. Poppy loyally walked next to the wheel with me, even I was moving very slowly. I think she liked the fact my face is closer to her when I’m in the wheelchair. Basil had to sit on my lap, of course. In his mind, he was supervising my movements. Each time I stopped, he looked up and gave me the look “Why do you have to stop now?”

That will be exactly how we would be like when we finally get to the dog exercise park one day, after they run in the huge park like crazy dogs and after they sniffed every scent in the park.

On Wednesday, I had a doctor’s appointment. I took the chair in the car, but I walked to the medical centre as it was a short walk and I was running late.

I was going to let my GP know that I am a proud owner of a wheelchair now, because he tried to help me. But somehow, I missed the opportunity. I blame HIM as he kept stirring interesting chat with me and my brain completely forgot about it from laughing too much. Amazingly, while chatting and making me laugh, he managed to do all medical check-ups and ordered two more tests, one is lung capacity test and the other is Holter Heart Monitor. He even cheekily told me the name of the lung test was his Haiku…

But he assured me that he would keep trying and look for anything that would help me. I am really lucky to have a committed and determined doctor. I don’t feel ashamed of repeating it over and over.

I had planned to go to chemist and fill my prescriptions, then go to supermarket and do a quick food shopping.

So I took out the wheelchair from my car. It wasn’t hard to wheel in the shopping plaza, although it moved as slow as my extremely slow walking. In other words, there was no difference in speed wise. However, I was excited as I didn’t need to worry about collapsing from exertion and I could also look at shop windows and people while I was moving. When I feel tired, I just stop wheeling and wait until I feel I can do it again. No need to look for a place to sit or even walk to there. It is definitely better than walking. Because I am already sitting, I don’t get the urge to sit down. This wheelchair released me from the virtual prison I had been trapped for quite some time. I felt I had my confidence back on my face.

My pharmacist noticed my wheelchair. After he dispensed medicines, he came down from his station and had a chat with me. He may have worried if my health was deteriorating badly. He seemed to be happy to know that I can still walk short distance and was not depressed about becoming the wheelchair owner. He is polite, gentle and calm. He is cute in intelligent way. He remembers his customers’ name and tries to greet them with smile whenever possible. He cares about his customers and takes his profession seriously with pride without showing it. I noticed he also keeps close communication with doctors.

I leave my scripts with them, so that they could deliver medicine to me if I ever get too sick to pick them up. I haven’t requested this service yet, but it gives me peace of mind to know that I won’t be out of medication when I need them most.

It was nice to chat with him. He also made me laugh describing how to drive a wheelchair.

My next destination was supermarket across from the chemist. I grabbed a little red basket and placed it on my lap. I was greeted by a security guard with smile. He even asked me if I needed help. I thanked him, but I told him that I would like to go through isles slowly by myself. I wanted to get the feel of shopping in wheelchair with my own pace. And I assured him that I would ask him if I needed a help.

WELL!!!! This was different!!! Usually, security guard stalks me while I shop. Because I am very slow to go through isles, they always suspect me of stealing. Sometimes, I greet them with smile. But it becomes awkward when I bump into them too often and they sort of look away to avoid eye contact. Or I catch them looking at me from behind with the look on their face. And I really really hated it.

He kept some distance from me but was stalking me in different way. He was stalking me, so that he could jump in and help me when I needed help. After he found out I could stand up when I need to, he realised it was best to leave me alone.

The small basket filled out quickly. I can only get small number of items with one trip to the supermarket. I need a new strategy to do grocery shopping. At the moment, I don’t have enough energy and strength to walk to do the shopping. So shop a little basket full of items is still amazing achievement for me.

I slowly wheeled back to my car. At the exit, a cleaner stood in front of the automatic door sensor to keep the door open until I have safely crossed the door.

I really enjoyed my very first wheelchair ride in public. Of course, I was very exhausted. However, I did things that were not possible if I didn’t have a wheelchair.

Big smile on my face didn’t disappear for very long time even after I got home.