I am so confused about how to move my brother

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Thank you all for responses, both positive and negative - it's helped to figure out which way to go. Thanks again.
 
Sounds like the train might be therapeutic for him, if he wants to take pictures. He must still have the use of his hands, so that is great! You just have to finally decide it's the way to go and hope for the best! Airlines are no better at transporting pALS that lack mobility. It all depends on the people involved!

Go for it and good luck!
 
Mom has a super-duper wheelchair, all electric, etc. She's sat in the chair for several days instead of getting in her bed so her being in the WC for the travel should be no problem. We should be able to get her lift and potty chair in the back of the van. If not I guess we could rent a little Uhaul trailer to put those things in.

I'm not sure my step-dad has thought very far ahead about if they had to stop for her to use the restroom. I'd have no clue what could be done. My mom can only be moved via a lift due to her weight. I know some of the rest areas along the interstates have pretty good sized handicap restrooms. Most all motels/hotels have handicap accessible rooms, but I know if hotels run out of regular rooms they'll rent those as a last resort to non-handicapped customers after a certain hour.

They have a friend that can go with them so there'd be 2 men to help with mom. I think they'd planned to drive straight thru, roughly 18 hours. They'll hopefully get some good medicine for her so she can be relaxed most of the trip.

It's just really comes down to this is about the only way for them to get to Florida and at some point you bite the bullet, do what you have to do and hope for the best. There's only so much planning you can do. And when we flew her out earlier in the summer we thought we'd addressed any possible problems. HA! It turned literally into a huge nightmare. But we got her there and got her home. No way she can go on a plane again though.

I've never been on a train and not sure about the motion but if y'all go that route I'd check w/ the doc about some type of medicine for motion sickness just in case. If it were me and your brother could remain in his bed on the train the whole time, I'd see if Amtrak can help get him into bed and that's where he'd be the whole trip as long as you can prop him up to eat (which it looks like that's what you're planning). Maybe not the best option but if your goal is to get him near you and this is the only way, then you do what you have to do. Then when you arrive have someone arranged to help get him back in the wheel chair. Continental airlines were very willing to help us and I don't see why Amtrak wouldn't be either.

Just do it! Take a leap of faith and do it. It's not going to go perfectly but it sounds like you're prepared enough to make any emergency decisions on the fly. Good luck!
 
be bloody realistic will you. fly. in his chair. under sedation.
assistance to arrive, check in, board, travel, disembark. journey on.
great train trip but maybe that is not actually best for him - go to the trucker traffic cams on the net to remind him of what he is missing.
tony
 
be bloody realistic will you. fly. in his chair. under sedation....
tony
In this country, and in the USA, you can't fly in your chair. You must transfer from a wheelchair to an aisle chair to travel to your seat, be moved into your seat, then the reverse at your destination. Besides, the man has a phobia of flying.
 
Hi,
I'm in Illinois now for a few days, sorting thru my brother's storage bin, getting things
ready to go, visiting him, etc.

We've pretty much decided to fly. Amtrak won't help lift people, etc. Having spent time
with my brother now, I am able to see what I am able to do, and what he is able to do.
The train, nice as it might be, is going to be too strenuos. He is resigned to flying. Not liking
it, but accepting it (me too - I'm not fond of flying either) The airlines, having called several,
will provide assistance from wheelchair to airplane seat and airplane seat to wheelchair, even if the person is "immobile". That had been my biggest worry.

Our best bet is to get him here as quickly as possible. Once here, we can go on a short
train ride at some point for several hours. So, wish him well, we'll be leaving the end of the week.

I appreciate people's responses! Thank you so much. I got a particular kick out of manwithaplan's response. You're right, you know! If he had lived closer, a van or something would have been fine, too. But 2000 miles is winding up being too far for all that.
 
So glad you are with him. Good luck!
 
god glad to hear this
 
Have a good trip, I hope all will go well.
 
Might be good to read this before you go.

AL.

Travel Tips
 
Thank you. Yes, and right now I am lining up the condom catheter thing.....I called the nursing home and the nurse seemed to think "no
worries", just let them know the day before and they'd call the doctor and get rx for it.....but I know enough not to wait until the "last
minute" when things can go wrong and am checking it out beforehand...there's a good thread in this forum about it.....he had a texas catheter the hospital sent
him in to the nursing home, but they dont' seem to be able to apply it correctly so it will stay on.
 
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