Power Chair Delivery Today - Advice Appreciated

Status
Not open for further replies.

sweetmozart

Active member
Joined
Feb 22, 2008
Messages
79
Reason
CALS
Diagnosis
05/2001
Country
US
State
MA
City
Greater Boston Area
Hubby's chair gets delivered today. (We ordered it right after the holidays.) I'm nervous about it because he has very little hand strength but he is getting a chair with a mini joystick. Our rep said it would work. Hopefully it does.

Going on advice here we ordered the lifting seat.

The other piece is my husbands desk top computer. The chair will have to work with it. I don't envision him wanting a laptop. It was suggested to get those plastic risers that people put under their bed legs to raise the desk enough for the chair to fit under it.

If anyone has some last minute advice on any of this, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
 
One question could be, what's the plan when he can no longer use the mini joystick? That can happen quickly.

If you raise the desk, will he be able to reach the computer well enough to use it? Is he using dictation control or what? Depending on what kind of monitor he has, you might need a more articulating stand for it.
 
There are different ways to drive a chair. Someone in our local group uses his head to drive. I would ask the company delivering it for their suggestions now and in the future. You should be able to add an attendant control (ask your loan closet if they have one.)

Let him test it out. You don't necessarily need a lot of strength for the joy stick but it will help if he uses it and you can go from there. In the future I would definitely either move the control so it becomes an attendant control or get a separate attendant control.

I have a customized office desk but I know that my chair won't work with it. It was part of a Murphy bed/office setup in my old condo. It works great right now but I know there will be modifications necessary if I want to keep using it......and I do.

My chair has not yet been delivered but I expect it soon. I have a loaner that has been passed around quite a bit.
 
A word of caution. I have a loaner chair from our ALS association as mine hasn't come in yet. Over the weekend my housekeepers cleaned my hardwood floors and the wheels started to be pretty squeaky. I also found that the chair would periodically lurch from time to time or turn on the clean floors. Last night it turned and lurched while I was passing the island in the kitchen, completely frustrated at trying to talk to my husband, and stupid me I had my right leg crossed over my left and sticking out. My right foot took the brunt of the collision with the island and I gouged my first wall when I pulled back. I think it is a bad sprain though I can put no weight on it. Moral of this story...go slow always, don't move with your legs crossed and be especially careful after cleaning your floors
 
I have a Quantum Edge 2.0 and I am more comfortable around the house and office with the chair set to P3 and the speed down to two bars being displayed. This minimizes the lurching and sudden quick turns that cause me to gouge the walls and doorways. Not sure how that would translate to another brand or model but hopefully this helps.

Wes
 
I started with a micro/mini joystick. It was good because it took minimal force/movement to drive the wheelchair. The position of the joystick had to be adjusted as my fingers got weaker. Once I could no longer move my fingers enough, we switched to a head array and that is how I currently control the wheelchair with head movements. I cannot drive for too long so I'm normally driven by somebody on the attendant control.

For the computer, when I could no longer click the mouse, I switched to Dragon Naturally Speaking to operate the computer.

Matt
 
Thanks, everyone.

The mini joystick didn't work. Our rep is going to swap it out for a foot control. It's like a joystick operated by foot. It should be perfect. My husband's ALS effected his arms first, so he has plenty of strength in his foot/leg for steering the chair. We'll see for sure when the chair comes back next week.

I am going to try to raise his desk so the chair will work with his computer. Fingers crossed on that...

Matt, hubby uses a foot mouse to click. He can still use his arm to move the mouse around. He will never be able to use voice control as his speech is already pretty hard to understand.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top