Dont get a motorized chair yet

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TRACY22

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Gotcha.... all you stalkers of this site that are not participating or denying you need a chair well, suck it up and believe the doc or us.

Getting up and dressing on Fri. i took a header into the dresser and into the floor
(arms dont work to good and weak legs). took 20-30 min and got in my chair. didnt feel to bad til sun. when my back(messed up before) just really locked up on me. could barely move.

not complaining......thing still were good on sun. onc e in the chair and not moving anything, i went to the car show(Good Guys), had a burger and enjoyed 4 hrs with my son. without the chair i would be 3 days in bed and hessitant to go out.

now for those who are posting.... what did you do this weekend with your chair?

Ps.. mtpockets... i dont like car rides either with my back.... rather take my chair and do laps around the block
 
Tracy,
What sort of chair do you have? It sounds like you can get around pretty well with it. Also, when did you "bite the bullet" and get the chair? At what stage were you at with your walking? My sister is looking into the chair a little (her husband possibly more than her at this point). Her husband said that so much depends on what insurance is willing to cover. I know that ALS associations can help out with chairs as well. Any advice?

Marcia
 
Marcia...I see you are near Rochester MN so I assume your sis goes to Mayo Clinic ALS Clinic? We got our power chair from Anderson Wheelchair in Rochester and because of the ALS clinic there they have had many ALS people are very familiar with ALS needs. We were clueless and the salesman kept patiently explaining why we might need which features and which ones usually get through Medi-care and insurance. The Clinic also has a 'wheelchair clinic' to help figure out what you need, but we couldnt get in while we were there and live far away. The salesman put together a good package for us...we got a Permobil 300.

One thing that shocked me was that it we ordered it in August and didnt get until November. We had thought we were being so pro-active (he could still walk good) but by the time it came we were desperate for it and my husband had to borrow a manual chair to get by. My husband took some horrible falls and looking back I cant believe the risks we took because we were kind of in shock and denial. So act early!
Good Luck--Beth
 
early

got the ok from the doc (he stessed it) 6 months after diag. and it took 3 months to get all oks and the delivery. main purpose of the chair at that time was; to prevent injuries, conserve energy and no one really can guess how fast your progression will be! took me another 8 mo. to find a van i could afford and traveled 1200 miles to pick up a used one.

i personally see/hear of many of us that are just looking into a powerchair but are TOTALLY dependent of others to move them anywhere. heck one freind of mine and i enjoy bump drafting with our chairs.....wives cant keep up..its great
 
Beth,
I am near Rochester, but my sister lives in St. Paul so she goes to the ALS clinic up there. Mayo has such a great reputation, but I'm not sure if it would be better than St. Paul and would be a lot less convenient for her to get to appointments. If it's okay with you, I'll relay your advice about the Anderson Wheelchair place to by brother-in-law. Where is Medicine Lake in comparison to Libby? My sister's husband grew up in Libby.

Tracy,
Okay...have to ask...what is 'bump drafting'?

Marcia
 
wheel chair

Hi, This is my first post. I started with foot drop in the fall of 2005 and was offically diagnosed in the spring of this year. Walking is becoming so hard and I fall hard about 1time a week now. I use a manual wheel chair when we go out or the motorized shopping carts in the store. I can't walk that far anymore without becoming completely exhausted. When is it time to get a chair? My arms are weak now so manuals are hard as well. My Dr. didn't ask me about a wheelchair on my last visit although I told him I was falling more. Is is good to continue to walk or is it better to give it up?
I am so confused and frustrated.
Lisa :?
 
Tracy been waiting for my chair 1 month

Sorry to leave you out too Lisa in the title.
Falling gets old doesn't it? Get grass all in your mouth, the dog climbs all over you like you are one of her rag toys. If your lucky you land in the ant bed. Whew what fun.
I Gave up and ordered a permobile over a month ago, called this week and no one knows who ordered the chair or from where or which one or what kind of cushion, etc etc etc.
I love the help they get now a days. Well maybe I have a chair coming maybe a potty who knows with them doing the ordering.
My advice get a chair before you hurt yourself falling. This is the truth, in the past 9 months I have fallen over 40 times and not broken a bone , yet. Some of us are hard heads. You have enough problems without a broken hip or arm. Bite the bullet get the chair. Besides it may take awhile for it to arrive.(Just my 2 cents)
Have a great day,
AL
 
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Lisa,

You need to save your strength - get a chair.

From what you posted, I really believe your time for a chair is now. Get a good one which is motorized and comfortable, you will be spending lots of time in it from now on.

Don't wear yourself out trying to walk - save that strength so you can enjoy your outings for a longer period of time. Good luck on your search for a good wc.

Take care,
Joel
 
Joel you sneakly little bogger

you caught me with your title. Still waiting for my chair ordered over a month ago and approved bi iinsurance, where is it? Maybe they sent it to Iraq by mistake. Who knows....

Did you ever read my story about laying outside in the rain when I fail? A motorized chair would have prevented this story.
Just in case you missed it:
MtPockets said:
Yeah AL that's the grass in my back yard since I'm afraid of the lawnmower now. haha If I fell in it doubt the wife would even notice. Looks like it needs cutting pretty bad.

Another tale of woe is me:

I was in my wheelchair on a farm we use to own before the DX. It was a horse farm but all we had was about 30 chickens that I had raised from biddies and a cocker spaniel. They both followed me everywhere thinking I was their mother I guess. Looked like the pied piper sometimes.

My wife had left for town and I decide to go feed the chickens in my wheelchair, now we are talking about 8 acres of land with the chickens being about 300 feet away from the house. Neighbors are far away. Yeah I know you know what is coming. I did not have my back anti-flip wheels on the wheelchair, they got in the way too much, yeah right, started to the chicken coop and began to pick up speed downhill, tried to slow with wheel bars without much effect, when a root suddenly grew out of the ground right in front of me. Never saw it there before so figured it must have just grown instantly, boy farm fertilizers are great, my wheelchair flipped over backward and I hit my head on the NEW root. Nice!

I tried to get up and recover my pride,which by now I had very little left, looked around to see if any neighbors were in their yards that might help, of course not. I had so many spasms and weakness I could not get up so decided to lay their looking at the beautiful blue sky and petting the faithful dog while a flock of about 30 chickens scratched all around me and were wondering what happened to breakfast.

Then noticed the sky was no longer blue or beautiful, but had a rain cloud headed my way. Well the pasture needed watering anyway, so lay there for a few hours looking at raindrops falling on my head, hey sounds like a song..:) Then my wonderful understanding wife drove up, got out of the car and said," What do you think you are doing?" I don't think I could repeat what I said, but don't think it was very good at the time.
ha ha ha :oops: :oops: :oops:

Oh well, another tale in the life and legend of stupid hollow, or is that sleepy, get the two mixed up. I think there is a lesson here somewhere.
God Bless and have the best day possible.
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Thanks everyone for your reply, advice and most of all story. I have started the process to get involved in the ALS clinic here in Atlanta, GA. I hope to have alot of questions answered then. I think I will have them start the wheel chair process!:)
 
MtPockets,

Loved the story - so glad you can now laugh about it! If we loose our ability to see the humorous side of such events it would be hard to go on! Thanks for sharing!

Quick question for you - what did you mean when you said "you caught me with your title"?

Sorry, but I missed this somehow, maybe my brain is taking a holiday or something.

I enjoy your posts!

Thanks and God Bless!

Joel
 
caught me with

Tracy caught me with don't get motorized chair yet......:-D
 
mtpockets... funny guy

mtpockets,
you wrote your story perfectly. i could picture the whole thing. very funny!

just wondering... how long after your symptoms started (question for anyone) did you need a motorized whellchair? and how did you know what to buy? i don't think my aunt is at that stage yet but reading more of these postings, it seems like something we should be prepared for. and did you have to make special arrangements in the house for the wheelchair... stairs?

i hope my aunt finds a time when she learns to accpet als and will log onto this forum. she's a major spit-fire! you guys would get a lot of laughs out of her!

thanks for all the tips and advice!
 
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