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| New Wheels and Surgery to repair ME |
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I struggled with what to title this blog for quite some time. I wanted to announce that I'll be out of service for a while, that I received a powerchair that has immensely improved my "quality of life" and to ask that you all pray about a blog that I hope to post tomorrow about some government legislation that will affect us "wheelers" and need your support for.
First, you've probably noticed that I have not been around as much as I'd like to be writing and responding to blogs, sending private messages of encouragement and what-nots. I've been a little bit "under-the-weather" fighting an infected "wound" on my "bottom." If you know me, I'm a full-time wheelchair user and "bottom wounds" are not fun sit I have to sit all of the time. I have surgery scheduled this week to repair the problem. The hard part there will be, although I will be well on the way to getting back to "normal" for me, I'll be confined to bed laying on my stomach for a while. At this time I do not know how long that will be. Perhaps a few days to even a few weeks. Pray for a fast healing! TYJ!
 Second, to help protect my bottom from future problems, I received my very own custom-fitted powerchair just last Friday, shown to the right.
Before that, I was using a donated powerchair for about 18 months that did not fit me correctly (which is medically not good). Long story that you don't need to worry about. If you have seen me in public, you would have seen my manual chair and not the powerchair. My new powerchair weighs about 320 pounds and that is without me in it. A van with a wheelchair lift costs around $45,000 (new) and some ridiculously high prices even for one that is 10 or 15 years old! :eek: It will be a while longer before we can take my powerchair anywhere by ourselves. LOL
I'll tell you that the new powerchair costs more than a brand new still-on-the-dealer-lot small car which is why I thank God that I have good medical insurance. Some folks do not have medical insurance or poor coverage at best and are not able to receive the durable medical equipment (DME) they really need.
 That is why I too will be donating my old powerchair which is still worth about $5,000 used to somebody that truly needs it and promises to NEVER resell it; only donate it (for use or for parts). If you are in my area and know of such an individual with a need, contact me privately and I will give you the dtailed specs. It is made for a tall, slender person. The person that had this chair before me, another pastor friend of mine that passed a while back, was about 6 foot 2 inches tall and weighed around 160 pounds. Like I said, tall and slender. I'm 4 inches shorter and over 40 pounds heavier which is why it was not a good fit for me. The picture of the old chair is shown to the left sitting on the sidewalk in front of our house.
Finally, you might be thinking "I see those powerchairs on TV all the time and they are free (or at least no cost to the elderly)." Well, yes and no. New, they cost about $5,000 versus mine which was well over 4 times more, but they are not "rehab" type chairs for people that are not ambulatory.
 Nor are they chairs that go very far in a "typical" evironment like I am faced with shown in this picture of a raised cement slab due to tree roots. That, pot holes and even the average grassy yard are impassable by those "TV advertised" chairs. While they may be great indoors for somebody that cannot walk very far, if you are "sitting" 14 hours a day like me, you need other features like "tilt" to shift your body weight from the bottom to the back periodically for blood to flow for a while to prevent "pressure sores."
With my new powerchair, I can navigate obstacles like this (found everywhere) in the real world. If the world were truly flat, that would be fine. But alas, that is not the case. What I was able to do last weekend that I have not been able to do since sometime in 2004 was amazing and made me cry for happiness.
I was able to ride around the block behind my grandchildren on bikes using the sidewalk!
 That may sound insignificant but without true freedom of mobility, the quality of life is greatly dimensihed. Two other things I can do with my new powerchair that I could not before is:
1. Reach the ceiling fan cord (since the seat elevates by up to 6 inches).
2. See over top the coffee maker to see where to actually dump the coffee for brewing.
And since the new chair has a range of 15 miles on a single battery charge, I am looking forward to a 7 mile road trip (each way) to see the countryside. My wife says NOT... LOL
Well... That's enough for today. I'm beat and I need to get back in to bed and give my bottom a rest. Will I sure be glad once this surgery is over with and I am back to my old self again. I'm still in good spirits but I am having SEVERE withdrawal symptoms by not being able to socialize with you all online. That is my method of staying in touch with the wonderful people that God has hooked me up with.
Y'all 'da bestest! (as I like to say)
Perhaps tomorrow or the next day I'll feel up to blogging one more time before my surgery. I want to mention a congressional topic down in Washington, D.C. that I could sure use your support for. It has to do with getting the right medical equipment to the disabled that allows them more than survival inside their homes. Being able to get outside is a HUGE part of living which equates to quality of life. Believe it or not, some new federal guidelines are going to restrict folks like me to inside the house. But that's my next blog topic. Please stay tuned.
God bless all!
Dave |
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| To add a comment to "New Wheels and Surgery to repair ME" |
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| September 11, 2007 |
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I'll be praying for ya. I used to work for a DME and I'm well aware of the cost of van conversions and power chairs and seating. I'll be praying for speedy recovery. If I lived closer I'd offer to visit, 'cause I know isolation can make difficult times worse.
Dave |
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| September 11, 2007 |
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| Thanks Dave! Dave |
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| September 11, 2007 |
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Awesome Dave.. and we are surely praying for you and the surgery! We know all will go well and God will provide full healing. Much love.. Carol |
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| September 11, 2007 |
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| Your welome Dave! Dave |
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| September 11, 2007 |
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| cool hot rod! I want one like that! |
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| September 11, 2007 |
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Hey Dave,
Yes you have been conspicuously absent. How's Mrs Dave?
That is one cool chair you have pictured above. Amazing! I have a question about power chairs... There are numerous "homeless" people near where I work who ride around in power chairs. (I assume they're homeless, b/c they sit along the sidewalks with plastic cups asking for handouts.) HOW do they get a hold of those expensive chairs?
.....I've also noticed some lately with bluetooth earpieces for cell phones lately. What's with that? Makes me wonder if these guys are scammers or something. |
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| September 12, 2007 |
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Hey Dave, praying for you. My father had a chair like that, very nice. God bless you and your family hope to see you back soon.
Love and prayers
Denise |
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| September 12, 2007 |
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Thanks for the comments everyone! And I have been remiss in mentioning Mrs. Dave, whom I am still trying to get her to sit down long enough and sign up with her own account. I like "MrsDATM" for a screen name but I'm not sure she is doing to go for that. My wife prefers a more sweet sounding name like Carebear has. Regardless, Mrs. Dave is pushing her limits working full time, taking care of me as my unpaid caregiver, trying to be at all of the individual functions of 6 grandkids in school, trying to keep the house somewhat straight, cook dinners, shuttle me around to doctors during her office hours; need I say more? Keep her in your prayers too!
As for those "homeless people" that Mike was asking about, that is an entire discussion in itself. As for being truly homeless there are two categories: (a) homeless by choice (b) homeless through no direct fault of their own. As for the powerchairs, my old chair could potentially end up with somebody that was just plain lazy and wanted to "appear" disabled to attrack attention and sympathy on the street. Churches have those "types" calling all the time looking for handouts. On the other hand, in the case of a Vietnam vet traumatized by the war and unable to hold a job, the Veterans Administration would give them a chair at no cost to them if they needed it but would not pay for housing. The Bluetooth(tm) headset could be something they found in the trash, i.e. broken, but makes them look part of the "in crowd" among the street people.
Soooooooo... There are numerous possibilities. If you see a "street cop" near these folks, many times the police officer will know them by name, know how they got there and know whether they are truly needy. Don't hesitate to ask the officer. Overall, it is sad that you don't know who to trust, who is telling the truth, etc. these days. This is where being able to hear that "still small voice" comes in to provide the required discernment.
Dave |
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| September 12, 2007 |
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| Dave - I'm so happy fer ya! Praise the Lord. You will for sure be in our prayers during the surgery and through the recovery. Thanks for all your encouragment in the past, and I look forward to havin you back to %100 real soon. |
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| September 12, 2007 |
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| The new chair looks great Dave, and will go a long way in giving you more freedom and independence. I will keep you in my prayers for the surgery. |
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| September 12, 2007 |
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| prayin' , feel better and have fun riding around :) |
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| September 12, 2007 |
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| Thanks everyone, again! Tomorrow I'll turn in to a grumpy old man from the 24 hour liquid diet and Friday it will be by God's grace that I don't eat the hospital room since I don't get to have anything that morning and surgery is not until after lunch! I'll come home Friday evening to family and we will all have a HUGE pizza party. :-D |
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| September 18, 2007 |
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Hey Dave,
I hope you are resting well after your surgery and I pray you are recovering well! Your chair looks great, and should be a wonderful help as you move around.
God bless you with healing and
peace |
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| September 18, 2007 |
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Cathy,
 Thanks for the invitation! To the right is a picture of my chair's dashboard. I have a range of about 15 miles on a single battery charge so I could probably make it over, charge the batteries up during lunch and then get back home. Actually; batteries. This chair uses two 12 VDC batteries and is a 24 volt system like the military vehicles. My maximum speed is 6.5 miles per hour so I should not get any speeding tickets crossing over on Route 100.
As you can see, I have a "gas" gauge, battery status, speedometer, odometer and resettable trip odometer. The green "stop light" indicator is my check engine light of sorts. Yellow means I have to drive slowly and red means I ain't goin' nowheres.
 I am planning on adding some ham radio gear to the chair as described in this article. You can also see my yellow horn button in the picture too. To be honest with you, I am not happy that the horn that came with the chair is a little "wimpy" sounding. The manufacturer could have done better. I am going to add a set of these horns to the chair as soon as is possible.
After that, a few running lights on the front and some rear brake lights and I'll be street legal!
Oh, one other cool thing, when I am in "store mode" also known as go real slow and don't run over anybody, I have a "backup alarm" that can be automatically activated whenever I throw this thing in to reverse. That'll wake up those shoppers who never see me since I sit at "belly button level" and they never look that far down to see where they are walking. LOL
Now if my control display could double as a HDTV, I'd be set.
Oh, no... I still want to add a nice automotive style stereo (AM/FM/CD) with some nice speakers mounted on the headrest.
Have I forgotten anything? :-)
Dave |
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| September 18, 2007 |
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Kathy,
I just knew that I had forgotten something...
Thanks for the additonal ideas! :-)
Dave |
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