Freedom by Scooter!

Good Morning to all my friends! Hope you are all keeping well and lurgy free! We have just returned from our annual trip to Cornwall and we have had a fab time.

The week before we went we were offered a portable scooter (through a colleague whose gran has passed on) – hardly used almost half price! We talked about it and then she kindly brought it for us to try and we were sold! We were worried that it would be a problem and stop my husband from doing any exercise (never very good at that) BUT the anxiety it relieved was tremendous. I didn’t realise how much I had worried about going out – I wasn’t worried anymore if there wasn’t parking spaces right outside, I wasn’t worried if I went into the sea with the kids – my husband could get himself to the loos, get himself a cup of tea etc, and I wasn’t worried when we arrived at a little village only to find everything was on an incline! Out came the scooter and off we went!

Fantastic little thing – it concertinas up into the size of a medium sized suitcase and it bobs into the boot. Only downside it does weigh 22kg so it would be difficult for him to manage single handed. But the batteries last for 4/5 miles each.

And the other little trick we have learned is to have the oxygen in place and ready after meals out. Instead of using the spacer and inhalers and waiting ten mins for him to recover after an meal out – he can scoot to the car and put his oxygen straight on, five mins later he has recovered without any of the panic. These may seem little advances but I cannot express the relief. I feel as if we are a bit more in control instead of COPD!

The other interesting thing is that because he was using a scooter, people acknowledged that he may need help. Of course when he is leaning against a wall gasping for breath – he doesn’t!! And that change of mindset became more helpful. I didn’t have to explain to everyone we came into contact with that we needed a table near the door, or downstairs etc. etc. Some of you may remember how insensitive his sister has been in previous years but not this year! She has decided he is very ill – much worse than last year! In reality he isn’t – it’s just he has “props” now – visual aids that illustrate to the world he has an illness!

The moral of the story is – if you are thinking about a scooter I would advise go for it. It has given my husband a new lease of life – he can be the one zipping off now, he doesn’t feel guilty about holding us back. For us using oxygen when he needs it and keeping it available as much as possible works for us. With much love to you all TAD xx