Sandy has a wonderful power wheelchair (with attendant controls for me). His wife is an official backseat driver (every man's dream). He can't handle it because he isn't able to necessarily stop when he needs to because he can't quickly remove his hand from the joystick. Also he doesn't have good peripheral vision or depth perception so he runs into things.
Well, up until yesterday, whenever we go out, I get him situated outside and he drives by himself down our long straight driveway (which is nine feet wide) to the van where I meet him and load him onto the ramp etc.
Yesterday, he managed to run through my recently planted succulent garden which runs right along the side of the house and wedge his chair up against the house, hooked under a shingle so it was good and tight. Poor guy. It's a good thing he didn't get his arm or hand in there. Fortunately the caregiver was due in an hour and when I called him, he came right away to get us out of this jam.
We were headed out for an bank errand and then out to lunch. Needless to say by the time we finished at the bank, he was worn out and we came back home. Another defeat for him. One more loss. We adjust and go forward!!
Luckily, succulents don't mind a little tough love so they'll probably survive just fine.
All the best to you fine folks out there!
Written by
journeyofjoy
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Oh dear, I shouldn’t smile at your misfortune but it all sounded so familiar and I saw in my mind my husband in his motorised chair as it slipped of the path into a yew hedge. My fault though, not his. Isn’t it good how help comes quickly if you ask for it. We were rescued many times but I expect you are a better backseat driver than I was so hopefully won’t need rescuing as much.
Smiling is good. For some good reason, I manage to smile and even laugh at some of these circumstances we find ourselves in. We were both thankful that it was sunny, not raining a we waited outside for Luke, our caregiver, to arrive.
And I've gotten us into a jam more than once. Had him on the very edge of a curb once, about to drop him over the edge. It was in a park with nobody around except one man, who was quick to help us. People are generally so good and want to help.
Ron, that’s actually a good idea. I picture a tough inter-tube type of gadget around the entire chair. Or a self drive electric chair like a google self driving car, even better!
Funny, not funny. Scary but uneventful. The best memories are made this way! Thank you for the chuckle.
I have masking tape stuck over a large hole in our drywall, it’s in the middle of our kitchen. I look at the tape and tell myself that it’s barely noticeable. I’ll patch it up and fix all of the other holes throughout the house when we decide to retire the wheelchair. Right now, hubby can still still drive it, he’s just not very good at backing up. I don’t care about the walls, they can be repaired. Isn’t it amazing what becomes important and what doesn’t with this illness? As long as no one gets hurt we can laugh about it after. 😎
We did a major remodel on this house before we moved in last January. As soon as we got the wheelchair in February, we proceeded to bang up the new woodwork in several places. All brand new hardwood floors which are now scratched quite nicely due to walkers, wheelchairs, and the dog. It was upsetting but you have to let it go. Things can be fixed. He doesn't use the chair in the house. We may get to that but he won't be able to drive it. He uses a smaller manual chair with large wheels but I still push it. His left hand doesn't work at all so he'd just spin in circles with one-handed driving.
The power wheelchair is wonderful when we go out. Couldn't do without it plus it's a great color (black and yellow). Little kids like it because it apparently looks like "Bumble Bee" in the Transformer movie.
We manage to get through this stuff, usually with a little cussing sprinkled with laughter at the ridiculousness (is that a word?) of it all. I'm sure someday I'll look back on these adventures and wish we were still having them. Nothing lasts very long, especially with this disease.
Cussing sprinkled with laughter, I love it! Ridiculousness is a word but I had to let spellcheck check. Bumblebee, love that too! Your humor is contagious. Thank you!
Bring on driverless wheelchairs and put an end to this problem. I had a few scares when operating Bens wheelchair when I was first learning to use it, nearly lost him over the ramp of the WAV as had it on full speed instead of tortoise speed. Scary but comical after the initial panic. Xx
I, with my sister's help, once dumped Steve into a hedge. We were climbing up a very steep hill after a night out, slightly worse for wear(!!!) and somehow the chair (manual) got out of control and he ended up head first in this bush. Still giggle about it now!
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