Getting a wheel chair!

[DALederle]

It's almost that time!
My health problems, COPD and congestive heart failure, almost have me in a wheel chair. Not inside the house but for when I go out. My wife's been bugging me about it. Not one of those fancy motorized carts but just a chair she could use to push me around in when we go somewhere. And I'm thinking it over, seriously.
Yesterday I went in for some tests at the hospital and my wife drove since I was having a hard time breathing. As I struglled out of the car seat they brought over a wheel chair for me and my wife pushed me around to the outpatient lab for my tests. It felt so humiliating to find my 5'2" wife pushing me around in a chair because I coldn't get up and walk.
I keep hoping for a cure but unless a miracle happens with the new stem cell research I don't count on it. In case anyone wonders yes, I did smoke up until 12 years ago but even after quiting my condition has worsened. According to the doctors while smoking was the primary cause, industrial poluttion was also a factor. Years of working in welding shops and a perfume factory and around poor quality, inside air have an added effect.
No one seems to no why some smokers never seem to get all that bad and then other people, like me, have extreme problems.
My lung capacity is down to about 19% of normal. Which of course puts an added strain on my heart too.
So I'm pondering over getting that chair. Maybe it will help.
But it just feels to wrong to have my wife pushing me around in it!
DALederle

[r1g0r]

i think she'd rather have you around, and be pushing you.

the alternative is extremely lonely

[Sarongman]

I heartily concur with rigOr, although I would also consider an electric chair in your circumstances, as the added mobility, and independence, is certainly an asset. That is, if you don't wish to go down the "mobility scooter" path. My sympathy with your plight, however.

[Since1982]

As a man who's been in and out of a wheelchair most of my life (Polio as a child) you'd better get the motorized cart now or you'll end up with one of each expensive devices. There's always a time you need to motivate yourself and with a "do it yourself or be pushed" chair, things can get testy quickly. As much as your wife loves you, pushing you around the grocery store or any hotel on a vacation will have you wishing you'd bought the $1,200.00 electric chair instead of the $900.00 push/pull/gouge/slip/stumble one.

I have a regular one for moving around in my living room and sitting at my computer, but I have an electric chair and ramp in the back of my van in case of a time I may have to evacuate because of weather. When I shop, the Publix store brings me out a store supplied electric cart to shop with. I live alone and without that help, I'd be in trouble.

[Brandy]

Well then make it into a tricked out Tim the Tool Man chair. The fastest, best handling chair on the block. That should provide a nice ego boost. ... err only half kidding. If you have to go that way make it on your own terms.

I had to come to terms with glacoma and the partial loss of eye sight. What ever "it" is own "it" and work out a solution. One resolution the glacoma caused was I need to stop acting stupid about things. I have a number of problems I am dealing with now because of previous stupid decisions I made.

One small example about being more proactive. A few years ago I started having bad leg pain; drugs did not help much. Pantyhose help some, support hose helped A LOT! I now wear support hose almost daily.

Stupid thing, I was told my vision problem were cataracts so I was in no hurry especially after insurance problems. That was really stupid as the real problem was glacoma, first diagnosis was wrong.

-- Brandy

[RichardA]

Hi DALederle
Your post is nearly a mirror image of me, I was diagnosed with CODP some 12 years ago the main reason I got it was working as a blacksmith in smoky environment what with coke, oil and diesel fumes, I'm no where as bad as you but still get out of breath and it's not a nice feeling at all, take care and good luck with the chair

[straightfairy]

Well then make it into a tricked out Tim the Tool Man chair. The fastest, best handling chair on the block. That should provide a nice ego boost. ... If you have to go that way make it on your own terms.

I agree with this, without the half kidding.
I have relatives who started out with the "barely adequate, cheapest we can get away with" approach, and several years and chairs later, now have the "damn it, lets just get the best one for us and never mind the cost", and are somewhat happier (and less tired) for it.

me? I'd want the fastest, best handling one out there.

[DALederle]

The chair arrived last week! It is a rental(?) provided by a home health care company. I beleive under medicare it is rented until paid for as is my home oxygen concentrators, which I need for over nights and to carry around.
It's just a light weight chair with the big wheels so I can push myself if needed. It is big enough for me to sit in but I'm not sure if I want to sit in it very long.
And wouldn't you know it, it came just as some of my breathing problms cleared up for a while. I don't know why sometimes I can breath easier than other times. It has to be the weather and some sort of indoor polution, but I haven't been able to pinpoint it yet.
That would help, if I just knew what was causing the bad times so I avoid them if possible.
I did discover, just by trying out the chair on my own that I can push myself around and it doesn't strain my breathing as much as walking around does. Maybe I should have a ramp put in for our back door?
But I'm just fighting against the idea of being limited by all this.
DALederle

[crfriend]

I did discover, just by trying out the chair on my own that I can push myself around and it doesn't strain my breathing as much as walking around does.

There's a reason why the average winning times for wheelchair marathoners handily beats their two-legged competition rather handily.

In any event, good on you for getting the device; it'll be there when you need it, and when you don't, it's there as a backup.

Maybe I should have a ramp put in for our back door?

If you anticipate needing it very often, that might be a wise choice. Beware, however, if you live in northern climes that ramps tend to ice up pretty badly in winter.

But I'm just fighting against the idea of being limited by all this.

Yes, fight it; the fight will keep you in better shape than if you simply give in. Humans did not evolve to roll around on wheels, but rather to carry their weight on their legs; depriving the body of that exercise may yield unexpected, and nasty, results.

[Since1982]

Carl said: Humans did not evolve to roll around on wheels

That's true, we evolved to die around 45 or 50 and younger if something happened to our legs. Thank the powers that be for the invention of wheelchairs of all kinds. If I'd not had one when I was 10 and just clear of 6 years of strength training to be able to walk at all after getting Polio at 3 and spending nearly a year in an iron lung, I'd still be in one all the time instead of only needing one part of the time. As I age though, I expect to need one even more often than I do now. I'm 68 now and don't really expect to get much stronger later. I exercise at least 1 hour a day to keep my legs somewhat working. I wish the salt water here was as clean as it used to be, if so, I'd be swimming 3 hours a day like I used to do with swim fins. In my 40's I was still averaging 5-7 miles a day of swimming. That gave me some legs for life.

[Skirt Chaser]

Have you talked to your wife about how the chair is making you feel, Dennis? From her side it probably is a huge relief to push you around rather than worry about you tiring or even falling. Her stress has been reduced but it is worth talking over your concerns and feelings with her so she knows how this change is affecting you.

Now that I insist my father-in-law use a wheelchair when we go out it makes time together pleasant again for me and my husband rather than the stress of seeing him struggle to use a walker (sometimes at a 45 degree angle! ) with Parkinson's. For him though it was hard to get over the feeling of helplessness and dependence. The few times I have been briefly in a wheelchair I remember that too. Skip's good idea of a motorized chair may solve that in your case and do get a ramp in even if it is just a portable one. You never know when you could have a setback and need to be rolled back into the house.

[Since1982]

Quality non-motorized chairs cost to $900.00 or more. A quality motorized chair can be gotten off ebay for around $1,200 to $1,500 dollars. That's not that much more than $900.00 and can do so MUCH more with the addition of an inexpensive up and down lift connected to the fender of a car or a hook on metal ramp to drive it up and into the back of a Van. THE most important thing a wheelchair can give you is autonomy and liberty from needing a helper all the time.

I'm a single widower(since 1973) and it gives me the feeling of being able to take care of myself nearly all the time. 'Specially when a Hurricane threatens.