First I want to thank a very dear friend, Amber who has stayed up with me late nights on instant messenger trying to help me find a wheelchair I could afford. One day she found an advertisement from a gentleman selling a wheelchair that fit my requirements perfectly. After checking with me to see if the chair did indeed fit my needs she contacted the person selling it. Since the chair would be going to someone who truly needed it he was very willing to work with the price and payment of the chair.

Amber was really excited and she wanted to communicate with me by phone. Usually I avoid the phone like a dark plague, but I gave her my number and she called me to relay the word from the man who is named Anthony. Then we started talking about ways to raise the funds quickly and get this chair. She was going to see what she could do on her end to help me raise funds and I would see what I could do locally.

The next day (Today) a friend invited Amy and I to a birthday party. It was to be a belated party for me as my birthday was on the 9th and an early party for her as hers in on the 26th. This is the second time I had met this lady, the first time was for a sisterhood gathering that had scared me as I was sure they would put make up on me or something…anyhow I went to the party which consisted of Me, Amy, the lady (Gloria) and a short time later her friend who plays flute beautifully. His name is Paul.

I was talking to Gloria about Amber’s find of this perfect chair and how all of us were trying to find a way to come up with the funds to get the chair. Gloria asked me many questions about the chair and of course I was very excited about the find so was telling her it was perfect, the right size, even lighter than the recommendation for me, small casters yadda-yadda. Well a little while later Gloria handed me a check and told me to go get my chair! I started crying and Amy jumped up to hug her. This was a relief like I cannot even express in words.

The light chair means serious reduction in shoulder stress and far less chance of any more stress injury. After nursing this injury for a few weeks now..this really was a huge relief to know soon I would be moving again and will again be without pain.

We checked to make sure Gloria was sure about her offer of the funds and we asked how to repay her. At first she didn’t want to talk about repayment but we pressed the issue and she said we could split up payments however we wanted to. We all decided on 1/2 at the first of the month and the balance spread over Amy’s next two paychecks. This will allow us to repay without putting us into serious financial stress.

I was excited and called my friend to have him log into my yahoo to share my good news with Amber and I emailed the young man who is selling the chair to let him know. That young man is the sweetest man I have met! After we had swapped emails and he understood I am on Medicaid he automatically knew what kind of brick wall I have to deal with and he had told me that since he knew this chair was going to someone who needed it he would hold the chair and I could send him the money as I got it to pay it off, kind of like a lay-a-way. Well I was glad to tell him I would have the whole amount so he’s going to put brand new tires on it so it will be ride ready when it arrives. I will send him the money and he will ship it to me this Friday.

These are photos of the chair sent to me by the seller:





To Amber, Anthony, Gloria and to all who prayed and gave positive thoughts

THANK YOU!!!!!

Life is difficult enough when you lose lots of freedom and independence. You then have to fight for ways to be independent. The ways are out there, but unfortunately the best ways cost money.

The two most important mobility needs in my life are met. A wheelchair that is designed for everyday use and a power device for use in larger places or when moving for long periods of time. I have a scooter and soon will have an everyday wheelchair. I have all the other things you need every day like crutches and canes. I have two different types of walker for different needs and I have a bath chair. I now have all the aids I need for standing and transferring and I have the aids I need for mobility.

The only think that really sits in the way of quality of life, and self care is the repairs I need to handle and the accessibility needs that I must handle. One step at a time though. For now some really huge needs have been met and in time all else will be handled as well. When I can self care Amy will then go to school to be a truck driver and with a better income, I can’t think of anything I would NEED. I live a very simple life, so it would then it would be just trying to reach our goal of a self sustaining homestead.

Amy and I had decided that since a wheelchair is a part of my life now it should be treated like a piece of clothing or something like your eyeglasses or dentures are. Ever since the very first chair came into my home I have had trouble dealing with this.

This is the first chair: It weighs 42 pounds, the arms are fixed height and length and not removable. The leg rests are a very old style called hook on, they are not adjustable and extremely difficult to replace. I was not able to push this chair at all.


With that green chair in the car Amy and I had gone to a Salvation Army, the chair was there for her to push me if I couldn’t walk..we both knew that wouldn’t happen though, I hate being pushed. I brought my rollator in with me, but after a short time I fell forward, couldn’t hold the roller, went down on my knees. A wheelchair was brought to help me…it wasn’t mine, but I was able to push it myself. I used it to get around the store thinking it was their chair. We brought out stuff tot he check out and was asked if we wanted the chair too. Huh…ok, well I was able to get around the store and that was the first time I was able to spend as much time as I wanted in the store so we said, yep…well take it.

Here is that one…I’m still using it now.



I was ok for a while with this chair. The hand rims were in rough shape, but we put some padding on them and duct taped the padding down. Had to remove the arms rests as they do not adjust and I was hurting my inner elbows and getting bruises. Had to take the wheel locks off cuz I was smashing my thumbs. One of the wheels is bad and we can’t replace the tires on the chair. When I put my shoulder out is when we learned this chair was completely wrong for me. It’s way too heavy, far out of alignment and the front casters are too large making turning very rough on my shoulders, wrists and hands.

This care is an Invacare Tracer at 36 pounds (excluding foot rest weight)

It was decided if I planned on using a manual chair I would have get the right kind of chair to reduce stress on upper limb joints. An ideal chair is one that weighs no more than 25 pounds, has removable or no arm rests, seat back can be lowered to allow for more upper arm use. I had thought I needed elevated leg rests which was an idea before the shoulder injury, but now it’s looking like the extra weight from hanger style riggings is not such a good idea and a better idea is a fixed foot rest or tubular style foot rests. The front casters should be small. Blow up style tires are recommended, but I’m not sure I want to be dealing with tires that can pop. Rigid frame is better than the folding style, but we have to be able to transport this thing easily with a car so I have to work around that as I can.

We have decided that with this years income tax we will concentrate on getting a wheelchair that will allow me to do all the things the scooter is unable to do, and I can do it without risk of injury. Also if I’m going to have to spend that kind of money I’m going in for a chair that will last a good 10 years and doesn’t look like a hideous monster is biting my butt.

We have also realized that with dealing with buying equipment, building ramps, putting money into accessibility which I never wanted to do…but don’t really have a choice anymore. Our dream of getting land is about as remote as winning the lottery. My youngest son wants to taste life as an adult. Amy wanted to go to school but I’m not able to care for myself and my oldest son on my own at the moment. We are going to have to just settle for what we have and make the best of it. We will make plans to remodel the house over the next few years to accommodate this issue. We will enlarge our kennel rather than simply saying…it’s only temporary till we move. We are facing reality…we are never moving.

The day we never wanted to happen has come and now our life plans must change.

So with that in mind we both shopped together to work towards saving up some funds between now and February to get a good quality, proper chair that will never be accepted by insurance because it’s considered a luxury item. Laughing…by the time we do all the remodeling to make everything equipped for a chair I just might be eligible for something..then won’t need it cuz I will have purchased it all out of pocket. I think that is their plan.

Here is what we came up with, Amy and both of my sons have been helping me shop

This is my all time favorite, it’s $1,570. It’s the Eclipse chair made by Colours. I would get it with the deep purple frame and have the seat, back and casters in black. This one is 17.5 pounds.



This is the Spazz Chair made by Colours. It is a bit more reasonable price of $1,350 This one is 19 pounds.





This is my next Fave, and sometimes this type can be found on Ebay. It’s the Quickie GP chair at only 21 pounds. On the wheelchair site it’s $1,199



This one isn’t one of my favorites, but it is cheaper. It weighs a bit more than ideal. It’s 27 pounds, but the arms are detachable. The casters are larger than ideal but smaller than what I have now. The back is not a drop down, but it appears to be narrow enough that it would still allow for a full push stroke. This one is $695

Finally! We managed to get the last part of the vinyl on top of the roof and we got the first layer of elastic sealer applied. We need to let it cure before applying the second coat.



Now we are just waiting for good rain storm to test it out and see if it has stopped raining inside the building. If all stays dry we will get a few gallons of bleach to clean up the mold from the months of leaking and scrub it from roof to floor. I was still walking some when the roof was damaged and we have a partition wall dividing the two rooms. We felt with my mobility now seriously limited we should remove the partition completely so that I will have one large room with plenty of floor space for mobility equipment. That is a fairly easy job, and the lumber salvaged from the partition will probably go to building a small ramp from building to ground. The rise from the building door is pretty low so putting a ramp on that door shouldn’t be too difficult. Once we move into the building that ramp will allow me to access by scooter into the kennel to care for my animals and get across the kennel to enter the main house. Building a ramp from ground into the main house is the expensive part because that rise is 3 feet. That will require a large ramp with platforms.




We are not going to do the plumbing work in the main house right now. We just shut the water down to most of the house until we can tend to those issues, we need a new kitchen faucet and drain pipe on top of the other plumbing repairs. Shutting the water stops the leaks so those problems can wait till we can get the supplies to do it properly. What we are going to do since we will be using the building for our living room, office and kitchen is we will buy a higher quality hose and run the water that way. We tried this last year with a very inexpensive hose but we could never get rid of the rubber taste and smell. It ruined foods and the cats wouldn’t drink it. It was only good for cleaning. We had used this hose method before with great results which is why we bought a new hose to replace the damaged one we had been using. Evidently the hose I bought was of so low quality the fumes just won’t go away no matter what we pour in the hose to kill it. A friend mentioned perhaps getting a high quality hose. We found we can get camper or swimming pool hose which is vinyl and shouldn’t carry that taste and odor, there are also food grade hoses available so we will be looking around for good deals on that kind of hose, I think hose rather that pvc piping will be the more flexible and economical route.



The above pic is of the stair treads we put on the steps after my last fall. We were hoping that it would help. If I am bare foot, I have a better feel of the stair, the texture of the tread helps remind me of where my feet are and because it’s uncomfortable, it also reminds me to go slowly and carefully. I have fallen going up the stairs since the new treads, but so far have not fallen down the stairs again. Once we get a platform and ramp system here the plan is use my scooter to get across the yard and into this room. The room is too small to use a chair or a scooter inside, but if we build a good enough platform we can build a mini garage for my scooter or chair so when I get to the top of the ramp I can park my wheels and the bed will only be about 2 feet from the door so that would be no problem.

Now…I just need to try to get a functional wheelchair. I have seen some good ones on Ebay. Even though the doctor strongly recommends buying new and not used because used chairs are usually seriously out of alignment…I just can’t afford to even look at the new ones! Do doctors not understand that people just don’t have money for these things? Anyhow…used ones run between $300-$500 Where the new ones run between $1000 and $3000. We are talking about chairs under 25 pounds with front casters below 3 inches which reduces strain in turning. This is the weight of chair which is a safe weight for me to propel, however when you require lighter than the allowed lightweight chair insurance considers then a power chair. I don’t fit the criteria for either chair mostly based on inaccessibility. I pass at the Medical Necessity phase, but fail at the reasonableness test. This is the reason for no script for a manual chair. What I would qualify for at the insurance level would put me at more risk of injury, but what I would qualify for to remedy the risk of injury fails me at the reasonable stage. I think we have all simply given up on the idea of enjoying life until we can save some money.

My leg brace script recently led to problems and I don’t have braces. My doctor wanted lightweight TROM braces with telescoping bars so they will go from thigh to ankle. These go from thigh to ankle and the braces are set to prevent hyper flexion or extension. I need bracing on both legs so the best option for that is high quality braces which only have hinges on the outside with solid thigh and low calf shells, this prevents the spread leg walk you would have to do keep your brace bars from hitting or snagging on each other at the knees. Also that is an un-natural walking position and puts strain on your hip joints. Anyhow…the braces I NEED, and the braces allowed by insurance are two different things. The prescription still sits in my wallet, it cannot be filled because the braces I would get would not work on a practical level. We have run into this problem for years. It took ages to get authorized for forearm crutches (my mom had to buy those for me) My doctors wanted me off auxiliary, but insurance wouldn’t cover forearm. Once I was authorized for forearms, I had a script for a walker! They would only cover a standard walker though, not the rollator that was prescribed. I got some help with that though so I have the rollator but without braces the rollator is worthless except to help me get across my yard. We once had a problem getting a dorsal brace rather than a full shell brace, the dorsal would have allowed me to use my crutch. Finally my physical therapist made a dorsal brace from thermoplast. That was years ago, I haven’t been able to get another dorsal brace since. I have full shell braces which are covered by insurance, but I can’t use them with a crutches or wheelchair. I broke my prescription left hand brace using it with the chair, I had to buy my own replacement brace because it was less than a year and I can’t get a replacement yet. I don’t wear my right hand brace all the time so that one usually lasts the whole year.

Now as I progress to wheeled mobility we run into more of the same trouble I have battled for over 20 years.
As with every piece of mobility equipment, every brace I have ever been prescribed we have run into this problem.

All power equipment is needed for OUTSIDE the home. However the first level of criteria is that the equipment is needed and is able to be used INSIDE the home The one piece of equipment that is needed for inside the home (The chair) must be a manual chair because there is no possible way at all of being able to use a power chair even if I could squeeze past the restrictions. I fail at medical necessity, but could possibly squeeze by due to limited arm strength. It’s totally impossible. There is not a single room where I could use a power chair, it would be used outside my home only and I could never transport a power chair anywhere and I don’t need that, My scooter which fell under the same restrictions is perfect for large shopping trips or recreational outings, but it’s impractical for in house mobility. I can’t even understand why that restriction exists for those with limited mobility!

That whole INSIDE the house and only for Mobility Related Aid to Daily Living (MRADL) restriction really hurts people with limited mobility. I’m not Immobile…I’m limited but that also means I’m limited on the equipment I can have too. I do not and hopefully never will need powered mobility to assist with MRADL. Most common ADL tasks such as dressing, bathing, grooming etc can be done by people with limited mobility by using other aids. What we can’t do is walk across our yards, do gardening, play with our kids outside, visit people, go to restaurants, stand long enough to cook a full meal, go for walks, attend social events etc. Those are things we can’t do, we can’t stand for long periods of time, but we can manage simple tasks with walkers, crutches or canes….Non-paralyzed people are the ones really hurt here because we have some ambulatory mobility and as long as we have SOME, we don’t help help for the rest because that is all seen as luxury and not medical necessity.

Everything I need, comes under luxury because I am able to perform MRADL tasks without the use of wheeled mobility. But LIFE SUCKS when you can’t even walk across your back yard. Is it really a luxury to do your own shopping? To check your own mail? To get across the yard to feed your own animals? To cook your own dinner?….yeah, it probably is and I’m sure I’m being selfish….well that is my rant for the day. I’m tired of being told wanting to enjoy the simple things in life is not important.

My mom is now facing what I just went though. She will not be eligible for a mobility scooter either for the same exact reason. It conflicts with the recommendation that she use her ambulation ability in her home and use powered mobility for outside the home. She needs a hip replaced, but can’t get a scooter and most likely never will because after the hip replacement she will be encouraged even more so to walk in her home…just not outside.