Sunday, September 06, 2015

My New Powered Wheelchair – Disappointments and Comforts!

I was looking forward for a new wheelchair from the time I started to experience back pain (from the beginning of this year) and that’s mainly because of the pelvic misalignment and mild scoliosis in spine that we find through a diagnosis in April. Without delay we approached a leading wheelchair manufacturer in Chennai to get a comfort wheelchair that perhaps decreases my back pain and prevent further spinal curvature. You might get more detail about the alignment and discomfort from my earlier post here. 

We placed an order on May 20 after discussing with him (the wheelchair manufacturer) at home; who came on our invite and as we know him already and being the manufacturer of my old power wheelchair, I thought he perhaps know my condition well and do his best to provide me the comfort I seek. Following his websites and the models he posted there, I thought of picking one from that that suits my need. But only listening to him at home reveals that those are models just to give an idea about the wheelchairs they manufacture to those unknown and he manufacture a wheelchair only on order.

New Wheelchair

He sent me a quotation listing down the facilities on the powered wheelchair including the specs I requested, with a notification on delivery within 45- 60 days. Though I was quite disappoint with the days his delivery marks, I console later that my normal powered/electric wheelchair took 30 days to deliver about 8 years back, the deluxe perhaps take that much. But what really happened was I got the wheelchair only after 100 days. We started inquiring about the wheelchair from the minimum days to delivery, in hope he deliver as soon as possible since my condition wasn’t comforting. But he keeps extending his delivery period from week to week on a constant basis of our inquiry.

He delivered the wheelchair on the day 101! To say the truth I was frustrated at the look of the wheelchair, which stood like a robot with big boot and being taller than expected I was somehow taken aback. I had no idea how he going to design my wheelchair. Because he hadn’t showed me exactly how the wheelchair would come up and also I hadn’t thought to ask him about the wheelchair height (from the ground to seat) as I didn’t find great difference in height when checking the wheelchair models in his website. Though the seat height is just about 4” more than the old wheelchair there’s great difference when putting me to seat. Perhaps it could become normal as we used to but right moment it matters lot!

IMG_0552
I have nothing to complain much about seating in this new wheelchair, which has a bucket seat to sooth my back and very comfortable sitting to relax with reclining backrest and elevating footrest and handling! The wheelchair is much powerful than the previous one, where I used to drive in 3 of the total speed of 5. But in this I get the speed of riding on 3 in 1 apart the top speed of about 10-12 km/hr in 5 speeds. Though I feel comfort and increase in my level of confidence with the power of the new wheelchair, I somehow dislike on the look. The base and bottom of the wheelchair look disdain and the color of green isn’t likable and rather being thematic it outshines oddly.

I am a person don’t want to be noticed unnecessarily in public and the same goes to my wheelchair and I want it to look decent and though it wasn’t appealing much, I wish it was grayish instead being green. This wheelchair doesn’t come out exactly what I anticipated but it need to be rectify a lot to be more comfort and we have also stressed him to reduce the height of seat as main cause. I don’t feel any discomfort with the height but my parents do find hard to put me on seat. I took the wheelchair to road couple of times to check its ability and to see how comfortable it was on the long run. And few days back I took it to the doctor clinic, across the main road (LB road, Adyar) to check for my cold. The wheelchair is said to run 15 km per charge, but I guess it should be giving less than 10 km. Hope to test it more after the rectifying process, where the wheelchair will be brought back to the company. 

14 comments:

Ramakrishnan said...

Firstly congratulations on the new wheel chair acquisition. It will take some time to get used to any new gadget and with your feedback if improvements can be made soon you will find the wheel chair more comfortable.
About the color I agree grey would have been less conspicuous. But now you have to live with it.But functionality and comfort are more important than color.

TexWisGirl said...

sorry it took so long, and then it is not what you expected. i understand about the green being too bright for your tastes and the added height making it more difficult for your parents to lift you into it. i hope that can be changed! but i am glad, however, that it is providing comfort to your back and hopefully will keep your scoliosis in check!

Rajesh said...

Good to here that you got a wheel chair that has a comfortable seating for your back.

Destination Infinity said...

Grey would've been better than green, but I feel it's a small issue as even the green is fine and doesn't feel that odd. It's good that you like the comfort features of this chair, which is perhaps the most important. The deliveries, especially for custom-made projects, are mostly delayed. Why vendors can't give an exact date - be it 30 or 101 days - is beyond me!

Destination Infinity

Destination Infinity said...

Forgot to mention, the five photo collage is too good :)

Destination Infinity

Sandhya said...

You have to be comfortable, which is more importance than the colour of the gadget. You seem to be getting used to it. You will be soon.

Take care, Jeevan!

Keep writing more and more.

Kirtivasan Ganesan said...

The colour is a bit bright. But most importantly the seat is comfortable. Sad that delivery of wheelchair got delayed.

Anonymous said...

That chair looks very comfortable!

Aarti said...

Ouch, take care...

And yay the wheelchair looks good... glad you got something that helps ease the pain & discomfort..

Jeevan said...

Hi friends, I never considered color, style or look as important (generally) when the matter of concern is different, and in the case of wheelchair without doubt its comfort. I really though should I write about the color, as myself felt it isn’t a matter but still want to convey what I feel about. Thank you all :)

EG CameraGirl said...

It sure did take a long time but I bet it will be worth the wait! I'm glad you sit comfortably in it. And green is a good colour, really. If it were orange, that would be noticeable!

Locomente said...

Waiting for your order to be delivered is the worst kind of waiting... And yea... instead of green if it was grey or even black, it would have been awesome! Having said that, if it is comfortable, nothing matters :)

Twilight Man said...

I can understand your reaction towards this new wheelchair.
I am quite impressed with its design and thought it looks neat and good.

Over here, I do see occasional motorised wheelchair users running along the side roads but none looked as great as yours. There is one old lady about 70s using her motorised wheel chair to buy her groceries from shops and visit friends in the neighbourhood daily.

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