A shiny new chariot!

Yesterday I went wheelchair shopping for the second time in my life. The first time felt like something a kin to a nightmare, but unfortunately real. I was overwhelmed and being told what I needed, without even knowing anything about chairs, and nobody was answering my questions in anyway that made sense at all. And the result is this big beast of a chair that I'm sitting in now. Which wasn't what I ordered exactly but after 5 months of dealing with one mess up after another, I just took what I was given.

But one good thing has come out of my decreased mobility. My status as a wheelchair user has changed which puts me in a category where I can get a much much more efficient chair, one that suits my new and growing independent and active life style. In addition to that I have people working with me who actually understand my needs and were there to help explain the things I will need and the difference between a whole bunch of options, so I could test out and make informed decisions about the new chair I wanted. I am by no means an expert on chairs, and probably won't be able to give anyone advice for some time on the best chair for them, but at least with this new chair, I will actually be able to learn HOW to use a chair. Learn how to hop curbs, go down hills, off road it. Take stairs (if I absolutely have to), how to carry things. You know wheelchair basics, the stuff I wasn't taught when I got this chair. The lady that put me in this chair designed it so I could get fat and lazy and have other people push me around. I have been pushing myself around outside in this chair since February, even in snow, and that's a feat in itself, because not only is this chair not designed for that type of use, it also uses up way more energy, and strains muscles that don't have to be strained.

So trying out these new shiny chairs yesterday was amazing, especially when the wheelchair technician adjusted the dump of the seat. It felt like heaven. Or at least heavenly. With this new chair, not only will it be way easier for me to be more independent and active, and it will have added features, like crutch holders, and a bag carrier on the front, that will aid in that, I will also look more presentable to the public, I will look disabled, yes, but some one who has mastered that disability and who is capable. Employers will look more favorably on someone in a nice active chair, then, a big dumpy grandma chair. The reason, the active chair shows some one able to work, to be efficient, who has it together and doesn't mind hard work. A grandma chair shows someone who is lost and dependent on others, some one who doesn't quite have it all together.
So after three hours at Eco Medical, we put together a chair that I think will be amazing to use. I added on a bunch of extras that healthcare won't pay for, but the physio helping me, is also helping me apply for funding so I can have those nice extra features. The extra mountain bike tires would be really great to have, because then I won't feel as nervous about going camping or doing a ton of outdoor things that were a crucial part of my childhood that I have sorely missed these last few years being locked up in my tower with my old grandma chair.

So at last I'm getting a chariot suited for a princess! I can't wait!