Hi Poppy,
Sounds like you’re going to do well with your new wheels.
I just bought some mountain biking gloves for when I get my wheels. Padded and grippy and will keep my hands warm.
Good wheeling.
Jen x
2 Likes
I hope so Jen. Got stuck on a slight incline yesterday, from the road on to the pavement. A car had slowed to let me cross, so I felt self conscious and under pressure. Mortified!!! Just had to preserve and did it. I honestly think an L plate would be a good idea! 
Anyone got ideas how to keep my cuffs clean?!
2 Likes
PERSEVERE even.
1 Like
I know what you mean about wanting to keep your wrists clean - so many of my jumpers & coats get knackered at the cuffs. I know you can get wrist gaiters, which are actually designed to keep your wrists warm, but it might work to be able to tuck your sleeves into them. If you find any solutions though, let me know.
Dan
3 Likes
Update!Delighted wwith my G lite Pro. My OT lady got in touch and asked how I was getting on with my wheels. I told her, as grateful as I was for the NHS one I was given, it was much too heavy. She came to the house today and pointed out that that one was just a temporary one for me, if I wanted to take with me on holiday. She is now going to put me on the list for, wait for it…a Quickie Helium!!! I can’t believe it! I never thought that would be available here on the HSE (Irish NHS). She did say there would be a wait, but I’m happy using the lighter one I’ve bought until then. I still can’t believe how lucky I am.
1 Like
all good stuff kid!
pollx
2 Likes
omg poppy, that is wonderful news you wont believe the difference it will make when you start using it, it will be so much easier to propel along and manoeuvre in tight spaces … i’m sooo pleased for you
Jemma x
2 Likes
Wheelchair envy
Good for you Poppy
Sue
3 Likes
Happy happy happy! Thanks guys.
2 Likes
Wow, talk about the post code lottery! Clearly the HSE doesn’t have the same funding crisis the NHS does : ) I had very generous voucher, but I still needed to pay a decent bit for my one. It’s a cracking chair - before you go in it for the first time, you should have a spin first in the clunky one they gave you, so you get the biggest contrast! I’m very chuffed for you though, you’re very lucky.
Because I felt so blessed by the size of my voucher, I felt like I wanted to give something back, so I found an American charity called Free Wheelchair Mission, who make sturdy wheelchairs to give away to people living in places like Africa. A donation of just $77 (about £50) is enough to ‘buy’ a wheelchair, which could then transform the life of a disabled person living in the developing world. And fifty quid is a pittance compared to the cost of a Helium!
Will you be able to have a say in what options get picked? There’s quite a lot of tailoring that can be done with the chair - things like the type of side guard, footrest, brakes, anti-tip bar, what camber to have on the wheels. So if you are able to influence the final configuration before it’s ordered, I’m happy to give you some tips & recommendations.
Dan
2 Likes
Dan, believe me when I say I know how lucky I am. I really do. And I can add, the care I have received from the entire Health Service here has been fantastic, right since my diagnosis last year.
My OT said she will put in a grant request from the HSE for this and I understand they are not given out to everyone. I will have to wait some time for one. It can take as long as six months! (I don’t mind. I really don’t). The Rep will visit or I can go there, and have a few trial runs, and get measured and advised for everything you listed, to get what’s right for me. I used the one I was given, a few times last week. I admitted to her, I was so disappointed at how heavy and cumbersome it was, I almost cried with frustration by the time I got back home.
Made of steel, I couldn’t even lift this so called, lightweight one. It was given to me as a temporary measure to take on holiday with me next week, until I was measured/fitted for my own chair. I wasn’t going to be taking it after all. I ordered a G-Lite Pro, from recommendations/reviews on here, and it was very affordable. It’s manageable for me and easier to lift and I am pleased with it in general. But as my OT pointed out today, when she checked it over, it is great for short term use but won’t stand up to the test of time. I wasn’t going to argue with her!
(Your generosity is exemplary by the way. I will indeed “do my bit” too. There has been so much illness death and tragedy in my little world these last .ew years, I make a donation when I can, to a lot of causes).
2 Likes
Oh guys…I had my actual assessment for a Quickie Helium yesterday. Oh boy do I want one!!! I met the company Rep and the Occupational Therapist together and an hour and a half was spent discussing my needs, ability, being measured etc. I got to trial it too. I didn’t want to give it back! My G-Lite Pro doesn’t touch it. Doesn’t even come close to it. So light I can carry it with one hand. So nippy! I was whizzing around with no effort at all. I couldn’t have imagined how good it is! Now my “report” written by my OT goes before the health board, and my request is considered. I believe I’m placed on the list according to priority. I was told it will take up until xmas but I don’t mind the wait, so long as I get one. It’s an amazing chair. Love it! Want it! Fingers crossed now.
2 Likes
hope you get it hun!
life on wheels need to be as easy as pos, innit!
pollx
1 Like
Cheers Poll. I was all cross when, after second relapse, I came out of hospital last September having to use a crutch. Totally p***ed off using the chair by March. Now here I am loving this Helium and really wanting it!! Funny old world, innit?
1 Like
Afternoon people.
Was about to start a new thread, then I thought it might be better to have some continuity here…
Just ordered a rollator to replace the older, heavy model hubby has had for the last ten years. A 5kg-ultra-lightweight-rollator, that folds side to side, like a baby buggy and stands up folded. A very sleek, dare I say it, stylish sort of one. (Is there such a thing as a stylish rollator?)
I use Hubby’s sometimes if I’m just doing a quick visit from car to shop for a couple of items. It’s bulky and quite heavy to get in and out of the boot. This one is certainly lighter and looks a little more “streamlined” and modern. Less “old lady/invalid” like. It will be better than the crutch for a short trip, like to my neighbour next door or into the shop for milk/bread. If/when I get my Quickie super duper wheelchair, I will whizz around in that more often. The chair I have is very heavy, despite being classed as “lightweight” and we only use it for Hubby to push me. Who would have dreamed I’d be extolling the virtues of one and even getting excited at the prospect of getting one.
Being pushed along is in itself, unbelievably frustrating!! For instance, in the supermarket, he marches me along the aisles, and as I ask him to stop by something, say the biscuits, he stops right in front of them asking me which ones we want. He is standing right in front of the display, at eye level. I, on the other hand, don’t know, because I can’t bloody SEE them! I’m about two feet in front of them.
Or as I reach out to touch or point to something, and find my arm almost mangled as he continues his stride along, oblivious to my outstretched arm! I t’s so obvious he’s never pushed a baby’s buggy!
He follows the Green Cross Code impeccably. I’m pushed forward onto the road fearing for my life, with the traffic whizzing past me, a hair’s breadth away from my knees, while he is standing safely on the pavement, looking right and left, waiting for when it’s “safe” to cross the road!
The worst thing is when we come to mounting a pavement…he rams the kerb and almost tips me out onto the path!! When I have pointed this out to him, he then proceeds to tip me backwards, without warning, so I am grasping the arm rests with white knuckles, fearing I am going arse over head!! I’m going to end up with whiplash injuries or hypertension…or BOTH
Yes, I shall be glad to have the new, super chair which is feather light, and I can regain some control of where I’m going and what I want to look at. Meanwhile I have my new, modern, light weight rollator to look forward to. Bless him. He is trying so hard and has the patience of a saint. Unfortunately it’s me that doesn’t.
I know exactly what you mean! Sometime in the past, I only had an attendant pushed chair. It was so frustrating/infuriating when I was pushed anywhere but where I wanted to go!
My sis once took me to the cinema. We got to the aisle we wanted and she sat down and smiled at me.
I smiled back and said, ‘It would be great if you could turn me round to face the screen, as I have come to watch the film!!’
We howled with laughter afterwards.
These days I go wherever I want in my leccy chair! Providing I have been transported that is! Pollx
1 Like
Aw Poppy, that could’ve been me, writing that. I hate being pushed round a supermarket. And I’m a woman who likes supermarkets. I like to be able to see the options, rather than looking too close at a product I will never want to buy, whilst OH is gazing (without his glasses on so, basically seeing nothing) vaguely about himself.
He manages to shop very well on his own, but pushing my chair round is just infuriating for us both. Nowadays I only go if there’s only a basket load wanted as neither of us can bear the irritation factor of the wheelchair trolley.
And let’s not go too deeply into ramps leading into/out of places. He can’t resist asking if I fancy a bit of ‘freewheeling!’ For him, the joke never gets old!!
Sue
1 Like
Don’t know how old this thread is. I have a Karma Ergo 115. Weighs just 6kg and can be lifted into most boots. Foot rest comes off, wheels detach, back folds down. You CAN get it with back brakes (if your being pushed) or without. I now have a power pack that turns it unto an electric as I simply don’t have upper body strength.
Thank you for that. I’ll google it now to check it out.
I absolutely hate being pushed in my chair, so much so that i have removed the handles from the back now that i have an ultra light chair, when i was using a loaned chair from the NHS i had to tolerate being pushed up inclines but it used to make me cringe every time i had to ask someone for help
Jemma