WHEELCHAIR SOLUTIONS: AN UPDATE
My day started off miserably yesterday...kind of like one of those situations where you realize you were better off just sleeping the entire day away. It was time for my chair to be checked, and I had a bad feeling about it. I've been driving a wheelchair since before my 2nd birthday, so if something isn't right, I can usually tell right away. Dan, the wheelchair technician, showed up at my house around 10:30am and I was so glad that he was sent to work on my chair. He’s the one that finally discovered the problem with it back in December, so I was confident that he would exert all his efforts into fixing it. After carefully examining my wheelchair, Dan told us that the chair was in pretty bad condition and he needed to take it with him back to the shop.I was completely devastated. Apparently, my tires were a lot worse than he had anticipated, and he had to use a special drill to fix them. However, that special drill could potentially break other parts of the chair, but it was a risk we had to take. If everything went smoothly, he would then take a look at the motor to see if it was ruined as well. By the look on Dan's face, he didn't seem too hopeful.
So, now there I was, feeling helpless without my wheelchair. I just couldn’t understand how any of this was fair. My chair is literally my life, and without it, I’m stranded. And to add to all of this, I had no idea when I was going to get my chair back. Maybe if this issue had been diagnosed when I first started noticing problems, I wouldn’t have been in yesterday's predicament. But, it happened, and now I had to deal with it. A sense of anger came over me in the beginning, which was then followed by many tears because I just couldn’t make sense of why this would happen. But, somewhere between the fury and the sadness, I had a revelation. It was time to stop feeling sorry for myself.
My situation was certainly less than ideal, and I wish none of this had happened. However, looking at the big picture, I had no right to be upset. I may not have a way of getting around, but at least I’m healthy. At least I have a roof over my head, and friends and family to keep me happy and distracted until things get back to normal. At that point, I realized I needed to make the most out of this situation. Maybe I’d pick up a new hobby, or watch re-runs upon re-runs of Friends. Or maybe I could finally teach my mom how to use her Kindle Fire.
Around 5pm, Dan gave us a call to give a quick update on the status of my wheelchair. To my surprise, things went better than expected. YES! He was going to take it for a test run in the morning, and if it all went well, he’d deliver it as soon as possible. Dan said he felt so bad for making me sad yesterday that he did everything he could to fix it. How sweet is that? It wasn't even his fault! Sure enough, the doorbell rang at 10 o'clock this morning and it was Dan with my chair!!! I'm so so thankful that Dan took the time to work on my chair, and I truly appreciate everything he has done for me thus far. Now, after 3 long days, I can finally get back to my normal routine and actually leave my house! I think it's safe to say we need more Dans in this world.
