Can You Hear Me Now?

Today I finally received the walker carrier for the back of my scooter. Now I need to practice getting my walker on and off that thing, because it’s really hard. I’m weak enough as it is, and with only one good hand/arm, you can imagine it’s not the easiest thing for me to do. The pulleys are really, really tight! It wasn’t even easy for the people who came and installed it for me to do. Good thing I asked Living Well if I could start their March 1 program instead (because I was missing so many classes with all this snow, and the fact I still couldn’t bring my walker over). Now I have a couple weeks to get the routine down.

Here’s the looooooooong story. It took over a month to get that thing! I originally called the medical supply store (the one I am a regular customer with… every piece of equipment I have is from there, and I sent them my scooter to be fixed in December, and you would think I would be on their “special customers” list!!) on Jan. 10. I talked with a man I’ll call Joe. I told him what I needed, and he said they get them specially made by an outside supplier, and it would cost about $175 including delivery. I told him the make/model of my scooter, and asked if they needed to see it. “Oh, no, I know which scooter you have. I will call them and get one made for you and we’ll deliver it when it’s finished”. I told him that if it was at all possible, I needed it by January 19 (for my walking test at Living Well) but if it would cost more to rush it, no worries. He said they should be able to do it by then. I trusted all was well and I would hear from him soon.

A couple weeks went by, and nothing. I called the store, and left a message in Joe’s voice mail, wondering about the status of my equipment. He didn’t call me back. The following week I called again and left another message, and again he didn’t call me back. So last Tuesday I called AGAIN, and this time I refused his voice mail and told the person who answered that I wanted to know where my carrier was, and Joe was not returning my calls. He tracked down Joe, and when he came to the phone he said “oh, yes… that should have been delivered here, it’s around here somewhere, I’ll look into it and get it out to you”. When I still had not heard anything by Monday (this past Monday) I called Joe again and was starting to show my frustration, so he promised me delivery the next day. That afternoon I received a call from a woman I’ll call Sandra, asking if I would be around the next day for a delivery. I told her I needed it in the morning, so I could bring my walker to exercise class in the afternoon.

Sandra arrived Tuesday morning with the equipment, and I showed her to my scooter. She took one look at it and said, “oh, this won’t fit…” the bracket was completely different than the one it would attach to on my scooter. By this point I was ready to scream. I told her how long I had been waiting and about all the ignored phone calls and how Joe was so sure he knew what I needed for my scooter without seeing it. She apologized for Joe’s behaviour and said “well, you’ve got a woman looking after it now. I’ll be sure to get you what you need this week”. She left, I called Living Well to tell them I was missing yet another class, and could I start over on March 1 instead, to give time to sort out the walker carrier situation and for all our snow to hopefully melt.

Sandra called a few hours later. “The kind of carrier your scooter requires needs to be specially made, so we will need to bring your scooter in here”. I said “Joe told me the one I was getting was specially made for my scooter.” She was silent for a moment then said “…uh… I don’t know what to say about that… the one I brought you was the kind we just sell in the store… nothing was specially made… how can that be done without seeing your scooter and fitting it?” “I don’t know, Joe said he knew what I needed and was getting it made. I thought that’s why I waited a month.” “Oh… I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say about that…” You could tell she was stumped and probably wanted to bonk Joe over the head like I do.

She called me back a few minutes later and said she would be by to get my scooter on Thusday morning. She was here, as promised, and only needed to take my seat because that’s where the bracket was. This morning she returned, “with muscle” (a large man) and my specially made walker carrier. (One day!! It took ONE DAY! Fuck you, JOE). They re-attached my seat and showed me how to hang my walker on it, but like I said, it’s no easy feat. I am going to try to do it now so I can take pictures….

I’m back.

The walker carrier on the back of my scooter. $230 it ended up costing, BTW. Having a disability can be very expensive.

With my walker. After a bit of a struggle, I figured out my OWN way to do it, because I am brilliant and think outside the box.

I put those in upside down. That’s all! But you’d be amazed at how many times we tried to do it the “proper” way when Sandra and her co-worker were here. I couldn’t do it myself, and I couldn’t take it off by myself either. They leave, wishing me luck, and that they would call if they thought of an easier way. First try on my own I do this, and voila!

And then when I took it off, I removed the bottom latches instead of the top ones, and it’s as if no one has ever thought of that before. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Now I can take my walker over to the mall even on cold days to walk around. I’ll find some nice person at a store to keep an eye on my scooter for me, and bugger off for awhile. Wheee!

Oh, by the way, I had a nice Valentine’s Day. As a single woman I always try to do something nice for myself rather than simply dread the day and sit at home and cry. Heh. My friend Pam and I went out and I finally got myself the stainless steel pitcher I needed to foam milk for my lattes and then we went to Chapters/Starbucks (there is a Starbucks in the bookstore). We drank lattes and I ate a triple chocolate chunk cookie (because I promised people I would indeed have chocolate on Valentine’s Day, and I can’t let my people down, and I’m off the no wheat thing, at least for now. I’ll explain/make my excuses later). Then we wandered around the bookstore, which unfortunately had the heat up too high, so by that time between the heat and how tired I was (I had worked all day too) I didn’t last long. I did pick myself up a cute prayer book/journal set, with a candle and everything, that comes in a little box with a ribbon. It was only $10 and I want to devote a little time every day to meditation and prayer, so this seemed like a nice little gift to give myself for Valentine’s Day. Oh, and a little box of dark chocolate hearts.

And this brings to a close my week of procrastination. I’m going to head to the mall because I CAN (and couldn’t yesterday with no scooter seat! Oh the horror!) and get more water. Then I am coming home to organize my office, I SWEAR TO GOD. Tomorrow I am getting a pile of work dropped off from two clients, and it’s only going to continue. I must get my office tidy and file my OWN taxes so I can be prepared and organized in my mind and in my home for what is about to begin. Tax season is here!