My classmates helped me

And so, I was left using my old power chair which still ran. But I was having difficulties with it. I had the feeling the batteries were going.

I emailed the vendor, Tom and he said they were working on the solution for the new power chair's joystick placement. They had put a metal rod under the left arm rest to raise it some. But it only raised it three fourths of an inch.

I emailed and waited.

Two weeks later, or so the tech returned with another bracket for the chair. This one allowed him to position the joystick in the middle of the end of the armrest – where I wanted it in the first place. But he could not move it in or out, up or down, and that was disappointing.

I could touch the joystick. It wasn't in the best spot. It wasn't even close to the set up on my old power chair. But, because I could run the chair a little, I thanked the tech and the vendor.

But the way my hand was bothered me. I had to rest my left hand ON the joystick in order to use it. That made me really nervous. I was so afraid I would bump it accidentally. Even sneezing could be dangerous, and coughing also.

Reluctantly I started out using the chair just when the occupational therapy assistant was working with me. I thought she trusted me with the chair. But I told her I was not sure if I could take it outside the facility.

I think the nursing home therapists just wanted me to have another chair that would run. They knew my old one was going, all the staff did..

The next week my old power chair stopped and would not go anymore. I think I wanted to have the new power chair working so badly, that I said it was working even when it wasn't.

The first week of June I started using the new power chair exclusively.

The tech had tried two different joystick covers. Then we settled on the one I had. But I wondered about it. My arm was not high enough to move away from the joystick. And that really bothered me.

The fact was my left hand had to be constantly re-positioned in order to use the joystick. The joystick was up high enough that I could not use gravity to move my arm forward. I just don't have enough strength in my arm to extend it like you need to to run the joystick.

The first full week of June three classmates came to visit me. My 50th class reunion was to be in July and I could not go. So, they came to me. I was a nervous wreck because the power chair was not working the way that I felt comfortable using it.

We went to a little fast food place for lunch because it was only a couple blocks away and we wheeled and walked over there. It was a bit chilly. But I knew they'd remember the experience better if it was less than comfy. We had lunch and then came back to the nursing home. My one classmate ran the joystick over. I told her I was nervous and afraid that I could not go fast enough. She acted like it was okay and we all pretended that it was.

I was dubious about my new power chair. I also knew I needed to take it out somewhere to try it. That would be the test. I needed to find out how it would work inside a store when I wanted to shop and get somewhere.