The joystick was dead

My, oh so painful, right leg looked terrible. But, I did much better the next day after spending one whole day mostly in bed.

Within a few days, my entire right leg from above the knee down to my ankle was black and blue. It stayed that way for quite a while.

The aides put ice on my leg when they could. I continued to take Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain and Benadryl at night to help me sleep.

Two weeks later my leg was still hurting badly. When the doctor came to see me, I told him I was afraid that there was something more wrong with it. He assured me that a bad bruise is sometimes worse than a break. I have to say I certainly know that's true.

Meanwhile, I continued to use the new power chair. I was getting used to the new joystick's size. It was smaller. It fit easily inside my hand. After the speed and sensitivity was turned down, the chair did not jolt nearly as much. But I was still learning and had to be careful.

My sister visited late in June. We were able to go out and shop at a big box store. She had to frequently adjust my left hand's placement. But, all in all, we had no incidents. She sensed that I was nervous about the chair and she empathized with my situation.

We went to a little Italian restaurant, the same one I went to with my friend Beth, and had a nice lunch. We came back to the nursing home, and she was able to go on her way. It also was a lovely sunny day.

I made it through most of July and was doing well with the chair. Then, in the third week I had an appointment to go to the ophthalmologist. It was the first time I had gone anywhere in the nursing home's minivan in the new power chair. The medical transportation aide was new to me also. I was a bit nervous.

I pulled up in the van okay but instead of staying facing the side window, I turned to face the front. I had usually done that, at least most of the time, in my older power chair.

When we arrived at the ophthalmologist's office I turned my chair around so I could exit the minivan. While doing that, I got stuck. The bracket on the back of the power chair stuck out far enough that my backpack got caught on something. The transportation aide helped free it. But, I wondered about it.

The next day was Saturday. I had trouble using the joystick. It just felt like there was no power in the chair.

That afternoon when my aide parked it, I asked her to make sure it was plugged in and charging. And she did.

The next morning when the chair was turned on, it beeped constantly. When they tried to use the joystick, the chair would not move. I told them I thought something was disconnected. But nobody could find a loose wire. I was pretty sure there was one.

I had to be put in my manual chair for the rest of the weekend.

Monday morning the nursing home's maintenance man took a look at it. He said a wire was pulled out that went from the joystick to the controller on the back of the chair. I wondered if it was pulled out when I made the turn in the minivan. But it may have been loosened up from something else just as easily.

I had to be pushed after that.

I emailed the vendor to tell him the chair was not operational. He said a tech would be down to check it out.

I hoped the tech would have the chair operational soon.