I'm vain. I used to be fit, thin, fast. I'm none of these things now. I find my fat tetra tummy hardest to cope with. That said, it's more a state of mind: I used to have a 32 inch waist and now it's 36 when I lie flat. But it has implications: too fat means new wheelchair. This was the message I got when I had my last assessment at the Spinal Unit.
I was bought a Quickie Ti, a super-lightweight titanium chair, by a rich Canadian friend, rich (and generous) enough to afford the £4,000 price tag, including extras. The Unit's response when I mentioned that I couldn't possibly afford a new wheelchair was: "well, it's your skin that you're putting at risk". So for the last few weeks, I've been wondering what I could do. Could I recycle parts of my existing chair, such as the wheels, the footplate, the brakes? How could I find that sort of money? I wasn't sure I could ask my friend for another wheelchair 18 months after he'd purchased the original.
Today I managed to speak to the people who sold me my Quickie. "No, you can't recycle much of your existing one. It would be cheaper to buy a whole new chair. Quickie's have gone up in price, but a cheaper titanium version would cost around £3,000". Great.
We talk more about why I need a new chair. "Oh, you're only eleven and a half-stone? And you need a new chair because your legs are rubbing against the wheels sometimes? Well that's OK then. Your chair is fully adjustable. You can change the wheel settings. Or if that doesn't work, you can buy a new axle bar - £100 - which will make it wider". Relief. And a reminder that I really ought to know more about my wheelchair. It could save me a lot of worry. As well as cash.
