Wheel chair

[Guest guest]

Hello Steve! My daughter is two years old and we are waiting on her first

power chair. You can see the one we chose at this website:

http://www.mrmobility.com/quantumdyanamo.html

Taleah is type 1, and thus has no head control or trunk stability so we

opted for modifications such as a tilted seat, different controls,

Attendants controls on the top of the chair, remote control off switch, etc.

Feel free to throw out other questions, we're early in this process, but

we've learned a lot already.

At 01:00 AM 10/17/02 +0000, you wrote:

>Hi Everyone! My wife Marcia introduced us to you last week I think it

>was, our daughter Callie is type2 and 19mths. I have a question that

>I'm not sure will be easy to answer. Callie's Doctor Dr Crawford at

>s Hopkins is planning on having Callie in an electric wheel chair

>by late next summer, does anyone have a picture or know of a website

>that would have a picture of a chair that a 2yo might use its just to

>give me an idea of what needs done around the house (which is small)

>thank you

>Steve

>http://www.geocities.com/piper33

>(out of date but if you are curious about us)

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Bernie has a Quantum Dynamo too. Got it in June. He is 6 years old type 2.

Our house is large with wide hallways, so we were very lucky. Friends of

mine put a wide decorative chair rail all around the house to protect the

walls. It looks good!

Steve, I advise you to remove all furniture that isn't absolutely essential,

if your house is small, and make big pathways. You just have to learn to

live this way with a chair. Don't fight it, work with it.

I'll tell you what we like and don't like about the chair:

Tight turning radius is GREAT

Fits well almost anywhere, including classroom and mini-van

Comes apart if necessary (still really heavy)

Looks good (not the seat)

Tilt goes way back, very nice

Problems with motor: makes a loud clunk which is getting more frequent. This

is typical for this chair, dealer says.

Squeal from 1 wheel (maybe bearing?)

Problems getting small enough seat (our seat is from same manufacturer)

Recline is absolutely terrible and virtually useless because it isn't

suitable for a small seat

We have similar controls to what describes. The attendant control is

really tricky - you have to drive 'heads up' because it's sort of backwards.

We waited a long time to get Bernie a power chair because he can push a

manual to a certain extent. It kept him eye level with peers in preschool

and K and fit well under ordinary kid tables. But the power one has made

school much more fun.

We had to buy a new van to accomodate the chair, because the back is very

high with the manual recline. This was unanticipated! Now Bernie drives is

up a fiberglass ramp, into the side door.

If you want to see pix of Bernie go http://www.ugalumni.uoguelph.ca/~eross

He is pretty small, similar to the size of a large 2 year old, so maybe this

will be helpful. He only weighs 35 pounds.

Like , we are early in this process, so don't have lots of answers and

are hoping to hear more thoughts.

Bettylou

> http://www.mrmobility.com/quantumdyanamo.html

[Guest guest]

Steve,

Since I don't have SMA myself (I'm just h's Mom!) I can't really tell you

which chairs are technically the best, but I can tell you what h has liked.

Right now she has a jazzy 1113. It's a great starter chair in my opinion. Not

many fancy features, built in charger, and (if you don't have a van you should

really consider this) it breaks down for transport in the trunk of a car. I

drive a Hyundai and it fits! *LOL* Now if you want Callie to have a really cool

chair, check out the permobile playman robo. That one is just awesome. (BTW

folks -- as soon as I get a van, h's PT and wheelchair guy are ordering it

for her!) It has lots of neat features, and it's sturdier. h's favorite part

is the elevator. The chair she tried went up so that she was almost at eye level

with me! And she liked being able to get on the floor without me and without the

fear of falling over. The difference in price may be too much for your

insurance. We are just lucky to be a military family and get great benefits.

h hasn't gotten anything major in a few years, so they are approving just

about anything I ask for right now *LOL* The best advice I can give, is to have

the rep come out several times and bring different models for Callie to try in

your home and figure out which one she gets along the best with.

Best wishes!

Jeni

[Guest guest]

,

Basically the only difference between that and h's chair is that h's

breaks down, and hers supports up to 250lbs so she can give me or her friends

" piggy back " rides.

[Guest guest]

Awwwww!!!!! He's adorable -- and he doesn't have any teeth either!!!!!!! I'm

gonna show h his pics tomorrow, and then she'll want " just one more

boyfriend " *LOL*

About the size thing -- h only weighs 35-38lbs, but she's 49 inches tall.

Poor kid looks like a bean pole right now. She's kind of in that gangly stage I

guess. Anyway, my question was... is Bernie short, too or is it just his weight

that makes you say he's the size of a large 2 yr old?

[Guest guest]

I have been in some pretty bad pain today. I have been thinking about that wheel

chair the doctor was talking about last week when I saw him. I am so against it

but I am having great problems trying to just get through the house and if I go

somewhere it's hard to get all the way to my car in the driveway much less shop

or walk around in hte store. The buggy thing isn't working real well either but

I dont' know how to get a lift for the chair if I have to get one. I do know

that I am in a great deal of pain when I try to walk or stand up straight for

the past 3 weeks. It seems to be getting harder everyday. I hate to give in to

the pain but I know in my head it is the right thing and right time to do this.

Does anyone know of any companies who will help with a lift for the back of your

car or truck to help get the chair from point A to point B?

Janice