The Chair

During the first week in the apartment, it was not possible for me to go out because of the steps at the entrance. We got a carpenter to make a ramp and a little platform right in front of the door so I could have a place where to turn and face the door to enter and exit before the inclination started. It was a good construction that survived the rain and the snow and also the scorching sun during the summer for all the time we were there.  And it probably is still in use! Here is an image of the ramp. On the left of the picture you can see ( a little dark) a little wall that was supporting dirt and plants, right in front to our door and window.

We still didn’t have furniture and Vic used a plastic crate to sit and we used the little table of my wheelchair as our table to eat.  We borrowed some dishes and pots from Vic’s mom and started cooking there. It was fun to start doing these things. Pretty soon we were getting some of Vic’s old furniture and buying some new ones as well as our kitchen utensils. I knew how to cook, even though I didn’t use to do it on a regular basis when I was in Lima.  I didn’t have the time or the need since there was always someone taking care of me. My mom first and then I had a housekeeper who helped me with all the domestic chores.  Here I could cook as long as I adapted everything to the right height so I could reach the things I needed to be able to do it.  So we did organize things the best we could. Lord! Sure I missed my housekeeper to help me with the house chores! (Well, I missed her too. I loved her like a daughter).  But that was my job now and all I can say is that I appreciated more than ever all what my family and she did for me on a daily basis.

One day, when we were visiting Vic’s mom, I saw a commercial on TV about a motorized wheelchair and how much independence it could bring to someone with a disability like me. I had seen them in Canada years ago but I never had one. This seemed like the best time in my life to have one. These chairs are expensive but they are also the kind of medical equipment that a medical insurance policy covers and I was insured by Vic’s medical insurance provided by his employer, so what better opportunity than this to try to get one. So I asked for a demo video and a personal demonstration conducted at my home. Days later, they went to our apartment and showed us all the features of the chair. It was really good, impressive!  But we decided we wanted to shop around and look for other options.  We did, and we found an even better chair! Here I am going down the driveway with my mom:

The chair had more than enough stability for going down the steep driveway we had. We had the demonstration done and I got to try it! It was great! But I was really scared trying to go down the driveway, but it was safe. The insurance company paid the chair after my doctor sent the information to them and proof that I have a medical reason to own one. We paid just a minimum fee of the thousands of dollars it cost.
Thank God for His provision!

A couple of weeks later or so, they delivered my new chair. I can’t even explain how thrilling that experience was. Learning to drive the chair indoors was very easy for me. It gave me a freedom I had never experienced before in my life, except of course when I learned how to drive a car many years before, but that is a different story.

The new chair gave me the ability to move much faster around my home and also to carry things with one hand and drive the chair with the other, which you really can’t do with a manual chair, you need both hands to drive. Also, one of the best features the chair had was a seat elevator. I could go up and reach things that normally would be out of my reach like something in the medicine cabinet or kitchen cabinet. After a short time of learning to control the chair well indoors, I went to explore my town. At first, I asked Vic to come down the driveway with me so I didn’t get too afraid and until I got used to the feeling of going down in such a steep inclination.  I think that I never got rid completely of the fear of going down. I just got used to do it in spite of it. But I did go down and I did go out and about and it was marvelous!

With my chair I was able to go to different places, we had banks and supermarkets and retail stores and other places. I used to go shopping for groceries, to the bank or the pharmacy. We did not have a lot of sidewalks but at least the most important streets had them as well as the shopping centers around. We had two. Going to these places felt so good. Being able to do all these things by myself when Vic was working or with him when we would go for walks together or to do something around the neighborhood was a source of joy to me. It made me appreciate the simple things in life that I never did on my own before and I was grateful that I always had someone to do them for me.  These experiences made me appreciate life on a different level, on the simplest things and I could realize we should not take things for granted.


I'll be back with more next time!