I Ordered a Wheelchair

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through links on my site, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

On Monday, I ordered this Kerdom electric wheelchair.

this Idea

It’s the Kerdom DX07 Ultra-Light Carbon Folding Electric Wheelchair.

Over the years, I’ve looked at wheelchairs online but backed out of actually buying one. I kept thinking, “Things will get better. I don’t need it yet.”

And I am doing better today. When I woke up yesterday (Wednesday) morning, I knew right away that something in my back had shifted overnight.

My right foot was not numb, and the neuropathy had calmed down between my lower back and my foot. I no longer felt like a sharp rock was sitting on the nerve.

Thank goodness! Maybe I’d have a day that wasn’t lived around pain. I decided I’d get up and take it very, very easy. I would use my cane and walk very slowly so as, hopefully, not to wake up the beast.

So I Ordered a Wheelchair:

But I knew I still needed that wheelchair for when things were bad again, so I was glad I’d ordered it. I might need it tomorrow, or next week, but time and experience say I will need this.

It’s hard when aging and disability take things from you, the things you’ve taken for granted much of your life. Walking, bending, sitting, doing.

I have a walker/rollator; I have a cane. Those two walking aids have been incredibly helpful. But they are no longer enough.

Off and on yesterday, the pain would come back, and my foot went numb, and I walked around like I was balancing a book on my head. Terrified of waking up the pain beast.

When You Live Alone:

If you live alone, you know that everything is left up to you. Taking the trash out and then rolling it to the curb for trash day. Preparing food, watering plants, tending to pets.

But there are things you must do, regardless of how you feel. So I ordered a wheelchair for those days.

I have my neighbors Smitty and Randy. Sometimes I ask Randy to drive my car for me if I’m going farther than a mile or so. He knows this town like the back of his hand. Smitty and I tend to rely on Randy when we need help.

But still, there’s getting around from room to room. No one can do that for you. And when the pain is too great to use a walker or cane, you had better have a backup.

This wheelchair will not fit through the bathroom door. I couldn’t find one that could. The toilet is at least six feet away from the door. But I can at least get the wheelchair to the door when I need to. That takes some of the worry away.

Getting Help When Necessary:

My neighbors, my girls, and my grandkids are good at helping me. But still, they can’t be here as I live my day-to-day life.

I still have to keep things somewhat clean around here and deal with things everyone else does daily.

I love my solitary life and cherish my solitude. So I will do whatever I need to do to keep things rolling smoothly.

I hated to pay the tab: $1300. But I need the wheelchair for when I can’t walk from room to room.

The Cane & Rollator:

I remember when I got the cane; at first I was a little shy about using it. Then it became second nature.

I remember when my neighbor Steve gave me the rollator after his wife died. You look at something like that and think: Do I really need that? And you know that you do at times.

Maybe not every day or every hour, but still, you know you sometimes need help walking.

So you research wheelchairs and then put the idea to rest. I’ll do that when I have to, I’d tell myself. But last weekend was a very painful few days. I could barely get from room to room, or sit, or lie down.

So I knew I had to order a wheelchair.

Pain can overtake your senses. It isn’t just that you endure the pain; it can be debilitating.

Pain acts as an alarm system, a physical trigger for survival reflexes. Your system becomes “fight-or-flight” ready.

The Physical and Physiological Effects of Pain:

• Triggers Reflexes: Activates motor pathways instantly to pull away from danger (like jerking a hand off a hot stove) before the brain even consciously processes it.
• Alters Vital Signs: Causes an immediate rise in blood pressure, quickened breathing, and heightened heart rate.
• Releases Hormones and Chemicals: Triggers the release of stress hormones (like cortisol and adrenaline) and natural pain-relieving chemicals like endorphins.
• Induces Muscle Guarding: Causes surrounding muscles to tense up tightly to protect an injured area, which can lead to chronic stiffness, reduced mobility, and secondary muscle fatigue.
• Disrupts Sleep: Interferes with rest, as nearly 90% of people with chronic pain struggle with sleep, which in turn lowers the body’s natural pain tolerance.

When pain becomes chronic, it can keep the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems locked in a hypersensitive “pain loop”. This

Pain is an Emotional & a Physical Experience:

Pain is both an emotional and a physical experience. No two people feel it the same way. I switch the ice packs out for heating pads. And make sure I don’t sit too long.

I’ve tried creams and medications, acupuncture, and chiropractic care. I’ve tried meditation and stretching exercises. Supplements that I’d read could possibly help. But nothing took the pain away.

Do you recall me taking my dog Charlie for acupuncture twice a week for a year or so? It seemed to help him. So I was happy to do it.

Surgery at Age 30:

I had surgery on my lower back when I was 30. But the pain came back after seven months.

Sometimes, when the girls were young, I’d have to use a cane to walk from the parking lot to watch them play softball. I even helped to coach Kasi’s team with crutches.

There were days and sometimes weeks when I’d have little pain. I could still do things. I could plant gardens, clean the house, and walk around stores.

But little by little, year by year, it robbed me of more and more. I had to not just live with pain, but learn to live my life around knowing that it would return.

Trigeminal Neuralgia & Shingles Pain:

I’ve had bouts of pain with Trigeminal Neuralgia. It’s often called the “suicide disease” because of its unbearable severity.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic nerve disorder that causes sudden, severe, electric-shock-like facial pain. Simple things like talking, chewing, or even a light breeze can trigger it.

But that was just something I dealt with every few years or so. It wasn’t commonplace. I’ve had shingles, which is burning nerve pain, and it’s no picnic either.

It Was Time to Order a Wheelchair:

But the pain that has rocked my life the most is back pain. After a semi pushed my car off the highway in 1998, I had to have cervical surgery, which limits how much I can turn my head.

I have arthritis that affects my body from head to toe. I’m sure you know a little something about that miserable pain if you’re older! In the past, I wrote a post about practical arthritis aids.

But I knew it was time to order a wheelchair. Not for every day, maybe, but for when I need it.

The wheelchair I ordered should arrive tomorrow.

“These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.”

– Rumi

***

Note: Have you seen this political ad for James Talarico, who’s running for the Senate in Texas? There is no talking down to his opponent in it. It’s just a beautiful ad for Texans. Please go watch it.