Up bright and early again, was like a child at Christmas. Couldn’t sleep and woke up excited todays the day I get my new chair.
But before that I had to fill a few hours, I sorted myself out with some beading nice and early and made lots of progress on the bridal jewellery I’m working on

Not too many more inches to go with this one before I start on the next necklace.

Ooh and I received another lovely card today too.

Physio man came and got me at about 11, wheeled down to the gym and got straight on an exercise bike for 5mins…physio Man set out to torture me by sitting on a chair next to me and eating a cereal bar while I worked hard!
After a quick warm up on the bike we headed over to the practice stairs.
This time we attempted to replicate the home situation by me using one crutch and one hand on the hand rail. Managed 3 trips up and down the stairs without a fall or a wobble. 😀
I had a quick rest at this point and then we decided to really push my walking. I walked out of the gym to the main corridor then I wheeled to the nurses station. At the nurses station I swapped wheels for crutches and walked the 25 meters back to my room! Physio man only had to steady me once or twice and I didn’t wobble much at all, sure it was old lady speed and it hurt like hell but I did it!
After a hefty dose of tramadol, a lot of cold water and a big piece of dairy milk chocolate to celebrate I headed to the chair exercise class (more for the giggles than the exercise I’d totally worn myself out already)
The conservatory was back to its usual green house like temperatures so I retreated to the fridge for my cool vest pretty quickly. Back in the conservatory I was sat next to a chap wearing rather bright orange glasses! A very similar shade to mine! We talked about migraines and how awesome tinted glasses are before settling down for lunch.
After lunch I was struggling, I pushed myself really hard in physio then overheated straight after so I skipped the teas and coffees and headed to my room for a nap and some blogging.
The resident OT popped in shortly after and told me all about her visit to my house. She’d had to bum shuffle down the stairs and couldn’t believe any of us walked up them especially me! I think it’s finally sinking in why I was  worried about discharge home!
After chatting with Mum she’s going to order me a perching stool for the kitchen, freestanding toilet frames for both bathrooms, a bath board so I can shower sat down, and another walking frame so I can have one up stairs and one down. I was offered a commode but I’ve declined for now since it’s only a few steps from the end of my bed to the loo upstairs and worst case scenario I can (and do) crawl that far.

Soon after 3 the delivery guy from Felgains arrived with my beautiful new Quickie Helium
It’s everything I hoped for… Except that the anti-tips are missing and there’s a flat tyre.
Not a great start. I can’t put my e-motion wheels on until I have anti-tips and I can use the wheels it came with because one is flat.
The Jay back and head rest are perfect and the Invacare matrix solutions cushion is instantly a perfect fit, unlike the Jay 2 on my old chair that takes a while to warm up and mold to your bum.
And the colour, the colour is beautiful, really beautiful.

Half an hour after I first laid eyes on it, it’s on its way back to Ipswich. The delivery guy hopes to be able to steal the demo anti-tips off the shop floor and fit them to my chair temporarily, he’s also going to pump up the flat and yell at the quality control people who passed my chair as fit for delivery this morning!
Hopefully I’ll have my new chair back at about 6pm at which point I’ll get a photo or two for you all.
I’m not going to pretend I’m not annoyed infact I had a good long cry with the nurses. I know it’s silly my chair will be back in a few hours but i’ve already waited through 9 months of chair hell with Serco, then a 5 week delay on this chair… I was kind of hoping after all that maybe, just maybe this would be easy!

I’d just finished supper when the delivery guy came back with my now complete chair.
And it’s perfect
I love it already.

Blog readers let me introduce you to “Mary J” (Google purple wheelchair and you’ll see why I chose the name, “purple Wheelchair” is a variety of marijuana) 😉

The ride quality is beautiful and quiet, the frog legs make the bumps and dips loads easier/smoother and the colour is stunning.
I pushed one of the routs me and mum have done a few times now and usually I have my power assist on full power and still need the occasional shove up Hill, today I did the whole lot on half power and didn’t need help once. It’s so much more efficient I can’t even begin to explain how glad I am I opted for a rigid chair.
The headrest and back rest have been positioned so I’m sat perfectly upright without the full support. This way I’ll be encouraged to sit up unsupported when I can, the headrest is low profile enough that I can totally ignore it when I don’t need it but can self propel fully supported if needs be.
The alber anti-tips allow me to recline my chair and balance on them when I need to lay back a bit. Alber don’t recommend this AT ALL but the guys at Felgains tested it thoroughly and couldn’t tip the chair no matter how hard they tried, I’ve found the same and it will hopefully help loads with PoTS management.
I’ll continue to review my chair on and off for the next few days as I put it through its paces. But for now I think this post is long enough and I’m shattered!
Sweet dreams folks. 😀