I brought home a new toy today. A Permobil C300 Corpus.
We don’t have a digital camera so it will be a day or two before I have pics of mine. But it has the blue shroud. They didn’t have any in yellow. 🙁 Although I can easily paint it. 😀
Tomorrow I’ll spend some time in it, getting used to the feel. Just like some shoes, it takes a while for a person’s body to adjust to a new chair or cushion. Plus, so much of it is adjustable and each person is different.
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height and front/back angle of armrests
height and side-to-side angle of footrests
headrest (height, angle, position, etc etc)
the lumbar inserts
the thigh inserts
I think that’s all of them. It will take several days for some things and several weeks for others. The speed of the thing is also adjustable. It has five programmable “modes”. Each mode can be set individually. For example, some folks have a mode for indoors (slower fwd speed, slower turn speed, faster stop); a mode for work (faster speed, slower turn and fast stop); and a mode for haul-ass (fast fast fast).
The main problem for me is that this chair is a mid-wheel drive (some call it center-wheel drive). The best article is Understanding Powerchair Pivot Points by Mark E. Smith at WheelchairJunkie.com. I will have to practice so that I won’t take out another door like I did at the wheelchair place today. Sigh.
Oooh … this is a whole other realm of technology that looks fascinating. Never knew these things were so sophisticated/complicated. Must cost a fortune too… Hope it does the job for you!
Yes, it is expensive.
My Quickie (Sunrise Medical) S525 (a.k.a. Naomi) cost just under $7000 six years ago. It was a basic model with no extra anything.
This monster has tilt, the headrest, and the cool seating and cost just under $16,000.
Luckily, between Medicare and Medicaid, I don’t have to pay for it. But because they paid for it, I have to go with what they think I need, despite the PT and MD recommendations. Which is why I didn’t get my other cushion and is why, despite not being able to raise my arms that high, I didn’t get elevated seat.
We’ve decided to keep Naomi (where I go, she goes) as a back-up. Although I don’t think this Yet Unnamed New One will break down too often.
And yeah, wheelchairs and their designs have made great strides over the years. The cost has gone up (a titanium manual chair can cost around $6000 and a powerchair for someone like Mr. Reeves can cost $30,000) but at least the quality has too.
I’ve come a long way. My first manual I bought from a pharmacy for $150. It weighed like, 30lbs.