I had my 2nd seating clinic appt today. The first was for deciding what was wrong or right about current chair (don’t get me started on this lemon). Also discussed what has changed (better head support needed) and what hasn’t.
Today Blane from National Seating and Mobility (formerly Mobility Concepts) attended. He brought with him a chair that would possibly meet my needs. And I loved it. A Quickie Q700. This will be my fourth powerchair and my sixth or seventh chair overall.
One of the main problems with my current chair (there are so many…) is due to how I push down on the arm rests to get in and out. My current chair couldn’t handle that and I am constantly having to re-adjust them or give up and use a rolled up towel. The new one (IF approved) will have a support bar. The armrest (and the bar) will swing back out of the way, too.
My current cushion is toast and has been for years. We tried out another that would last longer but still be firm enough and cool enough. I put out a LOT of heat. Sweat can cause skin breakdown, something I strive to prevent. Same brand I have now, just more dense.
A joyous part of EDS is the ever changing places needing padding, support, relief, etc. So we had to work around that. Longer thigh support, better headrest, better armrests.
One reason we are switching chair brands is the back on the new one will fold down. Permobil has none that do that. Which makes it a PITA to get in/out of the van.
After Blane and Barbara (from CarePartner’s seating clinic) went through options, they had gone through an 18 page form. It was 24 pages but they removed the ones that was just pictures. We now wait for approval for it all and that can take 3-9mos.
It will be basic matte black with blue highlights. It will have power tilt, power legrests, thigh pads (to keep hips in line), gel armrests with cloth-ish cover (heat and comfort), flip-away armrests with support post, headrest that makes me feel great (cuddles my darlin’ occipitals), way cool suspension to assist with jostling, and some other stuff. I got to test drive the demo and, once I learned to trust it, I was climbing the curb and hills easily.