DME # 2 aka Wheelchair

It arrived! We started talking about wheelchairs with Annabelles PT in January after months of thinking about having my child in a wheelchair. As a mom you want to stay positive that your child will walk, and by getting a wheelchair I felt that I was giving up on that. But now I see that it's not the case, most typical children would be walking by a year old, 18 months at the latest, she was already 2 and not even sitting independently yet! I knew that she was soon going to outgrow all the "baby" equipment - highchairs, strollers that we use and we would need something that would suit her needs and grow with her. But a wheelchair is a hard pill to swallow for a mother.

 We got into the wheelchair clinic with CCS in April, and by May we had her measured and fitted and it was ordered. It was crazy they only had 2 styles of wheelchair to offer one with big wheels and one with small wheels that reclined I chose the big wheels because then there would possibly one day be a chance that she could propel herself with her arms, with small wheels there would be no chance for that. But there were 100 colours to choose from (as if that was the most important thing about a wheelchair?) I dont get it! Then came the wait getting insurance to cover it! After one denial and having to send more paperwork through they eventually approved it end of October. Then the supplier waits for all the pieces come from all over the country then they assembled it here. After many phone calls chasing everybody we went to the wheelchair clinic last week to go fetch it.

I decided to try it out when we got home and walk down to Matthews school to pick him up, I don't know why but I felt like I was walking down the street with no clothes on it was a strange feeling, not that people were staring at us, I guess its just something I will have to get used to. I can't hide anymore, the wheelchair shouts out to everybody that my child is disabled. A few children came up to us at Matthews school and asked us why Annabelle was in the wheelchair, it threw me off gaurd as I hadn't prepared for questions I just said "that she was in the wheelchair because she didn't walk" they asked why she couldn't walk, and I said that we weren't sure why she didn't walk which isn't entirely untrue I guess I need to prepare in my head what my response is going to be to people who ask questions, I'm not very good at thinking on the spot!

We have been try it out and I must say it did help us get through LAX a lot faster gates open where before we would have had to stand in line. We got let on the plane first. But there has been some cons too I bashed my lip on it getting it out of the boot (trunk), it weighs over 40lbs! It has no suspension and you can feel every bump if you are on a bumpy pavement. All in all I hope this will help provide Annabelle with more support and that she can be more mobile as she grows.



Our first DME

If you are wondering, DME stands for Durable medical equipment (welcome to the world of special needs acronyms). Yes it arrived today! After months of waiting, begging and pleading that we needed a bath support for Annabelle it came yahoo! We have been using the Primo Euro baby bath ( 0-24 months)(see picture below), up till now and it has been great because it is one of the largest baby baths on the market and she most probably still fits in it for a few more months but because she is getting longer and longer she will outgrow it soon.

Now we have our new Columbia Medical Wrap-around bath Support, it would set you back $650 new if you bought it, but we got it thanks to Insurance and Medi-Cal.

And here's Annabelle modeling her new bath support she usually takes a while to get used to anything new but she was loving her new duck that came with it, that she didn't notice the new bath support. Score!