Keeping your cool when your wheelchair breaks

There’s one superpower every wheelchair-user on the planet must possess: The ability to keep one’s stuff together when something breaks. Especially the critical I-need-them-to-live-my-life mobility products. When everyone’s favorite mobility product – the wheelchair – breaks down, you’ve got two choices: 1) Freak out when you realize how screwed you really are without a working wheelchair. Or 2) Suck it in, stay calm, and know a solution, eventually, will be found. Because it must.

But it isn’t always that easy. Staying cool when your legs are literally taken away, even for an hour, can be a hugely taxing experience. You feel vulnerable, helpless, more frustrated than you’ve ever been in your life, and the worst, you’re boldly reminded of how limited you really are without your wheels. When your chair breaks, it’s a test of strength. How determined are you to not let a break down ruin your day, and more importantly, your frame of mind? Think you can stave off the negativity?

For me, I use a 2005 Invacare TDX MK5 powerchair. After 5 long years of being run into the ground on long Minneapolis sidewalks, run up steep hills at parks half the year, and being used 15 hours a day, it’s finally starting to show it’s age. The motors and joystick have begun to break down. They’ll break intermittently, not work for about 5 minutes, stress me to the point where I call the wheelchair repair place, then suddenly they’ll begin working again. I’ve been feeling totally insecure; scared to go too far from my place lest I break. My trusted seed just isn’t reliable anymore, and I need to find a solution amidst dwindling insurance cuts. This life ain’t easy.

As I write this blog my chair is at it again. The joystick wasn’t working this morning, but now it is. I could be freaking now since my ability to not roll anywhere could be taken away at any second. I’m alone, and I’m not even sure there are any minutes left on my phone. If my chair dies, pushing my 300lb powerchair to my house phone might prove difficult. But above this unjust situation, I’m still able to concentrate and write this blog. I’m still in a pleasant mood even.

Whoa. How is that freaking possible? My newly-injured self would never have dreamed of such a thing. After making myself suffer whenever my chair broke, I soon realized I needed to learn the art of patience if I wanted survive. It’s been 15 years since that revelation, the moment I decided I needed a complete patience overhaul and had no choice but to find the cool-under-pressure chick inside of me.

It’s been a long learning process, but time has proven victorious once again. Instead of hyperventilating and worrying to the max at my current state of affairs, I actually feel relaxed. I know this isn’t the end of the world.

Sweet. I think I’ve finally found her.

Photo courtesy of Mait Juriado.