Hello - I suspect some of you in the later stages are using or have used transport chairs...I'm in the market for one & found one on-line & wondering if this would fit the bill...can you look @ this and tell me what you think? My DH is 6' and 170 or so...But, I'm also going to use this NOW for my 91-year-old Nana who is in need of transporting to/from dr visits, perhaps short shopping trips, etc. My DH is still walking right now, but plan on getting this for Nana use now & also for DH when needed in the future. thanks for your input :) Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Medline-Transport-Wheelchair-Brakes-Blue/dp/B000BJEZ8I

Oh, Joan, I will :-) Thanks for that link...

I think I'll be needing something like this for my mom. I bought her one of those wheeled devices with a SEAT and a little basket..but its too heavy for her to lift out of the car..I can hardly lift and unfold it. I thought she would be able to use it if she went shopping in the mall or etc. Now that she has even more difficulty walking
well.. will certainly remember to buy it through the site Joan mentioned.. Thanks so much.

Nancy,

Good idea. Except that I have indefinitely postponed the knee surgery. With rest and very careful PT exercises that the gym trainer monitors, the pain is 99% gone. I do not want to subject myself to surgery that is not absolutely necessary.

However, I did come up with another idea. I told Sid that pushing him in a wheelchair around zoos and Disney parks helps ME. It gives me something to lean on while walking, which takes the pressure off of my knees and back. He mumbled about it, but did not absolutely refuse.

joang

When DH first started using the wheelchair, I started off with a regular wheelchair. It was bigger and heavier and harder for me to put it in the trunk of the car. After a year I switched to a transport chair. It was much lighter and easier to fit into the trunk or even in the back seat of the car. The only thing I found was that the regular wheelchair with the big wheels was easier to push over uneven terrains or even through the mall.
Medicare paid for both of the chairs because they were considered different. At the end of the year when I could decide if I wanted to purchase the regular chair, I opted for the transport and the doctor wrote a prescription for it. So I returned the first one in exchange for the transport. Later on I switched back to the regular chair and later on to a reclining wheelchair. Hospice provided the last two chairs.

The transport chair worked better in the house because it was smaller without the big wheels.

DH didn't want to use the chair either when we would go to the mall. What I did was tell him I was going to take it in with us and if one of us got tired we would have a place to sit down. Most of the times by the time we got into the store he would decide that he'd sit if I wasn't going to. Once he sat down, I'd put a small basket on his lap and ask him to hold it so I could put things in it.

I also had a seat belt on the chair. The belt came with the transport chair and I ask hospice to put one on the last two chairs. This not only kept him from getting out of the chair, it also helped keep him from sliding out of the chair. To help with the sliding, put a rubber shower mat in the chair for them to sit on.

I bought one to use when we take my husband's 98 year old aunt out, with the idea it will be useful in the future for my husband. The issue I discovered is where the brakes are located. The one I bought has brakes on the push handles. That is very convenient when pushing another person. But it meant my husband's aunt couldn't use it in her apartment, because she couldn't set the brakes herself to hold the chair in place while she stood up or sat down.

natsmom ......... thats much the same Medline chairI bought for my husband - ours is red with plaid upholstery. I bought it through Costco here in Canada.

I find it just perfect, wheels smoothly, folds easily and is just 15 pounds to lift and put in the back of the van. I bought the transport chair rather than a regular wheel chair as my husband has absolutely no concept of how to wheel himself in a wheel chair - he just isn't able to turn the wheels to propell himself along so me doing the pushing works out well. I also bought a plastic basket/box that sits on his lap and he's able to feel he's helping me do the shopping cuz he holds on to it and can see what we're buying.

We just got a transport chair delivered, from the VA.
Before I talk about that more, I want to tell you about ALL THE STUFF that came this week.

First, a chair for the shower, with a hole in the seat and also a bucket thingy so it could be used for a toilet. Then, rails for the toilet and wall, and 200 Depends, 400 little bed pads, cleansing ointment, powder, 200 pairs of plastic gloves, and today, the chair. Me thinks they want ME to take care of him, that's for sure.

The lotions, depends, bed pads and ointments all came with refill forms that I just send it when getting low. And no co pays unreal.

Well, it is a weird kind of Christmas..

The chair is great, he even said oh nice! I think that is because he is used to me pushing him around in Wal Mart, they have the coolest transport chairs with shopping baskets attached.

So do any of you have a basket that attaches to your chair? I can't see any other way to go shopping, kind of hard to push the chair and a cart at the same time. I could put a basket on his lap if I did not pile it too high.

Also, those waterproof pad things, they would be useless in his bed as he tosses so much. ( I do have a waterproof bed cover under the sheet, and depends. Also some large heavier pads that I bought back from Vancouver that we used for my sister) I guess they could be used in the car, or I could pin them to the sheet.

It is surreal , how fast life went from moving here for a new life, landscaping, having a beer and barbecue, to learning how to care for a patient.

Coco, our Walmart has those wheelchairs with the baskets, but the problem is someone steals them all the time. I really wish they would keep them chained up in Customer Service and hold your driver's license while you use it. Maybe they wouldn't disappear. I just cannot take him to the store unless there is one.

Oh Coco! Praise the Lord for all the items you received. Isn't it funny (not really ha ha funny, but strange) how getting unexpected things can make us happy (even the things that you received). I don't need any of those things yet, but as I have seen here with Dado & other LO's, that can change in a heartbeat. Love & (((HUGS))) to you Dear One!

Bama* it is so nice to see you post, I miss you so much, and wonder how your new home is. And how your heart and soul are. I was given a magnolia by a creaky old man with an ancient tree the other day, and I always think about you and the other Southern belles here.

I can just see the train of carts and transport chairs with bungees flying. Good idea though, I will try it out. Lots of bungess in my trunk for my market tent. I do have a waterproof sheet that actually goes all around the mattress, hopefully it will do the trick. So far only incidents in the day. It is like, he forgets WHEN< and when he has to "go" out the back end, he almost has to run to make it. I am learning his schedule. sigh..nurse Coco.

That is lousy about the stealing of chairs Linda! those chairs with the baskets are the only way I can take him shopping, heaven forbid letting him drive the motor one!! The one they sent me is the exact same one, minus the basket. It really is easy to get in and out of the car too. You know, he CAN walk, but VERY VERY slowly and shuffly and he trips. Plus he just does not want to, and he does not complain about the chair. Truly, there are times, where I think he is much "further along" than I think.

Another use for the bedpads is to put one on the bathroom floor to catch the mess when undressing dh when he has had an accident.

LFL,

I have a transport chair - bought it two years ago and used it for short jaunts. I still use it for short jaunts, but the PT ordered the big chair with the big wheels, for the stability and support, and so Sid could learn to get around by himself in it for when he is in it all day at DC.

The PT also taught me how to put the big wheelchair into the back seat instead of trying to lift it into the back of the SUV. If you push the driver's seat forward, close up the wheelchair, straighten out the front wheels, you can pull it towards you - front of chair up, and wheel it right onto the floor in the back of the car. It works extremely well IF the wheels stay straight. Unfortunately, more often than not, the wheels turn, and I'm stuck with a wheelchair that is leaning against me and won't move.

Most of the problem is now being solved with the Villa bus taking him back and forth to DC two out of the three days he goes.

joang

LFL,

I wasn't offended. You have nothing to apologize for. Your support (and everyone's) and suggestions are very much appreciated. :)

joang

I have 2 of them for my use and they are easy to turn.

Thanks, divvi. We live in a small town - not many transport chairs around and the ones that are don't have the 12" rear wheels, which I do want. I have to have the lightest weight one I can find since I only weigh 98 lbs! I think the lightest weight one I found that seemed to be ok otherwise too, was 18#, which would be fine - my Millie weighs 17 and I pick her up! LOL

Gosh Vickie, that weight was my birth weight!!

Hanging On