Saturday, June 27, 2020

My Wheelchair Fiasco

The other day my wheelchair batteries stopped holding a charge. Even though it was being charged all night, it would run down very quickly during the day. Yesterday, someone from the wheelchair company came out to replace the batteries. After doing so, my wheelchair was working better, and the batteries were holding charge which was nice.

About an hour after he left, my ventilator started beeping battery low. We realized that it had not been charging properly. Usually my vent plugs into my wheelchair battery and charges off that when I’m using it. We thought that when he put the new batteries in, he forgot to hook the cord from my vent into it.

I ended up calling the company and they sent the same person back out to see if he could fix the problem. Upon inspecting it, he realized that all the cords were connected properly. Looking at it further, he found that the lights were not lit up on battery box that connects from my wheelchair and then into my vent. This was concerning, being that the internal battery on my ventilator only lasts about 45 minutes to an hour until it runs out. That’s why I have plugged into my chair; it needs to be plugged in to an external outlet.

Since yesterday was a Friday and about 5:30 PM when he was back out, he said that he wouldn’t be able to order a new one until Monday. He’s going to check to see if they have any rental power boxes that I could use in the meantime. Otherwise, I’m stuck indoors for now until they’re able to get me a new one. I don’t want to risk going outside with only an hours-worth of battery.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to go out soon because it’s difficult for me to spend so much time inside. I’ve already had to self-quarantine this year because of COVID 19. To be isolated and unable to have control over what I do takes a toll on me physically and emotionally. It’s hard because I depend on others for so many things already. I will do a follow-up post after everything gets resolved; hopefully sooner than later.

Jenni

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