Looking Inside the Door…

My uncle’s 90th birthday today has brought me some luck and good news.

I need to preface the balance of this post by saying that by marrying my aunt and joining our family around seventy years ago he fixed himself in position to be one of the most important people in my life. Unwavering in his love and support for me, he has throughout my life been my role model for what I’ve come to believe unconditional love to look like.

The wheelchair arrived today. It’s an interesting perspective to realize just how excited I was about it getting here, you’d think I’d just been handed the keys to a Porsche.

It’s been a long and very challenging trek to get to this day, it was back in October when I conceded to the urgings of my support team that it was time to give in and use a wheelchair. It felt like a failure on my part to do as much for myself as I could. I’ve since been able to look at things a little differently, for now it’s my ticket to being able to get out into the world once in awhile. And to stay in my apartment perhaps a bit longer than I could without it.

I’ve had loaner and rental chairs in the meantime, but none of them fit me properly. Or they were much too heavy for my friends and volunteers to lift into the trunk of their vehicle.

This one  is light, comes apart for transport and it fits. The delivery person laughed when he saw the rental and the new purchased chair beside each other this afternoon, the difference in size was remarkable.

More good news was to come. The phone rang a short while ago, I saw that it was my contact at the insurance company. I thought she might be calling me back to acknowledge the message I’d sent to thank her for all her efforts to get me the chair.

Instead she was calling to let me know that my oxygen treatment funding had been approved. Within 24 hours. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Maybe not the best way of putting it, you could knock me over with the lightest of drafts these days!

I had steeled myself for yet another long insurance battle. More letters from doctors, more pleading, more of everything that I really didn’t need on my plate.

My government funding runs out March 28th, the insurance coverage kicks in that day. The thought of having to do without the oxygen that has eased my breathing considerably might have paralyzed me if I had let myself consider that scenario.

I won’t lie, it’s a royal pain in the behind to live with the nose prongs and tubing. I trip over the hose, it gets caught on corners, and trying to propel a wheelchair and keep the hose out of the way (and not run over the kitten who insists on lying down in front of the wheels) is a talent I’ll have to work on developing. Gasping for air and coughing so hard I choke and gag is a far less attractive option so I’m learning to deal.

On this blog I attempt with words to paint a picture of what life looks like around here (thank you to F. for putting it far more eloquently in an email to me a few days ago), today I offer a photo. This is my new chair, with one of my replacement oxygen tanks that was delivered today. I celebrate both successes tonight. I’m by myself in my apartment this evening, but feel far from alone. And Happy Birthday to my uncle who unknowingly (but most characteristically) shared his good tidings with me today.