I have just bought a new electric chair!

I have wanted a new chair for ages - The Rucker is over 6½ years old and has problems, plus it will need new batteries soon, plus I have gotten to the state that I just do not like it any more as it is not comfortable. Actually [says me whispering in case The Rucker can hear me] I really hate it.

So - I have seen someone with the chair I want, found the company that imports them, have discussed all the alterations/additions that I want...

...and it should be here at the beginning of next week!

Eeeek!


That is a picture of the basic chair, which is a lot less basic than it might look. They will make a special shaped seat cushion and supporting back cushion for me as the seat width is about 5cm wider than that of The Rucker [although the overall width of the chair is actually 1cm narrower]. The seat and back cushions I had made for The Rucker will go on my manual chair as it is the same size.

The new chair will have front and rear lights which means I can go across to the shop when it is dark, and it gets dark here soon after 4pm during the winter, which means Tontoo, my baby scooter, cannot be used after dusk.

The footplates will have to be changed to allow sufficient gap between them to accommodate the central pedestal of this table, but that is a minor thing - The Rucker's footplates also had to be changed for that reason.

Ooooh - I am getting rather excited! True it is not particularly cheap but then neither was The Rucker [I was definitely conned with him] and this is a heck of a lot better, both in quality and performance.

What a thing, eh? Anyone would think I was getting a new car - now all I have to do is think up a suitable name for him!

Very smart.

Looks good, what range does it have?

Oh Malka I'm excited for you it looks fabulous, like an F1 version of the typical chair

How many gears does it have
Has it got four wheel drive
What's the zero to fifty time
and most important, can you do 'wheelies' in it

Seriously, I like the 'look' of it, and I hope you don't have to wait too long to test drive it.

BTW don't know if you can change the thread title but 'electric chair' has slightly sobering connotations for some people (Especially those across the pond )

Thank you! It is rather smart for what it is, although I admit that power chairs can look a lot more flash. But this is the sort of chair that I want and it is definitely a lot smarter than The Rucker, who is a very basic design. Good for his function but he has had his time with me and I really do fancy this one!

I have two figures and am not sure which one is correct. Either 30km [20miles] or 45km [28miles] but the range is not important as it is not needed for distance use. Tontoo, my baby scooter http://www.tzora.com/product_13 [he has a metallic maroon frame, not the silver which was why the first Tonto got his name - this in Tontoo - the second one!] has a 13km [8mile] range, which is more than enough to go round town or a shopping centre as he folds and goes in the boot of a taxi, and The Silver Monster has a range of about 65km [40+ miles].

Right. It is ordered, a refundable deposit has been paid [credit card by telephone], and adjustments and extras will be sorted when it is delivered next week.

If, and I doubt it, I am not happy, then I will get a refund of my deposit, less a nominal amount for having had it brought here and returned. And assuming I want to keep it, which I am almost 100% certain I will, then we will discuss the extras, the cost of the extras, and payments for the final amount. All payments, whether in 12 monthly or 24 monthly installments will be interest-free. And B"H I do have the money so will not be stuck with any interest on the actual credit card, because if I do not have the money, I do not buy.

Assuming the chair and all adjustments, extras etc are OK, I can do one of two things with The Rucker.

I can sell him, and get a fairly good price because basically he is fine. Or - I can donate him to a charity that I support. Guess I will do the latter.

Oh WOW Malka! That chair's got more whizzy features than my old Nissan March!

I am very happy for you!

Three phone calls later and all the extras/alterations I want have been or are being done, and the chair will be here some time this week.

I have found out a lot more about it - it is the Heartway Escape SXP12SX

http://imc-heartway.net/imc-heartway...heelchair.html

I do not have details of the back they have already fitted but it is an orthopaedic contoured one that apparently looks like the back of a normal upholstered chair back, and the seat cushion they are supplying is this one:

http://www.therohogroup.com/products...ct_cushion.jsp

[if you scroll down you can see how the cushion can be adjusted]

The adjustments to the footplates are being done, and the latest phone call was about the joystick control arm - which side I want it and whether I want a fixed control or one that can be swivelled sideways and back to enable me to get right up to the table - which is what I want as The Rucker has a swivel joystick control arm. [It has to be in the forward position for going through doors etc]

The total cost of the basic chair as in the picture, plus all the extras/adjustments, takes it to an amount I can afford - just - but I can justify the cost as I really do need a good chair and it is far better than The Rucker. And at my age it should be the last chair I will need to buy!

Just do not ask how much as you could probably buy a small car for that amount

Excited? You bet I am!

Now I just have to have the patience to wait a few more days, during which I must find a suitable name for him...

I notice you have given male names to all your previous ones. Are you looking for suggestions

I never used to give names to my cars but when I got my campervan last year I decided to call her Molly

It looks fab hon, and I dread to think how much it cost.

Do you get any financial assistance with the chair?

Yes please! Preferably with "Silver" in the name, although whether The Silver Monster will be happy or not...

"The Silver ....something suitable"

Scooters have been Pegasus, Pegasus II, Bumper, Bronco, The Trident, and now The Silver Monster. Bronco and The Silver Monster have been the only brand new ones, the others being second/third/fourth etc hand. The Trident was the three-wheel version of Bronco, who was the first four-wheeler, and as that model was no longer imported as a three-wheeler I had to have a second-hand one. Only about 6 months old but I was not happy with him so Doron took him back and supplied The Silver Monster.

Little scooters are/were Tonto and his replacement [after he got hit by an idiot opening a car door onto him] is Tontoo.

The Rucker was my first electric wheelchair, my manual one is just called Chair [with a capital C].

I am not thinking about it Vicki - I paid a 5,000 shekel deposit by card over the phone when I ordered it, and the remainder will be split between my Visa and Mastercards, simply because I do not want to max either of them out. I could give 24 cheques in payments but no way can I write out 24 cheques - I have difficulty in even signing my name! - and payments are interest-free, both from the company and through my bank, as I have sufficient to cover the full amount B"H

No. What I do get is a monthly mobility allowance which would go as payment for a car if I wanted one or which is paid directly into my bank account. If I wanted to use the mobility allowance for a car I would get more than the monthly cash allowance, but I do not want a car. Actually I am entitled to a van as I am an electric chair user, in which case the monthly allowance would be even more, but I am more than satisfied with having the basic amount paid into my account each month, which I use for taxis or any other necessary transport, plus I can, and have, saved it to pay for my wheels.

My wheels are my freedom.

When it was decided, after my initial application and having gone through various panels of doctors and committees that I needed my own manual chair [I had been using a loan one for a couple of years - things take forever to get approved], I was granted X amount for both a manual chair and a self-propelling shower chair. I had to buy them first and then submit the invoices and receipts, and was then repaid.

So I was able to choose which chairs I wanted, and both Chair and the shower chair are still as good as new, quite a few years later.

The MoH do not do that now. If, and it is a bit If, the committees decide you qualify for a chair, they decide which one [usually the cheapest rubbish], and it is delivered, whether it is suitable or not. Same as they now do with electric chairs, which is why I saved my allowance to buy The Rucker.

I was entitled to an electric chair from the Ministry of Health but it was "take what we give you" with no consideration of my size and what I needed, so I politely told them what they could do with their kind offer and bought The Rucker.

Vicki, I am a stubborn independent ess-o-dee and know exactly what I need to help me continue to live independently. Even ignoring the dust and cobwebs and suchlike as I do, I am probably not the ideal person to own and look after a dog, especially one like my beloved Pereg, but I am basically happy with my life and Pereg will agree with me 100%.

I really do need the money I can get for The Rucker as either part exchange for the new chair, or if I were to sell him privately, but my heart is telling me to donate him to - well I know of various places here who have patients desperately in need of wheels.

Somehow I think my heart is going to win.