Salty Zebra

  We just got back from a fabulous five-day trip to New Orleans. It was a bucket-list trip for me as I've always wanted to see the city/area and I wanted to do a special trip with each of my kids. This trip was with my daughter. I started the trip on a high as I'd just spent the previous six days on my first solo trip since my brain surgeries last year, my first solo anything really! I'd rested and relaxed as much as I could so I was able to walk around with my family for the first few days. As I say that, keep in mind that my walking has changed significantly of late. I've learned that, in order to maintain stability in my joints and not have my body go on high alert tensing up all my muscles, I have to walk VERY SLOWLY. Like painfully slowly. Again, it's embarrassing. I guess I must have had a lot of issues with pride because God sure is humbling me! Almost every time I start walking, I forget that I have to walk slowly. So I start off at a normal pace and before ...

      Cruising with a wheelchair seems simple, you're just doing what everyone else does, but on wheels, right? Wrong.  What may seem simple can actually be VERY difficult when you consider that even a small step will block your path, or the door to your cabin may not be wide enough for your wheelchair to get through. This is my experience on the Norwegian Encore, your mileage may vary.     The boarding procedure in Seattle was simple and being in my chair meant that we got to skip almost every line.  We did get the slowest, most confused check-in agent, but that's ok I think we still saved a bunch of time over all.  I didn't have any trouble with the ramps, but I made my husband stay right behind me when they were steeper.  I had a bad experience on a Carnival cruise in January with a ramp being too steep and I'm extra careful now!  There were elevators available pretty quickly any time steps were present and it was pretty easy to maneu...

      Last week my husband and I went on an Alaskan cruise.  The primary motivation was to see if I COULD cruise.  After my brain surgeries I've dealt with quite a bit of nausea, double vision, depth perception issues and overall disorientation. As I write this everything on the screen is overlapping on top of each other and dancing around to some degree.  We weren't certain whether the additional disorientation from the movement of the boat would do me in.  I am happy to report that it did not!     I actually rather enjoyed the movement of the ship.  The gentle rocking was very soothing and made me sleepy, that was my only side effect.  I did not have any increase in nausea and while there were people all around me using sea sickness bags I did not even feel the need to hold one - that says a lot after the last year!     The challenges I DID bump up against had more to do with pride and learning to live within m...

    We've just returned from a four-day cruise on the Carnival Radiance departing from Los Angeles, California and I learned so much about getting around in my new electric wheelchair.  If you're interested in hopping on one of these very affordable cruises and you have mobility issues, you might be wondering if it will work for you.     Carnival has taken many steps to enhance accessibility on the Radiance including: Providing maps with accessibility paths on every floor at the elevator banks (see images below)  They have added in many automatic sliding doors The stateroom hallways are the widest I've seen on any cruise ship They have tables marked for handicap use in restaurants and seats in some lounges In the buffet, staff watch out for people with mobility issues and offer to help When going up and down ramps to enter or exit the ship there were always staff there to help They had a special guest services counter window with a lower, accessible height ...

So what was it like using Disney Resort transportation with a wheelchair? There were a lot of positive experiences, and a few negative ones. Firstly, I was pleased to discover that there is a separate wheelchair queue for the buses. It's right up front, and allows the driver to see that you will need assistance when they pull up. After the bus has unloaded, the driver closes the front door and opens the doors in the middle of the bus. They cause the bus to dip towards the curb and then extend a ramp. I had to line up the wheelchair with the somewhat narrow ramp, then maneuver up the ramp and pivot sharply into the wheelchair securing spot. Thanks to the maneuverability of this chair, I never had any trouble with this process. Then the driver secures the front and back of the chair to the bus with ratcheting straps and helps you put on a seat belt. They will repeat that process with another wheelchair or scooter if there are more waiting, but they can only take two mobil...

I arrived at my Resort after the delivery hours of Randy's Mobility, the company I chose to rent my power wheelchair from. They were kind enough to drop it at my Resort so it would be ready when I arrived. What I did not anticipate was how difficult it would be to figure out on my own. I had to make two phone calls to their incredibly helpful staff, the first one to locate the chair, and the second one to figure out how to turn it on. When I located my chair, it was plugged in and charging outside of the arcade. The seat back was folded down, presumably for transport, and it took me longer than it probably should have to figure out how to flip the seat up using a lever very similar to one on a car seat. Once I had that up, I unplugged the charger and turned on the chair, but when I moved the joystick nothing happened! I tried everything I could think of, but probably because I was unfamiliar with this chair, and power chairs in general, I didn't realize that the cha...

As a disabled traveler, what have I learned about flight travel? First, research is your friend! It's really important to know both the airport that you are leaving from and the airport you are arriving to. Know the best place to be dropped off at to minimize your steps to security, and the gate. Know what accessibility amenities are available to you. For example, most airlines will have a service where they have someone push you to your gate in a wheelchair, yours or theirs. If you can walk, but have trouble with distances, this can be a game changer as far as airport travel goes. You do have to allow for extra time because you will often have a wait for this service as many people use it. Figure out what you're planning to do while at the airport and know where to go for those things. For example, I usually use the restroom, fill up my water bottle, and grab a cup of coffee before heading to the gate. If I'm going to be on a longer flight, I also pick up some ...

      This week I gave up my regular PT appointment to meet with my Physical Therapist and a representative from a durable medical equipment (DME) company to be fitted for a wheelchair. I mentioned in a previous post that my insurance will not cover a power wheelchair for use outside the home, but when my PT connected me with Bill from the DME company, he said that he has gotten one type of chair covered by insurance in the past.  This is a standard, manual wheelchair that is retrofitted with wheels that have motors in them.  The company that creates them, Yamaha, just a couple of months ago had a model with a joystick approved by the FDA.  It's called the Navigo (pictured above).  It just occurred to me that maybe this is one more part of God's timing, that I am finally going through this process right after this model became available.  Prior to the Navigo, the power wheels had to be instigated by pushing on the rims, essentially they aided th...

      As I mentioned in a post earlier this month ( Day 4: Becoming an Ambulatory Wheelchair User (saltyzebra.blogspot.com)  I am exploring my options with mobility aids.  I am perfectly capable of getting around the house (for the most part) and I can walk to and from the car and buildings, but if my outing involves much more walking than that I struggle.  Grocery shopping, walks in the park, even events that involve a lot of walking/standing around wear me out quickly and I develop quite a bit of pain in my legs.  I believe my challenges are a combination of low energy and lax ankle joints that put a lot of burden on my calf muscles - not to mention invite injury.     We've explored the option with our insurance company and been informed that they will only pay for a chair for me to be used in the home.  If the chair is able to fold up and go in the car then they will not cover it.  They only believe it is medically necessary for ...

Up till about a year ago, I thought everyone who was in a wheelchair was there because they couldn't walk. It was pure ignorance on my part. I just didn't know any better. Had I been in a grocery store and seen someone in a wheelchair get up and pick something up off the shelf, I would have been in shock. I also spent most of my life being taught by my mother that mobility aids should only be used by people who absolutely could not function without them, and anyone else was faking to get attention. Between these two inherent biases, accepting the idea that I might need to use a wheelchair at different times was very difficult.      About a year ago I sustained a hip injury that made it exceedingly painful and sometimes impossible to walk. I did the best I could to get by using a cane, but found out that doing so was furthering my injury and I needed to allow my hip to rest. I still got around the house okay, but if I needed to do any extended walking, for inst...