Chair saga
Jan. 11th, 2010 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelSo.
Yesterday, at the end of church, my chair's side-to-side tilt function half stopped working. It would move left; it would not move right. (And by this, I don't just mean that I couldn't be right-tilted. I mean that I could not even correct any left-tiltedness.)
This led to an awkward and increasingly uncomfortable day. The chair kept getting more and more left-tilted -- sometimes pure accident (the tilt toggle switch thing is within easy reach, which means it can get bumped accidentally), sometimes muscle-memory accident (my brain would notice I'm tilted, and mostly-subconsciously go to fix it, but as the switch is, entertainingly enough, forward-back for a left-right tilt, I never remember which is which, and so sometimes hit the wrong direction first, which is not a problem when I can reverse the tilt, but is a problem when I can't), sometimes semi-intentional (one of the things the tilt gives me is increased reach; much as the wheelchair itself is a substitute for legs, the tilt is a substitute for being able to lean slightly over, and so sometimes I would tilt a bit more on purpose before remembering I couldn't tilt back) -- until it ended the day at full tilt.
Mind you, the tilt only goes ... I think it's 15° ... but that is a fuck of a lot when you are sitting in it. And because of the whole "hi I am completely fucking immobile" thing, I ended up at a very uncomfortable tilt, even after I arranged to have pillows shoved under my left leg so that I was only half as tilty. And because of the whole "hi gravity pulls down" thing, I had the armrest digging into my hip because it was the only thing keeping me in the chair (along with the seatbelt, I suppose, but the seatbelt is designed to keep me from sliding forward, not to keep me from sliding sideways with the chair at full tilt omg). And I kept running into shit because I'm used to driving with my head more or less centered over the chair.
Yesterday was fun.
So was this morning.
The earliest, apparently, that the repair person could come out was like 1ish. In the afternoon. (This is the Company of Fucking Assholes and Incompetent Losers. Given their history, I was lucky it wasn't "oh, we can send someone out Thursday".) She ended up getting a cancellation so came at 11:30.
The first order of business was to change the batteries in the backup chair I have. This chair is nonideal for my current physical situation, but it is level zomg. It has also been nonoperational for months -- at least since september -- because the things that used to be batteries would, after two days and a night of being charged, hold that charge for ten minutes, if I didn't use the chair at all, or less time if I did.
I have been trying to get them to replace the batteries for what feels like forever.
(Apparently part of the delay was that, apparently, the paperwork got lost. I don't know if that's true or just an excuse for why it didn't happen sooner, but in either case it is a stunning display of their usual levels of competence.)
I have also been trying to get them to replace the tilt box, aka the control for the side-to-side tilt, for the same amount of time. Before yesterday, it was sort of functional, but three of the four screws that held the switch to the box were missing -- and all four nuts that somehow disappeared from the inside of a closed box -- so the switch itself was loose; and the light that told me when I was centered didn't work any more, and, mind you, the chair goes at about one-third speed if I am not precisely centered, and it desperately needed replacing.
Anyway.
She shows up with batteries for the backup chair. They are not fully charged, but at least they hold the charge they have. This is the first order of business, so i can be gotten out of the other chair so she can look at it.
In a display of irony that for once was not the fault of the Company of FAIL, the battery compartment is hard to get at unless the seat is elevated somewhat. And the seat elevation requires battery charge in order to operate.
(... yeah.)
She did eventually get them replaced, and got me switched over, and omg being level again is the awesomest thing ever, you guys, you have no idea ♥_♥ (Yes, I am occasionally easy to please.) And then she spent about ten minutes futzing with the b0rked chair, and determined that the problem is with the tilt box itself, which was about as much of a surprise as. er. I'd say "the sun rising in the east", except that today is a grey and dismal day and there is no evidence of sun, and while I trust that the universe held to its standards, I cannot prove it, and oh shit I am starting to half channel jdn again; help? please?
So she used her magic repair-person voodoo to get the chair centered again, and then unplugged the tiltbox. Actual replacement will have to wait until later, but at least I won't keep tilting lefter.
Upshot: I am back in my proper chair. It does not tilt side to side, either intentionally or accidentally, which is an annoyance but highly preferable to the alternative.
Yesterday, at the end of church, my chair's side-to-side tilt function half stopped working. It would move left; it would not move right. (And by this, I don't just mean that I couldn't be right-tilted. I mean that I could not even correct any left-tiltedness.)
This led to an awkward and increasingly uncomfortable day. The chair kept getting more and more left-tilted -- sometimes pure accident (the tilt toggle switch thing is within easy reach, which means it can get bumped accidentally), sometimes muscle-memory accident (my brain would notice I'm tilted, and mostly-subconsciously go to fix it, but as the switch is, entertainingly enough, forward-back for a left-right tilt, I never remember which is which, and so sometimes hit the wrong direction first, which is not a problem when I can reverse the tilt, but is a problem when I can't), sometimes semi-intentional (one of the things the tilt gives me is increased reach; much as the wheelchair itself is a substitute for legs, the tilt is a substitute for being able to lean slightly over, and so sometimes I would tilt a bit more on purpose before remembering I couldn't tilt back) -- until it ended the day at full tilt.
Mind you, the tilt only goes ... I think it's 15° ... but that is a fuck of a lot when you are sitting in it. And because of the whole "hi I am completely fucking immobile" thing, I ended up at a very uncomfortable tilt, even after I arranged to have pillows shoved under my left leg so that I was only half as tilty. And because of the whole "hi gravity pulls down" thing, I had the armrest digging into my hip because it was the only thing keeping me in the chair (along with the seatbelt, I suppose, but the seatbelt is designed to keep me from sliding forward, not to keep me from sliding sideways with the chair at full tilt omg). And I kept running into shit because I'm used to driving with my head more or less centered over the chair.
Yesterday was fun.
So was this morning.
The earliest, apparently, that the repair person could come out was like 1ish. In the afternoon. (This is the Company of Fucking Assholes and Incompetent Losers. Given their history, I was lucky it wasn't "oh, we can send someone out Thursday".) She ended up getting a cancellation so came at 11:30.
The first order of business was to change the batteries in the backup chair I have. This chair is nonideal for my current physical situation, but it is level zomg. It has also been nonoperational for months -- at least since september -- because the things that used to be batteries would, after two days and a night of being charged, hold that charge for ten minutes, if I didn't use the chair at all, or less time if I did.
I have been trying to get them to replace the batteries for what feels like forever.
(Apparently part of the delay was that, apparently, the paperwork got lost. I don't know if that's true or just an excuse for why it didn't happen sooner, but in either case it is a stunning display of their usual levels of competence.)
I have also been trying to get them to replace the tilt box, aka the control for the side-to-side tilt, for the same amount of time. Before yesterday, it was sort of functional, but three of the four screws that held the switch to the box were missing -- and all four nuts that somehow disappeared from the inside of a closed box -- so the switch itself was loose; and the light that told me when I was centered didn't work any more, and, mind you, the chair goes at about one-third speed if I am not precisely centered, and it desperately needed replacing.
Anyway.
She shows up with batteries for the backup chair. They are not fully charged, but at least they hold the charge they have. This is the first order of business, so i can be gotten out of the other chair so she can look at it.
In a display of irony that for once was not the fault of the Company of FAIL, the battery compartment is hard to get at unless the seat is elevated somewhat. And the seat elevation requires battery charge in order to operate.
(... yeah.)
She did eventually get them replaced, and got me switched over, and omg being level again is the awesomest thing ever, you guys, you have no idea ♥_♥ (Yes, I am occasionally easy to please.) And then she spent about ten minutes futzing with the b0rked chair, and determined that the problem is with the tilt box itself, which was about as much of a surprise as. er. I'd say "the sun rising in the east", except that today is a grey and dismal day and there is no evidence of sun, and while I trust that the universe held to its standards, I cannot prove it, and oh shit I am starting to half channel jdn again; help? please?
So she used her magic repair-person voodoo to get the chair centered again, and then unplugged the tiltbox. Actual replacement will have to wait until later, but at least I won't keep tilting lefter.
Upshot: I am back in my proper chair. It does not tilt side to side, either intentionally or accidentally, which is an annoyance but highly preferable to the alternative.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-12 12:58 am (UTC)Here's hoping they manage to get things done quickly and correctly.