My mom and I will be traveling soon and part of the travel with involve flying.
We will be gone for up to several weeks (maybe shorter but let's assume this for now).
My mom currently owns 3 wheelchairs:
A manual wheelchair weighing ~46 lbs
A lightweight transport chair weighing ~14 lbs
A brand new (nice/expensive) lightweight power chair weighing ~33 lbs
She's had the power chair for about a month. She likes it a LOT because it has given her some mobility back, however, she is still getting a feel for it at times and bumps into things easily as she sometimes accidentally puts the speed on the highest (!) when she doesn't mean to. It doesn't happen every day but it happens enough to make me wonder if we should bring it because I may just end up pushing her in it and barely using the power aspect of it while gone because she may end up being 'too nervous' to use it anywhere when get to where we're visiting. She's used it in store several times (a store with very wide aisles) and does great fyi.
Considering the above I am wondering if I should even bother with the power chair. I absolutely would love for her to have the option to navigate around say a store herself (like we do in our hometown) instead of me pushing her everywhere at our destination due to the amount of time we'll be gone along with the likelihood of us having multiple 'outings' which means even more time/distance of me having to push her all day/every day.
I am also not sure yet how much access we'll have to accessible vehicles so I am beginning to think about just how frequent I may end up having to lift the power chair in/out of vehicles. It's not too bad at 33 lbs but that's not exactly light either. In summary, I'm looking for advice on 'how' to make this decision...my mom said she does not want to make the decision and won't give any opinion on what she'd prefer at all (I think she doesn't want the pressure of 'making the wrong choice'). Are there any safety issues or harm that can be caused by bringing her transport chair, meaning, is it unsafe/not good to sit in them for weeks at a time? I don't see any difference in her comfort levels between any of the chairs fyi.
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That's what I did for my late husband, but to be honest I would NEVER have considered going on a lengthy trip with him as it would have just been too much for me regardless of what chair I brought.
I hope you know what you're getting yourself into.
Also, I'm thinking about you. Heaving a chair around is going to be stressful and difficult. I have done this. I'm in good physical condition and at the time was exercising with weights and practicing yoga, but it was hard to do. Two or three times a day getting the chair in and out of the car or wherever, and setting it up, helping the patient into and out of it and folding it made my joints sore. The lightest chair may spare you an injury that would sideline you while on vacation. If you get hurt, who would be taking care of mom (and you)?
As caregivers, we need to make it as easy as possible on ourselves. Usually no one mentions that, but I am.
This is our first trip since my mom became disabled and I want it to be as easy as possible on both of us.
I can relate to the difficulty of frequent use with our power chair. We recently took a two week break from it and I just noticed I didn’t feel as tired…sore perhaps..as I did when she’s constantly in the power chair and that might be due to trips out where I am frequently lifting the chair.
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Mind elaborating on your reasons for taking the transport?
I think I'd be set on the transport chair for sure if it were a short trip...
If where you're going has rain and/or snow,then she'll be inside until better weather since it's not advisable to use power chairs in rain and/or snow.
Heck even a puddle can cause issues with a power chair
Think through the different times and places where you and M will need her to be in a wheelchair. That should help you to firm up your own answer, as well as help people to respond to your question.