New Here

[dalesmommy]

Hello everyone,
My name is Carrie and I have 3 children, my youngest has meylo. He is 2yo and the happiest baby I have ever seen. He is a level T12-L1, is paralyzed from the belly button down and has shunted hydro. We are currently waiting on his w/c, he was measured about 1.5 months ago. He can commando crawl, roll both directions, propell his star car and his mobile stander and prop sit. He is so laid back, and we feel so blessed to have had him. Those of you in wheelchairs, please let me know a little about yourselves, how life has been, ect...

[Holly]

Hi and welcome to SBC!

[mommy2cnj]

Welcome to the site!

I do not have sb; however, both of my children do. Both of them use leg braces and a walker........the youngest uses her braces & walker just as much as she uses her wheelchair. The oldest uses his wheelchair the majority of the time, except at therapy where they can assist him with his walking.

We had quite the stir when his orthopaedic surgeon said he needs surgery to be able to walk better. Turns out, the more and more questions I asked, the less I wanted to see my child go through the surgery, which truly had NO guarantee whatsoever of him walking, as well as laying him up for 4 years or better (he's not a teen-ager - one of the highlights of his life). Therefore, we decided against the surgery.

I think he struggles somewhat, due to seeing his sister up and walking. He's stated such things as, "I'm gonna be so tall!" (when we weren't sure about going through with surgery or not), as well as "I can just see it now....I'm gonna be so fast!" My heart breaks for him, especially in moments such as these. However, as the mommy who loves him, I remind him that he can actually get places he needs to go MUCH faster in his wheelchair than with walking. Be it gravel, pavement, grass, his upper body strength is such that he rarely needs assistance while in his chair.

He just started back with his walking (due to getting new leg braces), and he ended up walking quite a distance, which surprised me, but also told me he still has the enthusiasm to do so, so I'll just sit back and let him go. In the end, he still prefers to be "Speedy Gonzales", and use his w/c.......so much so, that he skids his tires, and he is down to shreds for wheels. Now if we can just get his new w/c in, and we can slow him down a bit!!

[Dodger67]

Don't slow Speedy Gonzales down!

You blow a few bucks on new tyres every once in a while, if thats what having a happy kid costs, you're getting a bargain.
Besides somebody has to be the champion wheelchair racer, it may as well be him.

Oxford750 can confirm how we used to race, fall, crash and bleed at school - having band-aids on knuckles was normal - it was huge fun!

[mommy2cnj]

My post should've read, he IS a teen-ager.

The kiddo will not let anyone/anything slow him down, that's for sure! He had one qualm about his wheelchair......it being yellow attracted bees. He's now chosen blue for his upcoming chair. He's definitely a go-getter! I'll gladly put some $$$ out for wheels......provided he doesn't try and run anyone over (as he has in the past....oopsies!!) Ever done that, Dodger? lol On second thoughts, I don't EVEN wanna know! :D

[Dodger67]

Mine is plain stainless steel with black seating and wheels with grey tyres.
Yellow as well as some shades of orange and red all attract bees and other bugs. How something looks in the ultra-violet spectrum is also a major factor in attracting insects as many (bees included) can see in UV.

Everybody who drives a wheelchair has hit people!