Power Problems

By Kyle Dinwiddie, PRC-Saltillo Blogger

Change can sometimes be difficult, but sometimes it can also be wonderful. A good change recently came into my life. About a week ago, I got a power wheelchair! This isn’t my first power-chair. I had a chair when I was in the third grade. It was really fun navigating down the hallways and around the classrooms in my chair. I only used it at school and then it became too small for me.  That was in the third grade, and now I am twenty years old.

At a recent doctor’s appointment, she asked if I had a power chair.  My parents thought about it and agreed it would be a great tool to help me be more independent. On another trip, we went to the seating clinic in St. Louis, and they fitted me to a chair and I tried to drive it.  I tested several different joysticks out, and also picked my favorite color green for the chair color design. Then we went back home and waited. About a month later the time came and the chair guy delivered it to our house. He kind of adapted the chair to me, but it was still too fast and jerky.  I decided to go outside and test it some more after he was gone.

So I drove down our driveway, and out to the road. I thought I’d get the mail in my brand new power chair.  But I forgot that in front of our mailbox, there was a giant mud hole.  I drove up close to our mailbox with one side of my wheels in the air.  I didn’t worry about that.  So I took out our mail, put it on my lap, and tried driving again.  But I couldn’t! I was stuck in the hole! Trying to stay calm, I tried to punch it forward.  It didn’t work! I thought my mom would probably come looking for me soon.  Suddenly one of our neighbors came walking down the road.  He said hey, and hurried over. He saw that I was stuck and quickly pushed behind while I drove forward.  Whew!  Thankfully, the chair plowed forward out of the hole.

My neighbor and new hero walked with me back to the house while talking about the nice weather that day. He came in with me and told my mom about the whole adventure. We laughed that I didn’t know about the hole. At last, I gave my mom the mail. I thought that it was funny that I got my power chair stuck on the very first day I got it.

 A couple of weeks later, our hero neighbor came over and I got to visit with him because I had my communication device with me this time. I found out that we had a lot in common.  After two hours talking to me, he told me that he would like to hang out with me again sometime. I am happy to have a new friend.

Celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I’m thinking about all the things that I am thankful for. My power chair is just one thing I am grateful for. Another is that my older brother came home from Los Angeles. He helped me make an apple pie with cheese crust for Thanksgiving.  We went to my grandparents’ house and had a great feast and visit. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

This is Life with Kyle and I will talk to you next week.