Wheels again?!

I’ve finally managed to get hold of the wheelchair service. On June 7, the man came to repair my chair. He decided I needed two new casters, the front wheels, which he would order. He’d assured me they would be with me within a week.

I gave him a fortnight. Last Monday I rang the NHS to be told I’d have to sort this out directly with the contractor. They supplied the phone number.

I rang the contractor and was given the option of leaving a message on the answerphone or dial yet a third number if it was an emergency. I thought of the person wholly dependent on the use of his wheelchair which had broken down, & decided it wasn't that great an emergency. I left a message on the phone asking them to ring me back with news about to what was happening. No call back.

Reluctantly I tried again. I couldn’t believe it! A real living person! I’d come to the conclusion the office must be permanently closed with someone maybe popping in to check the answerphone once a month or so.

I told her my story. She promised to ring me back within half an hour. Sure enough she did. He is to come on Thursday afternoon. Three cheers.

I can’t help wondering whether anyone would have ever come if I hadn’t kept chasing them up. This is worrying when you consider they wouldn’t say I needed a new wheel, let along two, unless there was something wrong with my wheelchair & they thought my wheelchair was becoming dangerous. I can’t help wondering what would have happened if an accident had occurred. Or was I meant to not use my chair, & so not attend my doctor & hospital appointments, not to mention have any social life, until they deigned to get back to me? And what if I’d had a job, as the government keep encouraging me to do? Like most people with mobility problems, no chair would make the prospect of working, nil.