[SuzBerg]

A big of background info: My daughter E has a very complex, congenital heart defect. She has had three major open heart-surgeries. Right now she is struggling with low O2 sats causing her to have a lack of energy and to fatigue easily. At this time her doctors can't do anything more medically/surgically for her. She also has braces on her legs, but she can walk (just slowly). A wheelchair would be needed because of her heart condition.

We have always put her in a stroller when she is going to have to walk for any length of time. (She can walk around the pre-school fine but not the zoo etc). Well she is 5 1/2 now and we are thinking of getting her a wheel chair so she doesn't feel like "a baby" in the stroller. We are anticipating that in the future she will need it more and more as her heart condition worsens. She would not need a power chair at this time just something to take the place of a stroller.

Our pediatrician referred us to a medical supply company and I will be making calls today. Just wondered if anyone had any experiences to share. THANKS! - Suz

[jackiesbooks]

My husband is disabled, but I have never dealt with children's wheelchairs. If you think she will need a power one at same point, make sure your insurance co will pay for 2. If not, then get the power one now.

[qs mom]

My mom is in a wheel chair. She had a 'regular' wheelchair for a bit. It was difficult for the rest of us though because it was very, very heavy. It was difficult to lift into and out of the truck/trunk/van. Dad finally bought a transport wheelchair - much lighter.

If you expect to push your daughter, I would go with the transport. It doesn't have the big wheels that the person in the wheelchair uses to move on her own. But if you expect that she will be able to use the chair on her own, a transport isn't what you would want.

My son participates in a skating program for disabled individuals. One of the kids we have become close with cannot walk at this point. She has an oversized stroller that she likes. Her folks push her.

It's a matter of comfort for everyone.

[cjhawk38]

I have 2 daughters in wheelchairs and for a preschooler I recommend The Little Dipper by Coulors.

[SuzBerg]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions - I really appreciate it. I looked at the "Little Dipper" on-line and it seems to fit what we are looking for. Thanks for the recommendation.

E has an appointment tomorrow with the Wheelchair dealer that both the school district and our pediatrician suggested. I have been talking with her about getting one and she seems excited about it, as long as she can get a "purple one".

Thanks again!

[cjhawk38]

Originally Posted by SuzBerg

I have been talking with her about getting one and she seems excited about it, as long as she can get a "purple one".

Thanks again!

When my youngest had a Little Dipper it was purple

[Lylac]

Hi Suz,

B has a fancy wheelchair w/his name monogramed on the back of the seat. He also has an Convaid Cruiser, which is more like a wheelchair stroller.

The cruiser folds up, and is light weight, although it's heavy duty. It is so easy to push too. I abosolutely love the cruiser. I wished I had 2, one for each vehicle.

The fancy wheel chair is collecting dust in the shed.

[SuzBerg]

Just a little update. We ordered E's wheelchair last week. We got the Zippy 2,it is a transport chair (where we push it) but also one in which the child can push themselves. E says "I won't need you to push me- I DO IT myself".

She also picked a PURPLE one(surprise)! Thanks again everyone for your suggestions and help on this

[momraine]

My daughter has the zippy too. I like it because we can fold it and it fits easily in the car and I can easily lift it. If you don't need the power chair, then don't go that route. There are a couple of issues you face once you go to the power chair. One is the vehicle issue, we had to pay a lot of money for the big van with the lift for my son's power chair, we use a lot more gas than we used to and have to do maintainance work on the lift. (not to mention the chair) It's also very expensive and hard to get insurance to pay. The other issue is my already underweight son lost weight because he lost some muscle. We don't let him use it in the house because he needs the excerisize. When we have had problems with the power chair and he has had to go back to the manual he has a lot of trouble pushing it, because those muscles are no longer used all the time. It is still the best thing for him, but those are the drawbacks. Also you need a manual back up. The people at the hospital we go to said to ask for first for a manual and then tell them it turns out the child needs power Becasue once they have paid for the power they won't pay for the manual, but once they pay for the manual, you can convince them that "oops we were wrong, he can't use a manual" and then get the power and then you have both. They call it the insurance game. If you go to a hospital that is a children's or like a shriners or scottish rite, they will fight your insurance company for you.

[SuzBerg]

Lorraine - Have you ever taken her zippy on an airplane trip? I'm wondering if we'd be able to "gate-check" it or if we would check it as baggage? Of course I could just call the airline but thought I would check on your experience.

Plus we'd actually have to have the wheelchair in order to take it on a trip. It's now been almost 6 weeks since I ordered it. I'm going to have to call tomorrow and see when the think we can pick it up !

[momraine]

It took six months to get her zippy, but part of that was insurance being difficult. We have taken it on many planes. When we flew with her a couple of times we made her ride in it (she hated it, but it sure was handy to be able to hang her backpack and my carry on on the back!) and they checked it at the gate. Hers will fold, but you have to take seat cusion off. We would take it off and put it in our carry ons, or just carry it and put it in the overhead, I was afraid it would be lost if I left it with the wheelchair. Then they would have it waiting without a scratch at the gate.
We checked it when we took it to poland since we did not have a child with us and we were going to use it for M because we were afraid his could not go with us around Poland, since it does not fold. It arrived in poland, (we put the seat cusion in our luggage) but it had the footrests removed and they had to go find one, and they had the one break lever missing. It was just something to make it easier to use and softer, not nessesary. However, when my husband came home he also checked it. He had to recheck it and they could not find it when he landed in the US (can't remember which city) However he spotted it and it was stuck in the conveyor and they got it out and he rechecked it. Then he got to DFW and they could not find it. That time they delivered it to his office two days later. (remember we are a two hour drive from DFW) They would have delivered it to the house, but the kids would have been in school and him at work and our house is way out in the country and hard to find. (all the maps have it wrong and most internet map programs will tell you to turn the wrong way when you get to our road.) So he asked for it at work and it did show up two days later. slightly beat up but OK. It's pretty beat up now anyway, since she is about to turn 8 and has had it since she was 3.

[Lylac]

I checked to see what kind of chair B has, while I was in the shed yesterday. It's a Zippee GS special edition.