Out & About – Page 9 – Multiple Sclerosis & Me

Lyft Driver we'll call Ron

I cannot make this shit up!

(disclaimer: please realise that this post is not meant to offend anyone in any way)

A couple months ago, I requested my Lyft pickup and went outside to wait. Every time the driver rolls up, I ask them to turn the car around and pull up alongside a certain wall because it’s easier for me to get in the car (less heartache and drama for me to get in a car behind the driver just cuz my right side is stronger). This time was no different and as “Ron” turned the steering wheel, I noticed something off with his arm…I paid it no mind. Well he turned the car around, pulled up and I started angling SS to back up, get in and be on my way.

Of course anytime I leave here, I’m in the scooter and that time I was using SS. SS breaks down into 3 parts (the seat, the battery and the base and steering rod) to fit comfortably in a car trunk. I always get off and then talk whomever thru the breakdown process.

So…I angle to back up and get in the car and Ron gets out the car and opens the back door for me…that’s when I see he has a prosthetic leg and no forearms.

(in my head)…holy shit what the hell we going and do here??? Then I said okay Stacey, as a handicapped person yuhself, now is the time to remember how u would want someone to talk to u. (Out loud) I told him the usual about SS breaking down etc all the while wondering what the?!? how is this going to work?

…Ron was not bothered at all (at least not outwardly).

We started with the seat. Remember I said he had no forearms so he didn’t have the arm span to pull up the lever on the left side and pull off the seat at the same time but recognising that before hand, I pulled up the lever and he hauled that seat up like nobody’s business. Battery time…I figured that would be tricky (it has a handle to grip and its attached by Velcro) but I told him what to do. This time I was right…he was trying to grip the handle (I could see muscles by his elbow joint flexing) but because he had no hands/fingers, he couldn’t get a hold of it. Well wouldn’t u know it…after his third try, the doors thru which to enter opened and 2 fellas walked out; he asked for their help. Noticing the situation, they asked him if he needed more help so he asked them to put the rest of SS in the trunk. Normally by this time, I would already be sitting in the car but that Saturday morning was anything but normel, and as it turned out, they couldn’t fit SS in the trunk (naturally – that woulda be too easy!). He asked me if I wouldn’t mind sitting in front and he’d put the scooter on the backseat. I didn’t but I told them that I’d need to hold on to someone to walk around the car and then I’d most probably need help to get in the car (when I sit in the front, more times than not, someone has to swing and throw my legs in). One of the guys was happy to oblige!

well by this time allyuh, I was laughing hell hard in my head at the situation. if dem 2 fellas was anything like me, they couldn’t wait to tell someone/anyone this story. it was nothing short of incredulous! Finally… scooter, Stacey, Ron all in the car and we leave…and then I think, “oh fuck! how are we going to get SS out when we reach where I going” I mentioned it to Ron but once again, he wasn’t concerned. Well as luck would have it, there was a man standing outside his storefront of the usually quiet, “nobody ever around” place that I was heading and as we pulled up, Ron called out to him for help onetime.

We got out and everyone went on with their day…I eh know bout Ron and dem 2 fellas, but I had a few good laughs every time I told the story that day, because the response was always something along the lines of “nah!”/”yuh lie”/”yuh kidding right?” but once again…

…I cannot make this shit up!

SS 2.0

I got it…Soca Scooter 2.0 is here. As u will see he’s canary yellow – not what I wanted but I didn’t have a choice. I really wanted the bright green but the company only sells those in the UK. He’s very handy; folds up to the size of a piece of “carry on” luggage at the pull of a knob…it’s quite impressive to see it in motion. originally I was going to give away Soca Scooter but I have discovered that I need to be a “2-scooter” person. yuh see, SS2.0 is not very conducive to partying. indulge me…

When I go to parties, I usually stand up for most of the time and it’s quite comfortable to do so on SS. additionally, it’s a seamless process for those who might want to buss a wine to do so with ease.

Unfortunately, SS2.0 is higher off the ground than SS and so when I do stand up, I’m unusually tall (for me) and it just feels weird – not a party scooter at all. At first, I was going to figure out a way to make it work, but I cyah bother – I’ll just keep the 2 of them. As a result he will be stripped of “SS2.0” and will be “stax4.25”. Alas, he is not deserving of the “soca scooter” handle.

Don’t get me wrong, we roll all the time and he is my regular ride but when it’s time to fete, I hadda roll with old faithful – busted up as he might be.

I mentioned before that his fastest speed is 1mph slower than SS (trust me, I feel the difference) but I’m slowly getting used to and over that. of all my friends, ASal is the most attached to SS (she loves to drive him) and hasn’t quite warmed up to the new kid on the block so she was quite excited to learn that SS not going anywhere 🙂

Anyhoo, time will surely tell what bacchanal Stax4.25 and I will get into.

The Story

In my last post, I mentioned that I had a story about me and the scooter in the airport.

So a few years ago, I went to Houston for a weekend. Every time I travel, I go to my gate and get a gate tag to attach to SS (it’s pretty much a baggage claim ticket if u will – one piece (with a number) goes on the scooter and I have another (with the same number)). I roll down to the door of the plane, board and trust that the ramp people will take the scooter to the hold of the plane and I’ll reverse the steps when I reach where I going. Well…

The plane landed in Atlanta and as usual when everyone had gotten off, I started making my way to the door and the air hostess said, “just a sec; ur scooter’s not here yet.” Ok. No worries. I’ll just sit in front and wait; they must just be running behind. However many minutes later she started calling around to find out what was happening and that’s when we found out that “I’m so sorry miss O’Brien but ur Scooter is still in Houston.”

A wheelchair came for me and took me to the Delta office where I was asked to wait because the scooter would be on the next flight to Atlanta that was coming in an hour or two later. “Great”

Now I like traveling eh but when I’m on my way back to ATL, especially by the time I land, all I want to do is get home…GRRRRRR! The one silver lining was that it was about 11am; had it been late at night, I woulda be rhell pissed off.

So the time passed and a man walks in and said. “Good news. The flight just landed. Tell me what it looks like and I’ll bring it for u”. I described SS and handed him my gate tag. Half hour or so later he still hadn’t come back. Atlanta airport is too big for its own good (if yuh ask me) but it eh dat big…I knew something was wrong. Sure enough he came back scooterless. Here’s what happened:
Let’s say I boarded in Houston at gate 12. My plane left and SS was still parked at the end of the jetway at gate 12. Meehknow when the delta agent realised it didn’t go anywhere and knew that she had to get it to Atlanta but another plane landed to pick up people to go Phoenix from gate 12. Allyuh believe that it was then the ramp people decide to put the scooter on the plane at gate 12???? So I was sitting in Atlanta waiting for a scooter that was on its way to Phoenix.

I eh go lie. When the man told me, I was so confused – wait…wha? no scooter? what u rhelly want me do now??? The delta agent in Houston couldn’t stop apologising. They gave me the wheelchair (I said thanks but I cannot use a chair at all so it was of little use) and at 9pm that night, a driver appeared with my scooter. I got money, I got apologies and I got (even though I had to ask for them) miles.

Luckily that was the only bad experience I’ve ever had and hopefully I’ll never have to go thru anything like that again.

MS Wellness Expo and…

A few Saturdays ago I went to a wellness expo hosted by the MS society. Was a good use of my time – heard some things I already knew and learned some new things too. There was a neuropsychologist there from Shepherd Center who gave a familiar story about his first MS patient.

The guy had a huge yard and he always used to go out on his riding lawnmower and cut his lawn every Saturday morning starting at 10. Enter Multiple Sclerosis…well he simply refused to give in to the MS and every Saturday morning at 10 he would start mowing the lawn. And then every Saturday afternoon by 1, his wife and kids would have to bring him in and lay him down to cool down. He would be of no use to everybody (including himself) for the rest of the weekend. Eventually, of course, he had to stop the madness and make a change. Dr. Rob’s point tho, was that one of the most important things that we need to do to deal with our wretched disease is listen to our bodies and make changes to our lives/lifestyles (even though we may not want to) where we have control. I can’t do anything about the lesions on my brain/spine that affect my walking but I can use a scooter to get around when a lot of walking is involved.

Speaking of scooter…Soca Scooter has given me 4 long good years. He lime, he wine, he fete up a storm, he is my partner in crime at the airport (I have a story bout this for allyuh)…we’ve been thru a lot together but alas, I think that I may need to retire him soon.

The seat is busted and oozing sponge in a few places
I’ve thrown out one rubber handle and the other looks like it was in a fight with a shark (I have to keep it tho cuz my cup holder won’t work without it! it’s glued together)
and I think his chassis is slightly bent

Originally I was going to run him to the ground but I have a vision in my head of my driving along minding my own business somewhere and he just stops…and then what’ll be my story – not a good idea. The one vendor at the expo in which I was interested was a mobility store where I found my next scooter. It’s a folding scooter and so essentially it collapses with a click of a button into something a lot like a carry on piece of luggage. One “problem” with this one is that the top speed is 4mph; Soca Scooter is 5. The difference between 80 and 81 mph, I may not notice but 4 and 5?…ugh! but clearly I’ll need to get over that fact at some point. Hopefully this one will also be able to lime, wine and take jammin like good ole Soca Scooter.

let the good times roll…

Damn u MS…or Stacey (maybe)

I’m not a stubborn person usually but when it comes to the conflict between me and the MS with respect to the sun and heat I am stubborn to a fault – ALWAYS. Last week Monday morning I went to a rooftop breakfast fete – this fete tho is not ur typical breakfast fete in that it starts at 8am. There’s a covered area and a section that’s open. Do I try to lime/stay in the covered area? Never. In fact last year ASal asked me if I wanted to get out of the sun (it was still earlyish and it wasn’t bothering me yet and I remember scoffing at her wondering why the hell she would suggest that; she was asking from an MS perspective – MS wasn’t even on my mind…I’m stupid, I know).

So I usually get there between 8 and 9 so no problems then but by 11/12 it’s a whole nother story! This year, the open area had sheets of fabric draped over to offer some shade so I sought refuge there but still I was hot fuh so. I could barely work the controls to reverse the scooter into the shade and by the time I got there I was seated for most of the rest of the party.

Every time I stood, I had to be helped up. The other thing I noticed is that I couldn’t speak loudly at all. was like every time I spoke to someone I was whispering – which makes no sense when u trying to shout into somebody ears over loud music. I was completely drained of strength/energy. Steups but will I stay under cover next year? No promises

I took a really long time to cool down and get back to normal…in fact I don’t think it happened till I reached back home. I ate a plate of food and went straight to bed…slept straight thru till Tuesday morning…but it’s okay – it was all worth it kinda/sorta…party was nice!

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