Nico was always very adamant about not using a mobility aid. This made his life a lot harder than it needed to be. But it is also very understandable, that someone who used a skateboard to get around and spend his winters snow boarding, was having a hard time to adjust to the new realities of life with a progressive disease.
His first mobility aid was a cane. The cane was the only aid he would use for about 9 years. Was it enough to get him around? Absolutely not. He fell a lot ! Surprisingly he never had any serious injuries.
As his disease progressed his capability to walk diminished more and more. Around Christmas of 2013 he finally agreed to use a Rollator when going outside the house. He had another relapse in February/March of 2014 and had to move in with us. We started to look at mobility scooters. He hated all of them, and told me he would rather sit on the couch for the rest of his life than using one of those.
I can be stubborn too, I kept searching on the internet and found this scooter made by Travelscoot. Developed by a German!
The main advantage of this scooter is, that it is light weight, and can be folded to take it almost everywhere. It fits in the trunk of any car. But the biggest bonus - Nico likes it !
After we came home from the hospital on Tuesday and Nico fell asleep, I realized, that we had no food or water and I needed to go shopping.
Back at home that would be easily done - hop in the car, drive to the next supermarket - shopping is done!
Being in a big city like Chicago puts a completely different spin on something simple as shopping for groceries. We don't have a car, the closest grocery store is 15 minutes away.
This was not a problem when Nico was with me, we just loaded everything onto the scooter. Today I will have to carry everything.
The thought of lugging 2 one gal bottles of water in addition to everything else, was not very appealing.
Without a second thought, I swung myself onto the scooter and off to Trader Joe's I went.
It all sounds pretty simple, but it takes some getting used to this type of transportation! First thing I learned - being a former motorcycle rider - reffing the gas throttle does nothing on a scooter! It does not go faster, it just makes it think for a while before it moves.
Driving on the sidewalk on a busy downtown avenue can be compared to driving on the freeway at rush hour in San Diego. People are everywhere, mostly ignoring the fact, that you are driving amongst them. You are always "swimming against the stream" no matter which direction you are headed.
I made it in one piece to Trader Joe's, and was faced with the fact, that stores are not really designed for people with mobility issues. Darn, and Trader Joe's was out of 1gal jugs of water!
On my way home I was waiting on an intersection of Michigan Avenue, when I spotted a lady on the exact same scooter I was using. We instantaneously locked eyes over 4 lanes of traffic and never ending streams of people. What are the odds to run into someone using this rather uncommon scooter?
She moved to the side and waited for me to cross the street. We greeted each other like long lost friends and started catching up on good old times. As it turned out, she was also a victim of multiple sclerosis. She used to be a physical therapist and also a researcher.
I told her that I borrowed the scooter from my son to do our grocery shopping. I also told her about the purpose of our stay in Chicago. She knew all about HSCT, but did not think that it was something for her to try. She considered herself being too old and she is already since many years in the secondary progressive stage of the disease. She keeps her self fit working out every day and she enjoys traveling the world with her scooter.
We wished each other good luck and headed off into different directions.
I made it back to the hotel in one piece. Overall, it was an enjoyable way to shop for groceries!
Wow! Cool story
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