I GOT A SCOOTER!

    So this week has been pretty awesome. After being largely housebound (unless my mum or sister pushed me around in a wheelchair) for years now, I finally got a mobility scooter! It is not just a scooter, it is my independence! I can now go pretty much wherever I want! I can choose a direction and just go there under my own steam! I can go to the milk bar and buy ice cream just because I feel like it! It is the MOST AMAZING feeling! 

     I had been on the waiting list to see an occupational therapist to be assessed for my needs (to see if I qualified for financial assistance to get a scooter) for around a year now, and have heard absolutely nothing. The hospital are always advertising the job of occupational therapist online, which makes me wonder if our area actually has one at all! Anyway, my luck suddenly changed when mum saw an add for scooters on super sale in the local newspaper! My parents offered to finance me, with the agreement of I pay them back $300 a fortnight until my debt is paid (I reckon I can afford to pay a little more this pay, though - and for my own piece of mind I'd like to pay them back as soon as I possibly can!) The scooter cost $2500. I'm hoping to wipe off $500 this week =). 
    So I got my lovely scooter!!! It is shiny blue, with a glittery finish, and handles hills and curbs and rough ground with ease! At first, I wasn't the world's best driver... but I am getting better! The speed dial is marked by a turtle at one side, and a rabbit at the other. At first, I had it on turtle for most of the time, but I am having fun cruising on rabbit some of the time now! (Although I try to go slow enough for Ellenya to keep up - she is walking to get fit, and its nice to have someone to talk to!)
    The first day I had my lovely new scooter, it was raining really heavily all day. I was so disappointed! I so wanted to drive it around. I really wanted to play with it, so I practised driving it around in the small space under cover in the garage! hehe! Ellenya came out with me and was playing with my manual wheelchair... Mobility aid racing ftw! (She won... lol! I was too scared to go too fast at first!)
    The next day was sunny, and I got to go for a real drive! We went all the way to the milk bar down the road, and bought ice cream and lemonade! It was so amazing! I felt so free and independent! The only bad thing about the day was that in my excitement, I forgot to wear sunscreen! (Luckily I was wearing a hat, a shirt with sleeves and long pants - I ended up pretty burnt on my arms though! The most burnt I've been in my whole life! I am usually kinda paranoid about the sun!)
     It is really ergonomically designed - the seat is very comfortable and has sturdy arm rests - and I can reach the handle bars to steer (and the little button that makes it go, which is on the handle bars) while resting my elbows on the arm rest! If I take my hand off the button, the brakes engage, and the scooter stops, and it has rear stabilisers to stop if from tipping backwards on hills (I live in a hilly area, so that's good!). The whole scooter breaks apart into pieces that fit into mum's car boot, so we can take it places! It's sturdy enough to get up little steps and to go across rough ground, and the battery is only half a bar down after three days of use! (Apparently it can go for 40kms! If only my energy would last that long! lol!)
    I am planning on getting a personalized pink and/or purple mini number plate for the back (like the kind you get from gift shops), and maybe some stickers to pretty it up even more! I have a pirate flag on the front! Yarr! =D 
    I love the way my cute blue scooter looks, and I love being able to get around on it so easily! Most of all, I love the way it makes me feel - like I can go places without other people having to put themselves out and take me! I feel a bit more like a real adult person now =) 


~Adrielle =)