First of all, congratulations on getting your hand controls! You go, girl.

Second, the dealership is correct. Unless a person can afford to replace a vehicle in the event their MS progresses, you might be better off keeping an eye toward the future and the possibility you MIGHT need a chair at some point.

A lowered floor in a van is really needed to lessen the slope of the ramp to the ground when one must roll down a ramp to exit or enter a van. Going up, that way it's not so steep that you struggle or might tip backwards.

Going down a too-steep slope even in a powerchair can be scary. You're concerned about tipping forward onto your face at the same time you're navigating your chair attempting to stay away from the very short "walls" of the ramp so that you don't go off the side, again, onto your face.

For instance, we have a 2004 Dodge Caravan that had already had the conversion done by a major, well-known firm, VMI. It has lowered floors and a side power ramp. One button and our van "kneels" down by a few inches as the ramp smoothly unfolds and lowers itself to the ground.

I haven't been able to drive for 11 years. Yes, I miss it. Big time. Maybe more than walking. My DH does the driving. We found it on Craig's List in 2008 (yeah I know, that's risky) but we played it safe by meeting the seller at a mall lot with a mechanic friend of ours, by driving it, seeing the title and the recent state inspection - which it had passed. It was 4 years old then and only had 20k miles. Six years later it still only has about 43k miles.

I need to get back to what I originally wanted to tell you. No matter what you add to your vehicle, talk with your auto insurance company to be sure they have a record of and coverage on any assistive devices. For instance our van might have had a normal value of $11,000-$12.000, but the conversion is at least another $10,000, so we have extra coverage over the normal 2004 Dodge value.

Best of luck to you!
Karen

Adding my congratulations on the hand controls! That's good advice, Karen.

My positive news is that I have been talking about lots of things with my son lately...not the usual strong silent type over there. He has not been feeling well, and neither has his younger son, so he's opened up about things.

I think you have gotten some good advice Erin. Especially good to here from some one who uses a mobility van and can give you the reasons for the adaptations they need to make.

Happy Mother's day to all tomorrow. I think I miss my mother in law more this year than I do my Mom. Maybe it's because my MIL didn't have much and I was the only daughter in law that paid a lot of attention to her, her own daughter sure didn't. I am also thinking about her daughter today. I had told my husband that after the funeral and right after when she came over and got her Mom's clothes that I wasn't going to have anything to do with her. She was a leech, parasite, toxic, would bleed you of everything you own if you would let her. She was 'so close' to her Mom when her Mom lived in an apartment and she could beg money from her Mom. She quit coming around when her Mom went into a nursing home and she only got $55/month which went to needed extra expenses. So her Mom had no worth to her anymore. But yet I find myself thinking about Karen today knowing that the grief she showed at the nursing home was probably two fold. One for missing her Mom and in true grief of her passing. The other may have been, well that is if Karen had an ounce of compassion, that she regretted not being a part of her Mom's life for so many years.

Sorry for so much grief and so many regrets, even if the regrets are someone else's for which you have compassion.
I have many regrets about my mom. Fortunately she lived so long that I became aware of her as someone who needed my attention, not just as a "source" for my own emotional needs. I did pretty well with my mom, but not as well as I would have liked, so I have times of weeping over her. I feel she is in Heaven in spite of being an imperfect person (who is not?) and that she is really happy that I appreciate her more than I did. She made some errors with me, like she dreamed of me being a college teacher, but by the time I became one she was mad at me over my young son and how he should be raised, so she never complimented me on my career or took much interest in it, until I became so sick at 56 that she did advise me to quit my job. In other words, she was a minimalist with words. An odd thing for a person who majored in Journalism, to have few words to say. Maybe she knew how empty words can be if they are not the right ones. Anyway, I think of her with love and hope.

Mariel, I am so glad that time heals most wounds. My Mom was a preacher's wife and had a gift of encouraging people. She was our biggest cheerleader. I am so proud of my children and grand children that they loved her as much as I did. My grand children didn't even get to know my Father but my dear daughter has made sure that she tells them stories all the time about one of the most important men in her life. Plus if they were around their great grandma at all, they got to know great grandpa. My parents were a matched set, true soul mates.

I know that some day I may feel like I mihgt like to have a relationship with my sister in law again. I'm afraid thought that it would be without my husband in the picture. He grew up never knowing the meaning of what a close knit family is. He has pretty well washed his hands of his sister.

Look what I got today! (finally!!!!!)








It's not totally finished. It's getting painted next week, with some silica sand mixed into the paint on the deck of the ramp, to make it rough and non-slip. It's going to be painted garage gray.

Love it. I take it your bedroom is off the garage

Nope. My bedroom is in the basement.

Awesome looking, well-built ramp! Are you helping to buld it? Is it from a set of plans?

MsBluIs

No. I sat and watched him build it once I woke up that day. Pretty sure he didn't do it from any plans. He's pretty good at building stuff without plans. He just had to keep checking it with the level to make sure he had the slope grade correct.