thank you all for taking the time to respond! and thank you for the advise of giving myself extra time would not have thought of that!!

my only worry is i have been keen track of my charging of my unit and there is no way i will get through the journey with out charging up once. as i have said before i must charge everyday for at least 1.5 - 2 hours, i am afraid i will frighten a few passengers if they see my unit blue wires and all hanging from what look like a very suspicious device!! now i know i can just sit in my seat but with the beeping and me fixing it to me i am afraid i may be jumped on!! if i new how i would post pictures to show you what it looks like all hooked up but i think you all know what i mean!! any suggestions on how not to end up frightening a plane load of people!!

love to all!!

Gee Jenna,
I never thought of it that way.....I see your point! Hmmmm

Other than to say......if possible, try to time it to where you would'nt have to charge up in a setting such as that......
Is there a way you could run your unit's 'amplitude' down a bit lower on that day or during the flight, so your battery wouldn't need charged up as usual....maybe it could buy you a bit more time until you got into a more private setting to where you wouldn't have to feel so inhibited?
I certainly understand, especially with these times we live in.......

I wear baggy clothes alot these days........for comfort.....but more than that...I've been wearing a lumbar belt around my painful lower back and don't want to 'advertise' it ...... also don't like the feeling of it next to my skin, so I put it on OVER a t-shirt and then I wear an oversized hoody-type thing that I zip up halfway, so it hides the belt.
Perhaps you could wear such a hoody or something similar......it has big pockets and that's where I stuff my SCS charger in if I'm up and about while charging.

Otherwise, I just do my best to make the atmosphere as 'light' as possible to the people around me - either by joking about my 'bionic buzzer'.......but if the 'humor tactic' isn't appropriate in certain situations, then just come right out and explain it point blank to whomever it may concern....... In the airplane setting, maybe just mention it to the flight attendent and see what she has to say about it.....so that the people in your area are aware of what's going on....
I'm sure they get passengers with certain similar needs all the time......

I wonder how they handle passengers who have to carry oxygen tanks? Or if that is even allowed on planes??

This is a good point you bring up!
Rae

Hi Jenna!!

Rae brings up good points and questions. Having travelled SO MUCH in my prior career and toward the end of it, being SO incapacitated we would have to make special wheelchair arrangements and the like, all of which was put together by making calls to the airline on which I would ride. Thus, my thought for you is "Be in touch now with your air carrier. Tell them of your plight and the need for in flight recharging of your SCS unit, all of which could be greatly assisted by letters from your doctor and company rep to have in hand to show the air carrier personnel when you show up to board."

I have found airline carriers to be most sympathetic when they would handle me. In your case, it would be even more of a containment issue for them to help assure calm on the aircraft if they "bumped" you up to business class or first class so fewer people would observe your efforts to recharge; furthermore, there you will often find the travellers keep pretty much head in their computers and such so they probably would not notice you at all.

So, there you have it from a WELL experienced traveller pre-SCS, contact the airline and talk over your needs so they may both be prepared and treat you well.

That oughta work,
BIG z,
Mark56

VERY well put Monsieur Mark~

Very well said indeed

thanking you all for your advice.
i have my scs braclet, letter from consultant and i intend to contact my airline this week.. that would be nice to be bumped up to first class to avoid freaking passengers out with my beeping unit and bright blue wires hanging out of my charger!!
tonight i am not in the humour of sitting charging ( meal out with hubby and few glasses of vino) so i asked hubby to bring over my unit which says i am 1 bar away from no power ( 12 hours since i last charged) left in unit but my hand held unit says i am at 3 out of 5 bars!! which one is right hand held unit or the charger?? i thought both should be the same!! yet another question for the rebellious scs user!! either way tonight the bold teenager has decided since i have no kids home and a few glasses of vino that i am not going to charge so what will happen???

yesterday i spoke with my sis who i am going out to and explained how excited i am about the trip but at the same time letting her know that i am not able for going out too much and hope she understood that i had to charge up every night and allthe other lovey stuff and by the end of the call she sounded totally freaked and i can only image what her bionic sister will be doing on her visit!! will i be an embarrassement with my crutch or walking stick (yet to decide which i will bring)

God im sorry today/tonight not sounding great maybe i am over thinking this whole trip but all of a sudden i am scared to step outside my comfort zone!
yes we are all made see a shrink before scs maybe we should be given the option to see someone after!!

ok good night all and sorry for going on .. just nervous i guess!!

One good thing about siblings is that they always love you. My family accepts me just the way I am, and we laugh about things and my brother does call me bionic! Go and enjoy yourself, and your time with your sister. We are all self-concious(sp?) about our little personal things- like your charger, but remember that you don't ever notice other peoples' handicaps for the most part, nor will they notice your charger. Take your cane so that you can beat on people who get in your way (lol), but please go and enjoy yourself! Lisa

Indeed! You speak my language!!

thank you lisa and your right families do accept you even if you are bionic!! her friends have all organised a big paddys day party in my honour which is so nice of them to delay there annual party with my sister until i get there.

i think it will have to be the cane i can use it to point my way to FIRST CLASS!! thinking i will wear the charging unit through the airport so i can guarantee the upgrade to first class!!!

new day today charger attached now and happy to say unit did not die over night but going to be sitting here for a few hours ( i so hate charging)

hope you all have a lovely saturday!

Yes, it must be a hassle having to charge every day.....but I suppose we adjust to whatever is necessary. The way I see it....I would have spent that amount of time every day curled up in a ball wishing/praying the pain would go away.......

I wonder......I'm not sure exactly how your unit works....but one thing I found out with mine was that it uses up aLOT more battery juice if I have more than one program running (amped up..) meaning.....I make sure all the other settings are turned down to zero. I usually use program #1 set at around '4'.......before I was savy to this, I would have program 2 set at around '6'....program 3 set at around '7'....etc......what this does is it puts all that extra demand on the battery by having the other settings set so high, EVEN if I'm not using those programs....
So, if I decide I want to use program 2, then I turn program 1 all the way down to zero and then amp up #2.

This came as a surprise to me and instead of having to charge up every 3rd day....I can go almost a week now before charging.
But, not all SCS's run the same way. Maybe this wouldn't be the case with yours.
Also, I was told not to let the battery run down too low, or it will lessen the life of the battery significantly. Did they say this to you?
Maybe yours is different......but that is one of the biggest emphasis put on my instructions regarding charging. Mine suggests charging when it gets down to half tank.

Just curious what your instructions indicate on yours.

You must be getting excited about the trip! I hope you aren't feeling anxious about it anymore! Lisa is so right - you need to ENJOY this from every aspect! Besides, I'm sure that you'll feel good about traveling after you've gone thru it this first time. You just aren't quite sure what to expect since you haven't done this yet........but I'm pretty sure it'll be a breeze.

So anxious to hear how it goes!

Rae

Yep, the monitor said I was down to 2/3 so here I am. I am so curious about your charging unit, Jenna, and that it has blue wire dangling as you charge. This unit I have is basically a small disk battery unit which I activate, then it beeps until centered on my skin over the implanted unit whereupon it quiets. I leave it sitting there about 3/4 hour and I am back to full charge. No wires.

I realize each of our units vary, and yours was a unit wholly new to us, but the thing about wires was new. Even so, talking to the airline, they should be able to accomodate your need for recharging, perhaps in private, and perhaps even in the galley. The electrical plug ins at seatside, may be able to do the trick, you just need to verify this with the airline.

Family and friends alike are most likely to be thrilled to see YOU much more so than that they will be curious about the bionics. Frankly, for me with a remote I keep in my pocket and adjust from time to time, it has become a matter of curiosity and then joy on the part of the viewer as they become fully aware and informed of your medical miracle. I don't think any Frankenstein stygma should either precede you for follow you. Mainly, warmth, acceptance, and thrill for you that you are up your own twos [even using a cane].

Take care of yourself. The temptation will be to overdo. If you begin to feel fatigued or increased pain it may be time to reat a bit. Now the thing about shopping malls.... no two ladies I know are able to resist going to the shopping malls for a pleasant time taking in the fashion. When I do go, I find them overwhelming from a time on feet perspective, so either take my own wheelchair or borrow one from the information kiosk located in every mall I have ever seen. You may be self conscious about being in a chair, but SO WHAT. It will aid you in making it through such a fun engagemet without overdoing.

Above all in your trip avoid the temptation to OVERDO. If you manage this way, you will all around have a more fun time.

Pretty soon you will be hooking your seat belt, attaching your wings and it will be wheels up! Your Adventure will begin.... and all will go well for you since you have prepared so well in advance.

z
Mark56