Pipe Dreams Part Two

I wanted to write about this last week but was terrified just in case I jinxed myself. You see after I typed last week’s blog post stating that the caffeine infusion had been more successful than the last one due to having the occipital nerve blocks, my head decided to do its best impression of a controlled explosion. As I wrote the last few words of the post I could feel the head pain creeping up in intensity and spent several days at the end of last week in bed. The relief the caffeine infusion gave only lasted 8 days this time, previously it had been effective for 14 days.

Even though I jinxed myself, I can’t contain my excitement any longer. On bank holiday Monday (29th August) I received a message from one of my Facebook friends, on a disability group on the same social media platform a wheelchair and power trike were up for sale. It wasn’t the same model of power trike as shown on my go fund me page but both were essentially the same thing for a vastly reduced price. I was so excited that I almost had kittens (and I’m not even a cat person). My friend Emmy told me when she found it she was beside herself jumping up and down her lounge whilst her bemused husband looked on, not having a clue as to what had caused this strange behaviour. I shared the news with my two friends Imogen and Sharon (or #TeamRach as we are collectively known) who have worked so hard to help me raise money and their response was exactly the same.

Just to make things really awkward I wasn’t a member of the group on Facebook so although I could see the post, I couldn’t comment on it to express my interest. It was frustrating as quite a few people were asking questions regarding it. These things tend to get snapped up quickly so I knew I needed to act fast. Thankfully Emmy was a member of the group and asked if the items were still for sale and if the woman could private message me. Just to add I am still waiting for my membership of this group to be approved, which as an admin of a group myself, think is pretty bloody poor.

The woman selling the wheelchair and power trike attachment did  message me, I replied promptly, with a few questions and stating the fact I wanted to buy the item from her. Now I know I am desperate to buy a power trike and wheelchair so that I can participate in the walking of my dogs off-road. I may even strike some of you as very impatient, I probably am due to the excitement of it all. You see the only thing that has kept me going since developing the CSF Leak was the thought of getting out on Woodbury Common with my dogs for the odd half hour a couple of times a week (head permitting) and for longer periods when I had received a caffeine infusion.

I have been on a roller coaster of emotions, one minute giddy with excitement, the next minute heartbroken at the thought of not getting it. When you have dreamt of this day and talked about pretty much nothing else, it takes over your life. I  have to state the lady is also disabled and battling chronic ill-health herself. To be fair to her my impatience with the whole situation probably didn't help. Although I remained calm and polite throughout our exchanges, reminding myself what I am like at my very worst. It didn’t help though that I was excited as a kid at Christmas. I couldn’t understand in this age of the internet why this process was taking so long.

I was beginning to panic To the point yesterday where I believed that I was going to be ghosted and never hear from her again. As I was 284 miles away, I was sure she would have preferred a local sale. I had done some research and worked out the costs involved in getting the wheelchair and trike attachment couriered to me. I also had Emmey the lady that had found it for me, offering to pick it up for me as she lived within a reasonable driving distance.

I have never been very good at leaps of faith, I am not as trusting as I used to be and can be very suspicious of people I don’t know well. I guess it is from all the times I have been stabbed in the back in the past. So when she didn’t phone me yesterday, when she had told me she would my heart sank. I then started to do a bit of investigating, I had a good look at her Facebook profile, it was a genuine account. I could also see that she had been trying to sell the wheelchair and power trike attachment for a few months. So I reassured myself that this would happen, that I just needed to take a breath and not let the excitement overwhelm me

I was probably more stressed out than the average punter due to the fact we had such an awful experience when we used breed Weimaraners. People are a nightmare, we had one Sunday when we had back to back prospective buyers lined up from 10am until 4pm and only the 4pm people showed up. We had people saying that they desperately wanted a puppy, yet once they were ready to be viewed we never heard from them again. We decided to get out of the dog breeding game when I got sick. It wasn’t looking after the puppies that was the problem it was dealing with people who messed you around. We had such bad experiences the second time around that we decided once they were all sold never ever again. So I am sure that this has made me much more anxious, although I have tried to remain calm.

Finally things all fell into place and on Monday 5th September, Emmey and her husband picked up the power trike and wheelchair for me. As Emmey promised she sent me a photograph, it was of the trike and wheelchair in the back of her car. At long last this pipe dream was becoming a reality. I still have to pinch myself to believe it is really happening. By Friday (9th September) I will be the proud owner of my very own Morris Mobile.

On Monday evening the lady that had sold me them rang me to apologise for the fact that her husband had forgotten to pass to Emmey the operating instructions. She assured me that she would get them in the post to me as soon as possible. I wasn’t particularly worried as I was sure that there would be a video on YouTube demonstrating how to attach the trike to the wheelchair. We chatted for close to an hour which was really nice as we had quite a bit in common. She had previously owned dogs so knew how strong my desire was to get out with them. She had also checked out my profile and had seen the numerous pictures of my dogs. I am hoping that the instruction manual arrives before the Trike does but if it doesn’t we will muddle through.

It has been a bit of a nightmare sorting out a courier to transport it across country. Emmey did suggest us meeting up at a halfway point but it would have meant getting a last-minute dog sitter (which can be expensive) and a painful car journey for me as hubby would have wanted me to navigate for him. The courier worked out cheaper than paying for a dog sitter and fuel for both Emmey and hubby. So now I await its arrival with bated breath.

As soon as I am able I hope to post some photos and video of us all out on the walk together.

I need to thank everyone who donated and made this possible. There are so many of you it would be impossible to thank you individually. Your generosity has truly touched me. I need to thank #TeamRach who helped and supported me when I first spoke about the power trike attachment and have held my hand ever since - Imogen & Sharon. I also need to say a massive thank you to Emmey who found the trike and wheelchair on the selling page and for collecting it. Without you I wouldn’t have it, thank you. My biggest thank you needs to go to my husband who bravely had his extremely hairy back waxed to raise money you can watch most of it on YouTube

I also need to thank Abbie who gave up her Sunday morning to wax Jamie’s back free of charge to help us raise funds.

Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported me.