Another Scooter

One of the few remaining joys in my Dad's life is getting out on his scooter on warm days.

Yes, I said warm days. Thus far, spring has not been cooperating. He did venture out once, with Paul accompanying him on foot, and turned around and headed home halfway through his usual route. That was the one nice day of spring so far. Two days ago he tried again, so frustrated at being penned up in the house that he was willing to ignore our inputs on the temperature outside. This time he changed his mind at the end of the driveway.

Our growing concern about his excursions, once it warms up, is that his cognition is highly variable. He can be perfectly lucid at one moment and completely loopy two minutes later. In fact that happened on his first ride, where he headed home early convinced that he had to go pick up somebody from the airport. Paul was with him, and nothing happened. He found his way back OK. But what about next time?

We've expressed these concerns to him, and while seeming to take them under advisement, he in no way indicated that he shared any of our concerns. It's not that we suggested he need to curtail his excursions, but that he needed some company on them, just in case. This would mean getting another scooter. Paul in the only one in the "family" of daytime caregivers who can keep up with him without a scooter. Rich has a bad knee, and both Steve and I have two. With a second scooter, it didn't matter who was taking care of him that day. He could still go out and he'd have company. Heck, he might even be persuaded to try other routes with someone along to guide him there and back again, and call for help if needed.

We started looking for scooters, even though he'd never officially endorsed our concerns or solution. Or so we thought, until one day his physical therapist casually mentioned that Randy (county nurse) had commented to her that Daddy had mentioned his concerns about venturing out alone to her.

I had one in mind. When Steve and I were in Florida a couple years back, we had a long conversation with a lady in line next to us who was on one. What kind was hers, how did she like it, what kind of distance did it have, how portable was it? She informed us hers was a "Go-Go" and she liked everything about it. I had looked it up in the internet after we came home, and found out that they sell for less than half of what Daddy originally paid (via Medicare) for his scooter many years ago. Cool!

Now, researching more carefully, I discovered that it's made by the same company that made his old one, Pride, and thought this said something good about lasting power. They offer a variety of options, in terms of weight capacity, weight of individual pieces, distance on a charge, price.

We also noticed a new Scooter Store in Forest Lake. I tried to stop by after work one day, but they keep bankers hours. I guess all their customers are not working, or so they think. Couldn't some of their potential customers be the working family members of someone needing a scooter?

I guess not. With those hours, I wasn't going to become a customer. However, Paul offered to stop by on his day off to see what they had, what prices were, and get information on the options so we could make a decision. They had the Go-Go, although in a sturdier model than we had thought about buying, and Paul was enthusiastic about how easy it would be to take apart and reassemble for travel in a car. However, prices were close to double what was being offered on line. He'd called the internet supplier before leaving home and found out that delivery would take about a week. With the weather forecast, we thought that would be plenty soon enough.

It should be here Friday.