Expo Observations

I saw the 3 vendors I wanted to see first, to be sure I got what I went to the Expo for taken care of, before looking at anything else. No problem to cover that stuff in 2 hours, and very glad I went.

What surprised me though was how much I got out of the rest of the afternoon. I visited about 6 other booths deliberately, and stopped at a few more besides. There was a wide range of products and services being offered.

I picked up some free magazines – PN (used to be Paraplegia News), which is a Veterans’ mag but useful to anyone with a disability, and New Mobility, which I once subscribed to, but grew tired of. Time to look at them again, since one friend is suggesting I submit articles about my experience in Antarctica to them. Why not?

There was an Access San Diego booth, where I picked up a guide to our fair city. Not too much in it that is new to those who already know the town. But I’m glad it’s there for tourists.

Then I went to an A-Med booth. They are a supplier of medical supplies, and I have bought urological stuff from them for at least 4 years. Have you ever had a relationship with someone totally over the phone? This happens often with travel agents, or insurance adjusters, or even a catalog company. Well, I “knew” 2 people there and met them for the first time. I was hoping that people I knew would be manning the booth that day, and was lucky. So, now I have faces to go with names, for the people who put together my order for catheters – kind of funny really. There were a fair number of companies there that were selling medical supplies, or rather their services for those sales – there was little stock there in the convention center. I was a bit surprised at this, but I guess it makes sense. It actually is hard to figure out where to buy this stuff sometimes, especially to find places willing to bill insurance.

Two places I went to were companies that I’ve bought products, and I wanted to give them feedback, and see if they had solutions to problems I’d had with their products.

Nuprodx makes a portable shower chair. It’s a well engineered product, easy to assemble, fits in a small carry case. The problem I had with it was that the chair didn’t fit in the tubs in Argentina. And the rep there acknowledged that in South America and Europe (he didn’t say Asia, but I’d guess it should be added to the list) you need something added in between the seat and the legs to offset the legs and make the leg spacing narrower. No problem, I’ll order some of these spacers. I guess that not only are Americans larger people, but our tubs are too!

And the most interesting stop was at the Frog’s Legs people. (For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, these are little shock absorbers that attach to the small front wheel.) I asked if the shock absorbers stop working in time, because it seemed to me that when I hit a lot of hard bumps the Frog’s legs made the ride worse, not better. And I was told, “Yes, after about 5 – 6 years” That’s me! So, they squeezed me in to do a repair at the very end of the day, and popped out some small plastic piece that was squooshed, and undersized for my weight as well. The Frog’s Legs people were really busy. The man there was the founder and owner of the company, lives in Iowa. His wife was taking care of sales, and they had one other worker. They were hopping, non- stop the whole day. The main reason, besides a good product, priced well for that day as well, was that they were selling wheels in all kinds of bright colors, or with colored axles. Very cool.

Anyway, I get my repair (free) and we’re headed off to the car, and something starts to click, click, click. My left front wheel was making a clatter. So, we’re back to the FL people, who were still fitting new wheels on chairs. The trouble was that the front wheel was semi-pneumatic, but had broken down inside and split. I guess the repaired FL triggered something to get loose and rattle about. I don’t fully understand what happened, but essentially the old wheels had worn out too, and so I got fitted with new black wheels with a bright orange hub. And I can tell the difference.

The service these guys provided was top notch (they kept working after the lights in the hall were dimmed and the expo finished for the day, to get as many serviced as possible), and I believe they may have just kept a customer. I was ready to say that I didn’t want Frog’s Legs anymore, that they didn’t do anything. The titanium chair folk say you don’t need them. I can tell the difference between what I had and the new wheels, though at this moment I am still not sure if it’s the new wheels (which roll easier with less drag) or the shocks. Sometime this week I’ll have to get out on rougher terrain and decide for sure.

It is just one other thing that shows me that it’s time for a new chair. Something as simple as new front wheels and fixed shocks (cost $40) already makes this chair easier to push. How come the wheelchair repair folk, when I go for annual “check ups” don’t advocate changing parts like this? It seems they only do repairs, fix things that are broken, as opposed to do any upgrades.

It is very hard when a problem comes up on you gradually, to realize there is a problem. Perhaps a year ago I should have said my chair was hard to push, and then they’d see the front wheels compressing. Who knows? What else in this chair is cracking, or compressing, or slowly failing?

Parking was ok. Bathroom situation was problematic. Lines, and long waits. When I used to intermittent cath myself it took 15 minutes. Now when all I have to do is empty a legbag I am quick, but not everyone else was. And 2 handicapped stalls were occupied (and dirty) the whole day, while 8 other stalls were often empty. They could have brought in accessible porta-potties.

The 2 freight elevators were busy all day too, and often full. Each elevator could hold about 8 wheelchairs and family. Going up from the parking lot, there was a little girl in the elevator with me who was really excited about never being in this kind of elevator before. I had to smile. I’ve seen quite a few freight and service elevators and entrances in my day. But, perhaps the ADA has changed some of that. Perhaps you have to be at a convention where there are thousands of wheelchairs, which is really an extenuating circumstance if you think about it, before you need to take a back entrance now. I think that’s a good thing.

It also struck me how cheerful the crowd was in general. All kinds of people, all ages. Jim commented on how much variety there was on how people in chairs move themselves. Some are real speed demons, some are very pokey. Some, like me, took pushes most of the time. But overall, the crowd was easy going and pleasant – much more so that you’d see at the Del Mar Fair. It was not a crowd of sick and ill people, or militant angry ones either. It was rather an enjoyable day.