~*Part 3 - My Wheelchair Seating Process*~

Part Three - Had my meeting yesterday at the cushion place. G was there, and the two custom tech people and my Mum. I asked G, if the other support person was coming, G said she is sick and she didn't want to cancel the appt.

The guy at custom tech kneeled down to my height, looked at me and said " I would like to hear from you, what you find not right with this cushion and what you want, as I want to make it right for you" no matter how long it takes.

WOW I was shocked, this was great, I then took out my list and said everything. I even said this is the STF height on my Arrow, the J2 deep contour cushion is perfect, can you give me the angle I have on my Arrow and give me the contour my J2 cushion has. That is what I wanted and told him the reason's why it had to have the angle including the contour of cushion etc. I also said the cushion doesn't fit the width of the seat pan, can it be made the right width too.

He totally understood what I needed!! I then showed him how easy it was for me to get onto the J2 cushion and compared that to the foam cushion. height was wrong too.

He took both cushions and chair into the back room and modfiyed the foam cushion.

Basically he did what I suggested to G at the beginning. He added a wedge of firm foam to make the STF height at the front 19" and then had the cushion on top of this. He had cut out the hard foam of the cushion and added softer foam and made the cushion fit the base too. He also added more contour etc. He added a loan slippery cushion cover as well, similar to my J2 cover. Basically I was getting sore over the last past weeks, as I sat on the egde of the cushion and it was too flat.

Two and a half hours later the guy came back in the room with the chair and cushion and I was quite impressed when I saw it. Now to sit in it hehe. It felt nice and soft, I had the contour I needed and the height was good.

I got into my chair today, and have sat on the cushion for 5hrs so far with basically no pain!!! I do have a dull pain on the right side still but bearable. I need to try the cushion for a week, have the guys number in case I need something done.

Overall I felt the custom tech guy that modfyed the cushion, listened to me, heard me, understood me and could understand the problem's I was having with G. It was the best seating meeting ever!!

Now if G had arranged this appt when I asked awhile back, then we proably have got somewhere. I think she didn't pass my messages onto the custom tech people in the correct way. I think she also stuffed up the first measurements and not accepting the wedge idea.

So x fingers that this cushion is a go