As I was exiting my appointment yesterday, I encountered a woman at the elevator. She looked to be around 70 and was also in an electric wheelchair. I smiled at her and said, “Nice chair.” She responded by asking me if I ** transfer. I replied with a yes. She then said, ” You need to keep transferring. You’re not getting any younger,you know. ” She then said the number 60 before I said, I know. And then went on to tell me how important it is to keep transferring before the elevator came, and she got onto it. Then she asked if I was coming. I said no, and the doors closed. It might have been possible for my husband, who was standing beside me, and I to have squeezed in, but there was no way I wanted to hear the rest of what she had to say. And I really didn’t want to say something I’d regret.
My take on the exchange was…
She was either a nurse who understands the importance of being able to transfer, and missed lecturing her patients, or she could no longer transfer herself and was trying to warn me not to follow in her tiretracks. Either way, she could have been nicer, both in verbiage and in tone. Not every wheelchair user needs a lecture on transferring. I don’t know why she said the number 60. I assume that either she is 60,or she reads my blog ,or she’s a really good guesser. Either way, there was no need to mention age.
**transfer, meaning do I transfer from my wheelchair into another chair or into our car.