Wheelchair vs Scooter Help!

[ejayne2]

Hi All
We will be staying at POR October 26-Nov 2nd. It will be:
My Husband and I and are 2 children 5 & 3: Driving
My Dad (67) and his wife (65): Flying
My dad will be having a chemo treatement this week it was okayed to go to disney by his doctor but I am sure he will be tired and need breaks throughout the day.
I have rented a double stroller for the kids and a wheel chair for my dad, through apple scooter
.
Now my dad is saying maybe I should get him a scooter instead so that he can go back to room by himself if he gets tired and so no one has to push him around all day?
What do you all think?
My concerns are:
Where do you put the scooter when you aren't using? I don't want it sitting in his hotel room?
If he has the scooter is there someone who would load/unload it for him if he takes the bus back to resort?
I feel so overwhelmed right now I dont know what to do. I thought I had this trip all planned out and now I am super stressing! Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[Michigan]

He would have more independence with a scooter. Why would you care if the scooter is in the room? The batteries would need to be charged and the room is normally where people do it. He will drive the scooter up the ramp on the bus and park it in the wheelchair spots and then drive it off the bus.

 

[scnana]

On our trip last year my husband rented a scooter for the week due to heart problems. We parked it in the corner of the room at All_Star Sports and it really wasn't in the way. The bus drivers were extremely helpful when he was getting on and off. They stayed right beside him helping to guide and lock the scooter in place.

 

[Piper]

There is plenty of room for the scooter in the room...even with more than one person in the room. And he would have more independence on the scooter. I can only stay a couple of hours before I totally wear out. I use my own scooter and feel better about going back to the room when I don't have to have to have someone else leave with me.

 

[lanejudy]

I just want to point out... if he's having a chemo treatment this week and you'll be at WDW on Saturday, that's less than a week later. How well, how strong, is he going to be feeling? How alert or attentive will he be? While an ECV will give him greater independence to move about and return to the resort on his own...will he be ok to drive it safely? I know each patient can be affected differently, but basically -- would he safely drive a car at that point after his chemo treatment? If so, an ECV is a great idea for his independence and it can easily be parked in even the smallest resort rooms.

If he hasn't driven an ECV before - it's a lot like driving a car in that he needs to be alert and paying very close attention to everything around him -- lots of pedestrians who walk into his way, need to watch for bumps and curbs and such in the pathways, etc. My aunt had chemo every-other-week and never felt comfortable enough to be driving in-between. If he would normally expect or need someone to drive him even a few days following treatment, it might be better sticking with a wheelchair.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[TreeSapp]

After observing other scooter drivers in the park, we deemed a scooter rental as an inappropriate choice for my FIL coming out of his oral chemo. He's just not sufficiently alert (in my opinion) due to his meds and has zero practice driving the things. I watched people nip heels, drive up curbs, ram into light posts and trashcans... Nothing serious, but enough that I don't feel safe letting him drive. I'll be on high alert all day if he does - & that's no fun

 

[aylarosie]

I have rented a scooter for my husband the last 3 years.He has walking issues and found the scooter very easy to use.If this is not your Dads first treatment and he knows how he feels after chemo I am sure he would be fine.My husband also is a cancer survivor and only was not able to drive the day of treatment.As far as fitting the scooter in the rooms,we stayed at POR last year and he drove it rirght into the room to recharge it at night. If he went back early he could leave it parked outside the room and take his key . The busses and boat from that resort were excellant .No trouble at all. Take a deep breath and relax you will have a great time.He will feel better not having someone push him around and it will give him control.We also rented from apple and got the captains chair with a basket it came in handy for carrying thiNGS. hAVE FUN .

 

[Tink575]

After observing other scooter drivers in the park, we deemed a scooter rental as an inappropriate choice for my FIL coming out of his oral chemo. He's just not sufficiently alert (in my opinion) due to his meds and has zero practice driving the things. I watched people nip heels, drive up curbs, ram into light posts and trashcans... Nothing serious, but enough that I don't feel safe letting him drive. I'll be on high alert all day if he does - & that's no fun

I think it is a wise decision. I don't have sufficient field vision to.drive a scooter, I would only see a person when they were directly in front of me. I could not see a running child coming and would never forgive.myself if I hit them.

 

[ejayne2]

Thanks to all for your advice. I went ahead and rented the scooter. I think it will give my dad more independence and he will not feel bad leaving the parks early to rest.

 

[ttintagel]

A nice thing to remember is that if whichever option you choose doesn't seem to be working out, the rental company will generally switch it for you as quickly as they can. That happened to me on one trip - the manual wheelchair turned out to be too much to push or self-propel, and after a phone call they had an ECV waiting for me when we got back to the resort that night.