Monday, October 31, 2016

This Week + The DME Company

Mira has been doing really well over the past week or so. She has been minimally irritable and we haven't seen a tonic-clonic since her big one last Sunday. This past weekend we went on some long walks outside, since the weather has been so pleasant, and Mira was loving every minute of it. She was consistently making this humming noise and kicking her feet the entire time. Yesterday at bath time, she was even smiling some, instead of her usual cry-a-thon. It's been a nice week for her.

On a side note, her tilt mechanism on her chair broke about 2 weeks ago. When something goes wrong with her chair, we tend to have the same dilemma - do we call the only durable medical equipment (DME) supplier here in Kansas City, which we have had numerous terrible experiences with over the past 10+ years, or do we try and fix it ourselves? I could not bring myself to even consider picking up the phone to deal with said DME company and seeing how we are going to be forced to deal with them later this week (which I will get to in a moment) I figured I wanted to limit our interaction with them as much as possible. Avoidance is the key, so I started down the path of repairing her chair myself, which I have done in the past.

So I took the tilt mechanism apart on her chair, figured out why it was malfunctioning, researched the part number online, and ordered the part direct from the supplier. It was quick and painless to do, only the part took 10 days to get here. I dismantled her chair this evening and installed the new tilt mechanism. It works like a dream and I enjoyed a drink, not only for fixing her chair, but for successfully avoiding any communication with the equipment company. I will gladly shell out $114 for a part and install it myself, than deal with the DME again. Can you tell I dislike them?

Unfortunately, we are forced to deal them this week. We have an appointment (one we scheduled 3 months ago) to get Mira fitted for a lightweight stroller and we really have no choice but to go through the seating clinic. This appointment will inevitably will create another forced marriage with the DME, due to their monopolistic practices. Their customer service is atrocious and over the years, they have bought out every other DME company in the area, creating a mega-company that specializes in poor communication, terrible service, and questionable accounting practices. Having not had to deal with them for the past few years and still very jaded, I truly hope their business model and customer service has improved.

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