this lion had better go out like a lamb
'Cuz I've about had it.
This past Tuesday, the report was that it has rained 22 out of 28 days here. It also rained Wednesday, Thursday, and it's supposed to rain later today, too. Personally, I don't mind the rain so much. But I'm extremely sick of "demuddifying" puppy toes several times a day.
-------------------------
I can't get the posts about dancing up because, well...I'm busy dancing. I've got time this weekend, promise.
But I've got something else to tell you.
--------------------------
I have been doing some walking without a cane on flat, even surfaces. Like safe, hospital hallways with a Physical Therapist next to me.
For the life of me, I can't imagine in my wildest fantasies that I will ever be able to be 100% cane free. I know I will get stronger and that things like this take time, but I can't even begin to imagine being without a cane on uneven surfaces, rough terrain, and things like stairs that don't have handrails. I feel like at best I'll need to carry a folding cane in a backpack in case I'm walking along and get stuck somewhere. Like someplace that isn't a shopping mall (and since I like walks in the woods far more than the mall, well...I think that means a cane is pretty much in my future).
Anyhow, even though this isn't the dancing post I promised (I feel guilty), I wanted to post today because I have some big news (well, big to me...and I know at least Sara will be jumping up and down....figuratively, if not literally):
I had a real confidence building day in PT/Gait Training yesterday. And when I left there, I was feeling a bit brazen and cocky. I just decided to walk without a cane (well, I held it in my hand, just in case...but I didn't let it touch the ground at all, and that's one small step for gimp, one giant leap for gimp-kind). And without using the cane, I went up and down the ramp in front of my house (which is steeper than ADA requirements), I walked up a moss covered slope, and I walked on and off curbs.
In the rain.
With no cane.
(The Rain In Spain Stays Mainly On The...)
And I did it by myself (my first words, my parents tell me).
Break out the band.
:-)
Friday, March 31, 2006
in like a lion
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Gimme a woo! gimme a hoo!
My prosthetist gave up his leg to a car accident when he was 11. He, like you, has a short stump, and since all this happened something like 30 years ago, he had an even more complicated rehab. He's a fly fisherman, a father, and a paralympic skier. I've never seen him use a cane.
I know it's hard to envision, but based on his example, and my own experience walking cane-free in woods and other unpaved, often slanty, rough, and slippery places, I am quite confident that there will be a day when you, too, will walk out of your house with only two legs, once again, and feel perfectly confident doing so.
Meanwhile, I'm very, very excited for you to have gotten this far. Great work! I know you'll keep it up. :)
Post a Comment