This morning started off quite well. Both nurses
on the floor, Maria and Via were excited to come in and tell me that Dr.
McConkey had given the okay to weight bear with the braces off. I won’t the
real significance of this until I’m done with the physios today. I still think
I may need to wear the right one and use a cane for a bit. However, I did
celebrate by walking into the bathroom to brush my teeth sans any braces or
walking aids then taking a quick lap around the unit with the walker and
no braces. I felt naked and cold but
damn good. It was another silly grin type of walk.
The braces are the answer to Leslie and Lorraine’s
reason for questioning my sanity the other day about exercising at 5:30 AM. If
I have to strap on the frigging things to get up and pee, I may as well
accomplish a few more things while I’m tied up. Now questioning my sanity for a
whole bunch of other things would be completely justified.
I have turned my trusty reacher over to my roomie,
Dale. I don’t really need one anymore especially when I don’t have to worry
about standing up to get things on the other side of the room.
Dale is a couple of years older than me but like
me, he also lost his wife to cancer about five years ago. He’s lead an
interesting life working as a set carpenter on several major film productions
including Romeo and Juliet in Mexico City. He’s only been here at the hospital
for five weeks now but I can see his stay eventually being longer than mine in
total but at least most of it will be spent on the rehab unit. He developed an
abscess on his upper spine after lifting a heavy box on set. Many of his
symptoms mimic those of a quadriplegic
but he is now able to stand and walk using a standard frame walker but
still has a lot of numbness in his lower body. His ultimate prognosis is a lot
more questionable than mine. That is one more reason I saying there are so many
people out there much worse off than me. I will likely have some permanent
damage but not enough to restrict me from doing most things. Dale will likely
also inherit my window seat when I leave if his doctor gets her way just for
his mental well being.
My physio, Leanne, came in and she tested me out
without the braces in the room and there was no problem. We then went
downstairs to work more on the stairs. This time we worked with the braces and
a cane and again all went well.
It was great just being able to walk into the
dining room at lunch time with bare legs although I did have to use the walker.
My afternoon physio session consisted of working more
stairs with just a cane and the brace on my right leg. We were working on the
regular hospital stairs going up and
down a flight of eleven stairs with Leanne and another physio, Deborah, following me up and then walking backwards
with their hands as I came down the stairs. At the bottom we had to rest mainly because neither of them could stop
laughing when I asked “ just what do you guys plan on doing if I fall
forward? I know I’m going to have a soft
landing.” Everything went well; so I’m allowed to either walk around the unit
with either bare legs and the walker or the cane and one brace. I’ll be opting
for the cane because that’s what I’ll be doing at home. In the room, I can walk
bare legged with the cane.
So another routine close to an evening with Rachel
and the little blue pill.
Too be continued...
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