May 15, 2013
My cast is purple fiber glass and light weight. What is most significant; is that the cast is created from rolls of dry strips soaked in hot water and molded/caressed to my foot one strip at a time. Oh, by the way I had my selection of colors: green, construction yellow, black. Orange, or red; this time Huskie purple.
After the cast I was excited to get forearm crutches but after a functionality lesson from the physical therapist it became the stairs were not going to be easily negotiable. To make crutches work it requires substantial upper body strength and a true sense of balance. I’ve started doing pushups and other physical work to help with my upper body strength but her advice was that I wouldn’t be able to use crutches for more than a couple of stairs not what I need to get up stairs in our house or my Tai Chi school without some serious assistance. Climbing stairs on crutches is hard work not to mention maintaining my balance; the object is to recover from my accident not have a second similar event. Having said that I can’t live the next 12 weeks in my man cave so I’ve started to venture out to visit friends. Last Saturday, the No Kidding group met in Renton for my first serious outing; not to the VA hospital. My friends were so kind they made sure I had a place to rest my foot up and others, not my wife, made sure I had a good stiff drink, appetizers, and a healthy dinner plate. My foot got tired after a while and I was glad to get home and slid myself up the stairs.
May 19, 2013
Friday we went to our monthly “Neighbors” pot luck. With the new upstairs hand rail, installed last Friday by my brother in law, Mitchel Allen, I’m able to go downstairs with a single crutch and some dignity. Going upstairs is still the “butt” procedure.
May 21, 2013
Louise’s former work colleague, Todd, came by to take her to coffee yesterday. Todd had a broken leg recently and was in a cast with complications for over 8 months. Todd’s first statement to me was “is that leg high enough”? I’ve added additional pillows to my perch and now try to minimize keeping my foot down since my ankle does swell at times; but on the other hand my friend Mark came by later to visit and drive my car to get gas and I realize continually that periodic outings regardless of the effort is essential to my good health.
My life is developing a routine. My Chinese tutor visits on Tuesday and Friday mornings and I try to practice/study daily. With some effort I’m writing on posting to this site at least twice a week; in addition, I am constantly making changes to the site, most recently I’ve added a new video gallery to the site. My friend Mona posted a comment on Facebook about the significance of FB for her to maintain connection to the world; alas, FB is now is standard part of my daily routine.
May 22, 2013
No matter how I phrase it the next 8 to 9 weeks is a waiting period and I’m down with that; the true test is what type of rehab is needed to get me back to normal. I talked with one of the instructors from my Tai Chi school and they are still making noises about going to China around October 15th or so and I want to go. I have no illusions about the work to come. My next ortho visit is June 17th, my understanding is that this cast will be removed,the ankle x-rayed, and new cast molded.
More later….
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