Update:
Yesterday (Saturday) went well. I
felt the best that I have in some time (minimal pain & good sleep the night
before), so I decided it was time to finally finish redoing a flowerbed that I’ve
been SLOWLY working on. The weather and
my body both cooperated and I was able to finish putting in the last corner of
the brick edging. I have a list of about
5 major projects that I planned for this summer. This is the second (and probably the last)
that I get to cross off the list for this year.
I did decide to hire someone to reseal my deck and wheelchair ramp
instead of trying to do it myself. So three
things will get done!
After finishing the flowerbed (which took about an hour at my pace) I
decided to go do some errands. Instead
of using the wheelchair, I elected to continue wearing my prosthesis. At my last stop, I realized that I had done
too much and aggravated the nerves in my residual limb. At one point I got hit with excruciating
nerve pain while I was in Walmart. I’m
certain that people were wondering why I grabbed hold of a clothes rack and was
hanging on a few minutes trying to catch my breath. I bet I looked rather funny! I took the leg off as soon as I got
home. The nerves in my leg were not
happy with me the rest of the evening.
Pain in my leg woke me up in the night.
This morning the nerves are sort of throbbing. With the pain I was having I decided not to wear
my prosthesis today; I’ll go in the wheelchair instead. The thought of putting my weight back on
those angry nerves isn’t something that could face. After church I went to my daughter’s home for
lunch. There are stairs and narrow
doorways inside where my wheelchair won’t go.
So I tried out my new iWalk 2.0 that I purchased. It is sort of like a strap on crutch that you
kneel on. I bought it with just this scenario
in mind. It worked pretty well.
This kind of back and forth with pain is what I’ve been facing since
December 2015. I cannot do much; but I
have a good day and then do just a little too much and BAM!!! I’m hurting and less able to do even the simplest
task. It’s not like I am going crazy and
trying to walk all the way around the block!!!
Despite every effort of my medical team here, this is as good as it is
going to get for me as I am right now.
It certainly isn’t what many amputees experience. On a standard bell curve, my outcome after
amputation is way at tail end of poor outcomes.
My limitations are sometimes overwhelming to me; instead of dwelling on
them, I just try to do the best I can with what I’ve got. However, that doesn’t mean that I won’t seek
an improvement if one’s available. That’s
why in just over a month, I’m headed to Indianapolis for surgery on my residual
limb. The surgeon will take about five
hours to repair and rebuild my leg. I
don’t relish the recovery time in the wheelchair afterwards (2-3 months). That means that I’ll miss whitetail archery
season this year (I hate not being able to get out into the woods). But it’s an investment into a potentially
better future.
I have a couple of FaceBook friends who have had this surgery done by
my surgeon and they have had awesome results!
One of them just walked over six miles without any pain. WOW! That
sounds like a fairy tale ending to me! Of
course, my results may vary; but their reports are so encouraging to me.
So I continue on, one day at a time, putting my best (and only) foot
forward. We’ll see where it leads me.
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