Friday, June 18, 2010

June 18, 2010

It's eight weeks since my lower leg was cut off and I was left with Daisy. And I do expect to walk out of rehab tomorrow - on two legs- probably using a walker. I have learned that the wheeled walker is easier to use, and easier to use less (by that I mean putting less weight on it and trust in it) than the unwheeled walker. Marc, my physical therapist convinced me of this by a trail run on both. I have both at home, and I'll have son bring one with wheels to use to walk myself out. Not ready for going the distance with the cane. Will have PT at home for a bit and expect to master walking with cane before therapist is done. And from there, I simply get more comfortable until I can walk without any aids.

Occupational therapist for this stint in rehab is Sam. So Sam wanted to duplicate my shower situation at home and have me use that duplicated situation in a supervised manner. He was unsuccessful in arranging for a female sub for him, but I'm flexible and so was he, so we arranged for Sam to provide me support in the shower this morning. So here's the challenge. Get myself seated on the shower chair with the prosthetic on. Remove the prosthetic while in the shower, but before turning on the water and put it outside of the shower stall where it won't get wet. Shower. Turn off shower and dry self, especially Daisy. Reach outside of shower for prosthetic. (Let's name this prosthetic Tiger. Daisy was the first dog I remember from when I was a kid. Tiger is the first dog I had as an adult - and I adored him. I need to come to adore this prosthetic leg). Put on gel liner first and Tiger next. Then step out of shower and continue drying process and whatever else I am going to do before leaving bathroom. Right now, this is all done with the aid of a walker. Challenge at home is the glass shower doors which only open halfway (slide back and forth) and the fact that there is only one grab bar in the shower - on the back side. Need another grab bar - and need to get more comfortable around those shower doors, where it means the shower chair needs to be, and other miscellani. I'm sure I'll get this worked out in the next couple of weeks.

By the way, after shower, Sam promptly left with Tiger. Clearly, PT and OT folks are not going to leave Tiger with me until end of day today. Until then, Tiger and I must be their responsibility. End of day, together we become the responsibility of nursing. Tomorrow, Tiger and I are on our own.

Called Tim Brant (the driving rehab guy) about driving yesterday. He says I can't get certified on both left foot gas pedal and hand controls, that it has to be one or the other. I want both. Want to put left foot gas pedal on my car and on daughter's van (it will be with me for the year she is in South Africa and I want to be able to use it), and I want to be certified on hand controls so I can rent cars when I travel. Not sure where this will go. Right now, I am going to call the folks who do this stuff to cars to talk about a left foot pedal for my Prius.

Gotta go - do some more research on this driving stuff.

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