I thought I was doing well yesterday. Went to church. Hung out and talked to folks. On way home stopped at new holistic pet store in neighborhood. Beautiful little shop. Bought a new collar for Rags and high priced dog food. It's made by Pinnacle and noted as superior canine nutrition. Who knows? But Moose and Rags seem to love it - even the pickier Moose finishes it in one sitting.
But back to the day. So, I was pulling out of my parallel parking space. All of a sudden, I realized there was another van right beside me and our front sides were gonna touch if I didn't stop right away. And instead of hitting the brake with my foot, I hit the left foot accelerator. I quickly caught myself so this was only a minor fender bender, but it is another thing on the long list of items to be taken care of. And this was in my daughter's van that I just had equipped for left foot driving. My observation about this is that my brain and body are not yet adjusted to the left foot driving. I had to react really quickly and the signal I sent to my left leg/foot was wrong. It was a "brake on the left" signal, even though I am driving with my left leg/foot. I clearly need more re-wiring.
Otherwise life is uneventful. I am getting more and more use to this prosthetic leg and foot. The morning process which use to take almost an hour is down to about twenty minutes. I've gotten more organized about it and it has gotten easier. I have been worrying about how I was going to pee at night when I was traveling. A nurse friend (we were playing cards on Saturday evening) suggested I get a pile of disposable bed pans, put one on a chair (with a plastic bag under it just in case), put the chair by the bed - and magic - I have built my bedside commode. I am going to try this out as soon as I get my hands on some bed pans. If this works, the last travel hurdle that I can think about right now is taken care of.
This whole new lower leg and foot thing has been an interesting adventure. It's posed challenges about how to live my life as normally as possible, without putting a burden on family and friends, being able to live as I had imagined I would live in retirement. Not sure I want to stay in this beautiful two story cottage. I'm thinking about that, but the desire to not have stairs is probably as much about getting older as it is about the leg. Know that I don't want to go white water rafting again. I probably could, but I simply don't want to put my body through that kind of an exercise. And that doesn't mean I won't do a quite paddle in a canoe or kayak.
And I want to think about how I can make a difference to the community in which I live. The last couple of years have been preoccupied with surgeries, learning to walk, having a big setback, learning to walk again. While I know that I can get much better on this leg, it is time for me to do something else. I am hoping I can do that (whatever that is) through my church community and some friends and I are exploring what might be possible. (If you don't know, the church is First Unitarian of Pittsburgh).
And now, I have to get my passport renewal application in the mail and work on building my calendar for next year - so that I can respond to some friends who are planning good stuff.
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You are a wonder, Annie, an inspiration, a role model.
ReplyDeleteRe re-wiring your driving reflexes: I have a grandson who will soon be old enough to get his driver permit, and I'm encouraging his parents to do something I read about a while back -- have him log x number of miles with one of them before taking his test, or whatever order things are done in these days. I seem to remember x = 10,000 but they all think that's crazy. Still, the concept makes sense. So I'm wondering if it would help you re-wire faster if you found some very low-traffic roads/streets and logged a lot of miles, stopping, starting, simulating unexpected occurrences (can you simulate something unexpected?). Just a thought . . . someone as organized and determined as you?