November 28, 2010

Getting ready for trip to Cape Town. Leave Wednesday. Need to start packing. Spent Thanksgiving in Cold Springs NY with neice Michelle, grandnephews, Arizona and Hanan (almost 16 years old, getting taller every day) and Michelle's extended family. Home of Mich's Aunt Laurie and partner Manuel. Lots of Manuel's family, all Spanish speaking. Very warm and gracious. I wish I wasn't so linguistically challenged and knew more of the language.
For me, one of the highlights of the few days was the walk we took by the Hudson River and into the town of Cold Springs. I think I must have walked a mile. And that has been my goal for this year. Got it!!! So, next year I go for another mile. It's probably reasonable to try for two miles by summer.
And now, to get a nice dinner made for son and his family before I leave town for the month of December. And I think I'll treat the dogs to a bit of roast beef or turkey (brought home some turkey) too.

November 20, 2010

I haven't blogged in more than a month and friends have asked me what is going on. What is going on, of course, is that I have made myself "busy" again. That means that I have figured out how to manage this prosthetic leg in a way that lets me live my life pretty darn fully. Some things I still can't do, but I have figured out things that were worrying me just a month or so ago.

Like, how to go to the bathroom in a strange place in the middle of the night. (At home I keep a port-a-pot by the bed so I can do a quick up and down). I have found it is not a great inconvenience to turn on the light, pull on the gel liner, slip into the leg, go to the bathroom, then return and reverse the process. Not as quick as the port-a-pot, but much safer than a bed pan on a chair which I did try - not very successfully. Bed pans slip off chairs in friends houses if not carefully managed when full.

Another how-to is how to bathe in various and sundry bathrooms where the conveniences in my bathroom don't exist. If there are not lots of bars in the bathing area, I simply so the best job I can sitting or standing at the sink. Safety is more important than absolute cleanliness. Shower chairs are pretty wonderful things - work in bathtubs - but again the bars matter.

Airports and the new security procedures are something else. I hit the total body rub-down in the Madison airport on my way home from a quilting trip on November 1. It was their third day of this procedure. I didn't know it was gonna happen. I figured it was just the regular wanding and back of the hand pat down that I always get. They don't have the full body xray machines in Madison (yet). So another 1/4 inch and they would have been inside me. Whole thing doesn't make sense. If I was carrying anything, it would have been inside me or, better yet, in my prosthesis. They did not ask me to remove the prosthesis. I asked them what it was about - pointed out they were missing the real places while doing this ridiculous massage. They said they were not asking people to remove prosthesis because it would be too intrusive. The inconsistency was not something the supervisor was prepared to talk about. He gave me a comment card to send to TSA. Pittsburgh Airport has the x-ray machine, so I will probably miss another total body pat down when I leave the country in ten days. They can look at my body fat same as for everyone else. I do get tested for explosives, but that is much less personal than the full body x-ray or the rub-down.

About me and my leg - I can walk the three blocks to our little retail area and back with no problem. Could probably do the round trip twice in one fell swoop if I had to. That would likely be it without a rest. I was able to do that with the small dog to deliver him to the groomer a couple of weeks ago. First time I had walked a dog since surgery. Had been afraid of being pulled. Little dog (35 pounds) was very well behaved so that is one more activity mastered. Won't take the big one walking (60 pounds - and more hyper).

And today, I have TeVa type sandals on my feet. I am checking to see if I can get around in them. I think I will tuck them in suitcase for South Africa trip. It's gonna be warm (70-85 degrees according to darlin' daughter) and we will be near the beach. And maybe I'll go buy a new pair of sneakers on Monday - my favorite shoes with this unreal foot. I am able to wear my good clogs and do put them on when I want to look a little more dressed up but I feel best walking in sneakers that lace up.

I bought a new big suitcase to go - my old big one is already in Cape Town as I lent it to my traveling family. I leave on December 1, return on December 29. Will do an occasional blog from the beach house in Muizenberg.

October 16, 2010

This is about the new prosthetic. I got my new socket this Wednesday. It is pretty beautiful to look at - and you can see it on my facebook page. I don't want to spend the time to figure out how to get pictures on this blog (and I'm sure it is easy). I took some quilt blocks that I was working on, put them together big enough to cover the new socket, and they were "tattooed" on the socket. It surely is one of a kind.

And this socket is much smaller than the last one. I probably told you that the residual limb shrinks - it is part of the process, and is likely to keep shrinking for a year or so. So, this is unlikely to be my last socket - but it could last for a year. And it is offering me some challenges.

The pipe, or stem or pylon - it is called many things but it exists between the socket and the foot - is longer than the previous one. So the socket it further from the foot. Seems to me as if I have to really learn some new balancing techniques. I am not as stable as I was on the prior socket. And that means, that I simply have to take two canes or a crutch or something and get very deliberate about walking as exercise. I don't know any other way to get comfortable with this. And I'm not sure that walking around the supermarket with a cart or from my car to the movies works. I simply don't focus on the walking when I do that. So, let me start today. I'll have some food and take a walk around the block before I start my errands.

And I am starting my day really late. I read a book last night and this morning "Banished" by an old friend, Sophie Littlefield. Sophie worked for me when I was director of an organization known as ACNS at Northwestern. She is now writing the kind of novels that I love to read, and I didn't get up until 10:30 this morning when I finished the book. Started it last night, picked it up again at 7am and finished it. You go Sophie!!
So, if I am going to get my stuff done today, it it probably time to go for it.

I will keep posting about how I do with this new socket. (Next big "anniesankle" adventure could be a new foot in the spring - maybePost Options even a computerized one).

October 7, 2010

This morning, as I was driving to Physical Therapy with the car windows open - enjoying the 70 degree weather, the song that kept running through my head was "It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood". And I was only four or five blocks away from Mr. Roger's real neighborhood - where he lived in Pittsburgh. My mind kept going about the gifts I have been given. I will be 75 in December. My mom died at 60, my dad at 65. In my early 40s, I was the oldest person alive in my whole family. And here I am, coming up to three quarters of a century. My life has been interesting, and often really good. And it's good right now, even with out one of my legs. I was discharged from PT this morning. I have not achieved my goal of being able to walk a mile non-stop, but I bet my daughter will push me to that when I am in Cape Town in December. (Other PT goals all achieved). Not willing to walk in Frick Park alone (with or without the dogs) yet either. That too may wait until Julie returns from Cape Town next summer. Otherwise, I am going about my life quite well, thank you. I'm driving, I'm visiting interesting places, I have interesting friends, I am working some (was at Penn State in State College this week and last and in two more weeks I head for Champaign-Urbana and UIUC. I did that great Seattle and Oregon trip. I am getting ready for a quilting week in Madison and the month of December in Cape Town.

And I had my second fitting for my second prosthesis today. The residual limb shrinks, and after a while, the prosthesis is really sloppy on the limb and it's time for a new one. My new one will be ready next week, and wait until you see it. I will take a couple of pictures (or have someone take them with me and the prosthesis as one) and post them on facebook.

Just came home from seeing the facebook movie and dinner with a friend. Want to get that book and read it. And now it is bed time and time to start another book. (Just finished a mystery about Inspector Gamache in Canada (what's the French section called? the province that houses Montreal? is that Ottawa? - delightful mysteries). I'll see what the pile by my bed is made of and pick one - take off this prosthesis and call it a lovely day!!

September 29.2010

I'm at the Penn Stater Hotel - having spent the afternoon working at my "part-time job". Drove up this morning - 140 miles - an about half way up I wondered if it wouldn't be easier if I took the prosthetic off. Everything feels crammed in the small floor space in the driver's side of the Prius. Stopped at a sane place and removed prosthetic and hit the road again. Must say it was a rainy and foggy trip - although when I could see the trees through the rain and fog, I realized fall was here and the colors were approaching glorious. Between the goldenrod in full bloom and the trees changing, it is a beautiful place. But back to the leg removal - this was the second time I had driven without the prosthetic in place. My immediate sense was one of vulnerability. Sort of like - I need that leg on to do whatever needs to be done. Not true of course because it is pretty useless and in the way on the road. Anyway, I must have gotten over that because I ended up playing "you pass me then I'll pass you" with a truck moving logs that was going 85 downhill and in the 60s up hill. When he was in front of me, the water coming off the back of him made it really hard to see. I think I finally got ahead of him - left him someplace in front of someone else.

That's the drive. I guess I 'got over it honey", the vulnerability thing that is. And I'll bet it happens again.

So, what's the learning on this trip? (Last trip was more learning about the bathroom at night. That learning was, move out of bed when you wake up, put the leg on, and go into the bathroom. Don't lie in bed half awake waiting for the urge to become urgent. Just get up, put on prosthesis, and do it). This trip I have forgotten the second gel liner. I have two gel liners for the residual limb. I wash one every morning and hang it to dry for the next day. So, I washed my gel liner this morning, hung it to dry, and forgot to take it with me. That means I only have the one I am wearing. I need to figure out how to "dry-clean" this one, so that I am not putting a sweat covered liner back on for two days. I think I can do this with baby wipes (which I did remember to bring - I wipe down the limb each nite after I take off the days liner).

I am getting better at living with this prosthesis every day, but I don't have it quite mastered yet. Probably never will - as usual - this is a journey, not a destination.

September 15, 2010

I'm in Seattle visiting my friend, Jacqueline. Did my airplane run on Sunday. Overslept and missed the airport shuttle that was at my house at 4:45 am. Did not hear them calling on cell phone, which, of course, was downstairs and I was upstairs asleep. Woke up at 5:20 am and worried that I could make plane leaving at 7:10 am. Was out of house and in my car by 5:40 am. I had pretty much packed the night before. No time for a shower. Surprised that I could get body with leg organized that quickly. Made the flight with little time to spare. Security took a bit longer than usual. I have been wanded forever because of metal body parts but they did that little rub down test on prosthesis to check for explosives.

On the flight from Charlotte to Seattle, residual limb felt as if it was swelling some. I guess that's not surprising as body parts do swell up on long plane rides. I was reluctant to take off prosthesis for fear it would be clumsy getting it back on. Need to figure that out - perhaps on trip home.

Jacqueline and I are simply hanging out, lunching out with friends, talking a lot, reading some, and simply enjoying being with each other. And tomorrow I head for the Oregon coast.

Enterprise Car Rental is ready for me in Portland with car with left foot gas pedal. They have called me to confirm. Wonder if the pedal is similar to the one I have on the two vehicles at home. I hope so.

And that's my quick update from the northwest. Blogs are not nearly as interesting as life returns to a more ordinary state.

Oh - when I get home I get fit for a new socket for my prosthesis. Residual limb has shrunk such that current socket can't be adjusted any further. This could happen a few times before I settle in to my more "permanent" socket. Then, will I have a leg made that looks a bit more like a leg? I think I have asked that question before. Answer still not clear.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

Another quick update. I put on real shoes this week. I took by SAS clogs to PT and worked to see if I could walk with them and the prosthetic. The answer is yes. So now besides the two pairs of New Balance sneakers I have been wearing for what seems like forever, I have added two pair of clogs to my footwear. Feels good!!

And the next news is that I went to see Bobby, prosthetist, to have socket made a bit tighter. It was getting wobbly, and I was up to 10 ply in terms of prosthetic socks. Bobby put a lot of stuff in the socket to make it tighter, but he says it is time to be refitted. So, he's gone next week and I'm gone for the two weeks after. When we are both back we cast the leg again, and use the cast to build the next prosthetic socket. (This could happen three or four times (or even more) before I am finally settled in my lifetime leg. It's because the residual limb shrinks from the continued pressure of the gel liner and the socket - and this is a good thing. I'm hoping a socket that's a little smaller will be a little lighter and also allow me to be a little less clumsy in some of my movements. Interesting question is "can we make this next socket low enough behind the knee that I can ride a stationary bike?' Don't know the answer but need to remember to ask Bobby.

The stationary bike thing is about building endurance. Mine is not great. I can walk for about twenty minutes and I am done in. I have tried the upright and the recumbent stationary bike and neither works. Simply can't move the knee to where it needs to go because the prosthetic hits the back and stops the movement. So, right now I am using the arm bicycle. Therapists say when I come back from journeying, we are going to try the pool - put me in with a flotation device, and have me treading water.

I've had a really busy week - lots of good friends to see and things to do. I'm heading back to work part time as soon as I return from my two week vacation (starts 9/12) and I want to return to my quilts. So life continues to be almost always interesting, often a treat, and some of the time, a serious challenge.