Walking Spirit

Here it is Thursday night once again. As in past weeks it didn't occur to me that it was blog night until the night was almost over. In recent weeks I've had issues trying to figure out what to write about. Normalcy is returning to my life (sometimes unbaringly so) which makes it difficult to always find a topic to discuss.

While I was at a holiday party over the weekend I commented to a friend that if I didn't have any inspiration this week you, my loyal readers, might be subjected to an in depth description of what it was like to finally urinate standing up! (The guys who read this should understand how important that is, ladies, I just don't think you can fully grasp it.) A year ago one of my goals was to get to a toilet instead of using a hand held urinal or a bed pan. Since the addition of the legs one of the goals has actually been to urinate standing up. It wasn't until the last few weeks that I was able to meet that goal. (Luckily, I've had some inspiration, so I'm not going into a detailed description of how this goal was achieved.)

Last weekend I went to a few holiday parties. The first was a gathering of my high school best friend's family. Mark and his wife Lauren came into town on Friday night and our friend Kelly Clements took me over to see them on Saturday. The wheelchair stayed in the car while we visited with the Hatfields for a couple of hours and then headed to our next party in Crawfordsville.

A few weeks ago an ex-girlfirend from high school reached out to invite me to a holiday party at her house. Several of the "old gang" was in attendance. These were people that I had met in junior high but hadn't seen since we graduated in '93 and went our separate ways. (There were also several people I had never met but look forward to seeing again next year.) It was touching to me to see the concern in their eyes as I walked into the house. However, in a short time the concern changed to acceptance and we moved around the house from time to time to escape the raucous noise of the children. My old friend Kevin quickly took on the role of chair holder and crutch keeper as I moved from place to place. Kelly (who is like a sister to me) was my driver for the night. She also nominated herself my wife for the night as she inevitably would ask if I needed water whenever she saw a beer in my hand and insisted that I rest when I was on my feet a lot.

The remainder of the week has been extremely busy as Mark and his Mom dragged me around town. They seemed to find new ways to test my skills. Walking at different restaurants, sitting in and standing up from a recliner, walking at a couple of bookstores, and my first trip to the mall. The majority of the time we left the wheelchair behind, although, we did need it at the mall due to the long period of time I was on my feet. During the college years Mark and I grew apart and I lost my connection with his family so it has been very special for me to have them involved in my recovery.

I returned to the burn unit yesterday for a follow up with Dr. Sood. The staff was overjoyed to see me walking around in the waiting room. Other than going from the building to the parking garage I walked the whole time. Dr. Sood was happy with my progress and doesn't need to see me until April.

To cap the week off Mark took me to Wishard for therapy today. I hadn't been there for a while so the receptionist cried when I walked off the elevator. Mark and I went straight to the parallel bars where I started to practice walking with one hand. Renee joined us after she finished with her previous patient. When she came around the corner she grabbed the crutches and asked me to walk down the hall. When she noticed my pants she let out an expletive and then rolled them up so that her new patient could see my legs as I walked by, and understand what a feat it really is. (This is actually one of the reasons why I prefer to wear shorts; I also find that people are more careful around me when they see the prostheses.)

The therapy visit ended with a walk from the parallel bars to the elevator, standing in the elevator as it descended from the fourth floor to the first, and then from the elevator to the exit door a long way down the hall. As I approached the exit door it occurred to me that I had never made it that far before. We've attempted it many times but I've never gone the distance. I was ready to sit when I got to the door, partly because it was raining outside and I didn't want to add wet pavement and puddles to my list of obstacles, but also because I was getting tired at that point. I wasn't completely out of energy but, with the rain and all, I didn't see a need to push it. However, that walk, and the week of running around with Mark and his Mom really opened my eyes to how much improvement I really have made. By the way, it's now Friday morning, so I guess I'm late again, unless, of course, you're on the west coast. Merry Christmas!