Walking Spirit

happened on Sunday. Since then my week has been more normal than I have had in over a year and a half. Once again I am driving to work on almost a daily basis. Once again I'm pumping my own gas. Once again I'm taking care of my own needs without having to rely on family and friends to get me where I need to go.

Now that the skin on my right leg has healed from the small injury caused by the old socket I'm starting to walk more often. On Sunday I decided it was time to wear them for an extended period again. When I was getting ready for church I decided to put the legs on before putting on my pants. I have a few pairs of pants that were modified with long zippers along the inseam so that I could get the legs on and off without having to take my pants off. This was important because I didn't have the balance to stand up and pull my pants up like other people. Also, I frequently had to take my legs off to make adjustments. I didn't like the idea of finding places to take my pants off just to make adjustments to my legs. So Mom and our neighbors the Cutino's came up with the idea fore the modifications.

The new sockets are considerably larger than the old sockets, and they come up higher. Also, I have to stand up to get them to lock into place. I'd had some difficulty getting them on with the pants already on so, Sunday morning, I put the pants on the legs, stood up, locked the sockets into place, and then pulled my pants up. Sunday was also the first time that I stood for every hymn. Feeling pretty confident after church, I drove to St. Vincents hospital to visit a friend who had surgery earlier in the week. All of the handicapped parking was full so, I parked in the middle of the lot with everyone else and walked into the hospital. The walk to his room was long and I did take a break in a waiting area about half way there, but it was the first time that I went someplace by myself and walked a long distance by myself.

Today I went to therapy on my own, where I continued to work on standing. (no real progress there) After therapy I drove over to the federal building to take care of some things at the Social Security Administration. I had to park a block away because they don't allow public parking, even handicapped parking, at the Federal Building. I used the wheelchair for that excursion, but then headed over to the Posthetists office for some more adjustments when I was done at the SSA.

Last week I mentioned that the new sockets pinch. Also, if I'm not careful, when I sit in a narrow chair it feels like I've been kicked between the legs. (that's only happened once, I'm careful now) So I stopped at the Prosthetist on the way to work yesterday to have some adjustments made. They shortened the left leg (yep, once again it was too tall) and made another adjustment to help with the pinching. After that I took them off to give my leg more time to toughen up. Today we figured out that the sockets are now rubbing against each other, which changes the way I walk. This time the made an adjustment to my right leg. I'll try it out for a while and, hopefully won't need to go back in. It's a lot of trial and error, which is something that I need to accept. Ultimately, with all the adjustments, we'll get to a perfect fit.