Walking Spirit

Are you sitting down? Well, since you're in front of a computer screen I'm assuming that you are. If by some chance you aren't, you might want to.

Last Wednesday I was informed that my position at the Walden Inn had been eliminated. This was not due to any performance related issues, it was merely a business decision. Of course, it stings a bit, but in all honesty I'm pretty releived. I've slept better this past week than I have for over a year!

I'm still on Sodexo's payroll for 60 days, during which time Sodexo is trying to find a mpore permanent solution, and I'm looking at other options as well. In the long run I'd like to focus on more public speaking and find a way to turn it into a career. In the short term I'm willing to look at all possibilities that arise.

There's a big part of me that likes the idea of having 60 days to relax. However, it's already looking like that time will actually be much shorter, and even my time off has become busy. I've barely been home since receiving the news last week!

Physical therapy was extremely successful this past week. I think Renee has learned that all she has to do is threaten to discharge me and my progress will take another leap forward! We haven't tried walking with one crutch since the disastrous attempts 6 or 7 months ago. In fact, that's what led to the canes. Well, a while back Renee started talking about discharging me because she didn't feel there was much more Physical Therapy could do for me. Then she saw me unweight my left leg to take a step forward and decided we might want to try the single crutch trick one more time. So, we scheduled another session.

That session was last Friday. I can't say that it was beautiful, but the session was beautifully successful! On the first try I only made it about 3/4 of the way down the hallway. My left knee gave out on me and I wound up on the floor. (Renee controlled my fall, so don't worry about injuries.) Due to the fall we decided to put the left leg into it's second mode, which doesn't allow the knee to bend as freely as the walking mode.

This was really the first time that I had a real reason to use the second mode. I have remote controls that allow me to switch the legs from one program to another. I'm not sure that I've ever talked about that aspect of the c-legs before. It's very cool, but hasn't been very useful until now. After switching into the second mode I was able to make it down the hall and back with no major problems! I'm no where near ready to try this outside of PT yet, but I hope that with continued practice it will become a useful option for me.

So, things are good. New doors are opening in regards to my career, as well as my mobility. My 33rd year is definitely off to an interesting start!