One of the questions I had when I started talking to my doctor about foot surgery was how a single person living alone manages things. A question he had was how I'd do it living on the third floor, no elevator. I really didn't want to move to assisted living for a short while after the surgery.
I was having neuromas (inflamed nerves) in the foot more frequently. With a 90o bunion and two dislocated toes, he also had a question about my ability to walk at all in my old age. So I decided to do it when the weather was good, no ice, no snow. It would be an investment in navigability in my 70s and 80s.
My neighbor and friend Marti, a physical therapy supervisor at National Rehabilitation Hospital, came over and advised me on moving furniture for post-surgery ease of navigation. She stood behind me as I tried going up the stairs with a crutch and a hop, but I was scared at the moment of hopping and she took the crutches with her and left me a walker.
My friend and neighbor Claudia knew someone at NIH who had a knee scooter and he was kind enough to lend it to a stranger. I tried the walker right after the surgery but the knee scooter was faster and I switched to that full time. (And on rainy days outside, we brake for worms.)
I practiced going down and up the stairs on my rear end with a good-foot push to be able to go outside, and amazed the dog downstairs, Moxie. I put in a large supply of staples, toilet paper, frozen vegetables and frozen dinners, got a stack of books.
I knew that something called spasms was a risk of straightening the dislocated toes. It's what happens when the blood flow is impeded and doesn't start up again in time to bring blood to tissue. It was not a high risk (it seems to happen only or mostly to women...high heels??) but a risk. I hoped it would not happen to me.
Learned an important side lesson. The difference between an instinctual guess and the conclusion that can be drawn from knowledge, training, and experience. I thought a 4-pronged can could help me up the stairs. They are made for forward-rocking when walking, so the base's long side of its rectangular prongs parallels the foot. I wanted the prong-base to be congruent with the stair top. The canes aren't made that way. And Marti explained that the only time such a cane would be a support would be when my arm from shoulder thru elbow thru wrist would make a perfect line with the upright cane. A degree or two off and I would not have balance. Very instructive.
ReplyDelete4-pronged canE.
ReplyDeleteI found out from Claudia that the stranger who lent a stranger a knee scooter was Jim McMahon. I asked her to ask him what charity I might donate to in his name and he told her the Alzheimers Association of Greater Maryland. Thank you, kind stranger. 12/14/12
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