Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I never thought that .....

I would be excited about getting a walker.  Not only am I excited but I feel really blessed and thankful.  I've had a regular walker for several years and even when I should use it I usually don't.  The Doctor's even tried to convince me a couple of years ago to get a scooter because they were afraid I would fall an injure myself badly and permanently; since surgery for me is so dangerous for me at this point I have to live with injuries.  Even if I could have surgery I have taken corticosteroids for so long now that my tendons and ligaments tend to stretch out and the surgery would leave me in worse shape after the tendons stretched out again. As it turned out I did not qualify for the scooter with the insurance.  I fought it also because I HATE to think of myself as handicapped.  In fact for the longest time after I got my handicapped parking I only used it on really bad days even though I certainly qualified to use it.  Anyway the Doctor's were right and I did fall and hurt myself and tests are still being run to see the extent of the damage.  I may qualify for the scooter after all. 
This walker is wonderful especially in comparison to a standard walker.  For the first time in a loooong time I don't feel like I have to fight to keep my balance.  It was exhausting.  I can walk a straight line; hey no more walking into walls or doorjambs.  I recently found out this is because there are nerves in your tendons in your ankle that help you balance and since mine are damaged...well ...    Good thing I'm a good driver cuz if I ever got pulled over by a cop there's no way I walk a straight line; and I don't even know what alcoholic drinks taste like; never had one.
As you saw in the first photo this walker allows me to sit down to weed my garden but also to take close-ups of my flowers and do much more experimenting with different angles and techniques.  I took many different angles of that bud from the other side then I was able to shot from the this side which turned out to make for more interesting photos but I was only able to do that because I didn't have to squat down to photograph them.  Remember my blog about using photography for exercising because of all the deep knee bends.  Well deep knees bends are no longer a good idea as I have probably torn ligaments in my knee (I go for an MRI next week).  One thing the walker is making possible without extreme pain and sweat from the extreme effort it was.
  This walker also allows me to walk over dirt and grass.  I got to go out back into the woods and take this photo of forest wild flowers.  Tom has been telling me about them for days.  He sees them when he walks the dog but I haven't felt steady enough to go out back and look; much less take pictures.  Today I was able to do that and they were real pretty white yin-yang flowers. That's what what Tom calls them because they are mirror images of each other.  Next time I'll bring some clippers and gloves cuz this walker has a basket to carry things in (oh, so nice).
After all the extra I did cuz I felt like I could because of the walker I still had to go to Physical Therapy and for whatever reason the skies were a brilliant blue with these wonderful, beautiful, majestic cloud formation.  It made for a delightful ride home, a little distracting, but beautiful.
I never thought that having this walker would make such an improvement in my life; not just physically but emotionally.  I expected some physical help but the old walker was almost more of a nuisance than it was worth and emotionally it frustrated me and brought out and reminded me of just how handicapped I truly am.  Now I am blessed with one that helps makes me feel secure when I walk and increases my independence.  Hooray for my new walker.

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