Cabernet and Carboplatin

Years ago, a film was made that was a parody of the Beatles. The group was the Rutles, and they had a manager who had a prosthetic leg. His name was Leggy Mountbatten. And that is what I named my prosthesis. When I'm wearing it, it's my leg. It's part of me. But when I take it off, I usually have a little chat with Leggy, and we discuss our day-- how many steps I accomplished and how it got me through. And maybe a word of thanks. I plug in Leggy and lie him next to the bed to get him ready for tomorrow. Today, Jerry and I went to a craft show, and I walked thousands of steps. I was using my walker, which kind of acts as a shield to keep me safe. The show was fairly crowded, but if people saw me they cleared a path. When they didn't I patiently waited for room to walk. People, including me, were there to look at beautiful things. They weren't in a hurry and neither was I. I know I tend to get frustrated when I'm in Costco and someone is standing in the middle

While it was happening I am sure I wouldn't have called it that, but now that my foot drop is a thing of the past, in its own way it was. Those couple of weeks let me really concentrate on my gait, rather than thinking about my balance. Using the walker, I thought about standing tall, keeping my shoulders back,and taking even steps with both feet. And my physical therapist encouraged me to do a lot of walking. It all paid off. This week at PT Meghan checked the angle of my foot, and it was back to normal. So it was back to walking with a cane and the results of my walking practice were noticable. < I have my massage therapist to thank as well, because she worked on the fascia that surrounds the affected nerve. That work had my foot flex back to normal faster than I thought it would. Those couple of weeks with foot drop taught me some important lessons. It has resulted in me being more mindful in not just my walking, but in how I am living my life. Everything we do takes th

I have a week between my last physical therapy appointment and my next one tomorrow, and my goal was to walk with my cane as much as possible. I know the more I walk with it the better I will get. The first couple days were great. My PT does not want me to walk with my cane by myself, so Jerry and I headed up to the fourth floor where I have a ballet barrre and a narrow hallway. I would walk one way holding onto the bar with my left hand, then I'd turn around and use my cane, with the security of knowing the barre and the wall were right there. It was going great until Sunday. That's the day my left foot (ie., my real foot) stopped working. You heard me right. My left foot stopped working. In technical terms, I have something called foot drop. In other words, my left foot will not flex. I thought it was some kind of fluke, like my left foot falling asleep and it would fix itself, but on Monday when it was still there I sent a message to my primary care physician, and the

This was a big week for walking. it started with Costco, Trader Joe's and Barcs. Normally, I ride one of those electric scooters at Costco, but this time I used a cart as my walker. I didn't go up and down every aisle, but still, it was a lot of steps. In Trader Joe's, I continued my shopping cart as walker journey. Since the store is so much smaller, we did go up and down every aisle. When we got home, I made a decision that instead of socializing cats from the wheelchair, I'd brave it with once again, the walker. I was a little concerned because I had already logged a lot of steps, but I was so glad to be using the walker instead of the chair. At this point, I am using the wheelchair only when I need to transport something, like a cup of coffee from the kitchen to the living room. I have really grown to hate the wheelchair. I know the more I walk the stronger I will get. My physical therapist has me taking walks with my cane at PT. I do some walking at home with

Yesterday at Pilates something happened to me that has never happened to me before, or perhaps to anyone. My leg fell off. I had been having some issues with it the last couple of days. In very untechnical terms, a piece of it that shouldn't have moved did. Jerry got it back in alignment, but to be on the safe side, I made an appointment with my prosthetist, who finally got the toolkit from the manufacturer. Friday was my second session back at Pilates. Brianna is definitely a proponent of tough love. She is tough and I love it. Maybe not during the time she is torturing me, but I always feel great after a session. She took a cue from my physical therapist, and she had me doing bridges with the majority of my weight on my residual limb and prosthesis. Definitely difficult, but I have got to get those thigh muscles strong if I am going to walk independently. We also did some arm work and glute work. I had no idea how important glutes were for my progress. I've never had m

Last year at Christmas there was a snowstorm in Cleveland, so we had to skip our trip to my cousins' house. This year, we had no plane, but we decided it was time to take the Tesla on a roadtrip. The drive was actually pretty pleasant. It was a route neither Jerry nor I had traveled, so the novelty added to the enjoyment. We made two stops to charge up the car and got to Cleveland in time for dinner. The last time we visited, we stayed in a nearby hotel because the room we normally camp out in is in the downstairs of the house. This year, it was time for me to tackle the stairs. The first job was getting into the house. The stairs in the front of the house has no rail, but with the aid of my cane and Jerry, we made it in just fine. In addition to Steve and Rose, their son Alec was home college, so he was there. Steve's sister Joann came in from Pittsburgh, and their mother had flown in from Baltimore. We brought cookies I had baked, and we always bring wine. The main lev