Cabernet and an Allen Wrench

Last evening I went to Walking School. University Of Maryland Rehab holds this several times a year, open to all amputees. The first time I went I was still using a wheelchair and did not have a prosthesis. Last night, I was probably the most advanced walker there, but I had some questions and wanted to up my skills. I'm so glad I went. It has become obvious to me of late that I depend far too much on my "good" leg. When I get up or sit down it bears all my weight. When I'm standing still my weight is not evenly distributed. I knew I had to learn to trust my prosthesis more than I do, and I figured the folks at Walking School could point me in the right direction. The physical therapists and the man who runs the sessions, who is himself, an amputee, ran me through a whole series of exercises. Squatting, lunging, walking with resistance bands around my prosthetic leg. My leg did things I really did't know it could do. While I was there, I also worked on stairs, ...

Jerry and I flew down to Marathon, Florida a couple days ago for a wedding. The invitation said the dress code was "beach casual," but I was at a loss as to what to wear. I felt that showing my prosthesis would be distracting, but what did I have that would work? Nothing. So I did what any of us would do. i went online shopping. I found a lightweight, very plain silk dress, as well as a pair of wide leg trousers and a short-sleeved tunic made in Finland. i bought them all so I could have options. The day of the wedding I decided on the dress, which turned out to be a good decision, because while the temperature did not soar, the humidity did, and a dress would be cooler than trousers. The wedding ceremony was delightful. The officiant was a fellow physican friend of the groom's. He told wonderful stories and the vows were simple but quite meaningful. After the ceremony were appetizers and live music, followed by a forgettable dinner and even more forgettable wine. ...

Eight years ago on January 4, I had what is referred to as debulking surgery. My surgeon removed three very large tumors, my ovaries, fallopian tubes, omentum, 12 lymph nodes, and every speck of cancer he could see. I had already had my uterus and cervix removed earlier, so he basically cleaned out my abdominal area. I remember being so naive, that after the surgery I asked him if I was going to need chemo. He looked at me like I had just arrived from another planet, and he said, "Uh, yeah." So after healing and getting a port, I went through six rounds of chemo and two years of a maintenance drug, and besides a bout of a barely there bladder cancer, I continue to be cancer free, eight years later. Despite everything I have gone through since then, I have to consider myself blessed. Crazy, no? I am pretty certain I survived everything I have survived for a couple of reasons. First off, amazingly skilled surgeons. It is not all that common for someone with advanced ovar...

When I saw my orthopedist a few weeks ago, I told him my knee replacement revision was still painful, but it wasn't going to stop me from doing what I wanted and needed to do. He totally gotmit, and he discharged me from care. But yeah, it still hurts, and nothing I do seems to help. In addition, my quad in my residual leg is painful when I walk, and my right shoulder is not a happy camper either. For some time now, I have been alternating between acupuncture and myofascial release therapy. The latter targets the connective tissue surrounding muscles. It has helped some, but no, not enough. And acupuncture is relaxing and it has really helped my PE scar be less painful, so I keep going. I continue Pilates and water exercise, and while I know it is making me stronger, my guess is, it is making me hurt more. So what to do? Enter Voodoo. My acupuncturist sprays Evil Bone Water on my knee. Yes, you read that right. Evil Bone Water. Well, at least it smells good, so I decided to lo...

Jerry and I took two of our cats to the vet yesterday. Tilly has been tearing out her hair on her back, and Omar had visibly slowed down, continuing to lose weight and peeing and pooping outside the box. The vet prescribed steroids for Tilly, but there really wasn't anything more to prescribe for Omar. We had a decision to make. We knew he was not going to get better, and we knew he would continue his descent. In the three or four months he was with us, we tried to make his life as comfortable and joyful as we could. Yummy food and snacks, scritches on his head and neck. So we decided it was time to let him go. He didnt like to be in high places, so our vet got on the floor with him, gave him a dish with Churu and treats, and injected him with medication to make him sleepy, and then gave him another to stop his heart. I'm heartbroken we couldn't do more for him-- make him well, give him more quality of life. But I am grateful we could end his suffering and indignity....

In the amputee world, if you are an above-the-knee amputee, you don't call your prosthesis your leg; you call it your knee. It took me a while to figure this out, but in reality, I get it. The world of being an above knee amputee is a world of difference from those who got to keep their knee. Think about it-- your knee, and to a lesser extent, your ankle, are what keeps you walking, running, getting up and sitting down, sitting on the floor, kneeling-- you name it. I was fortunate enough that my prosthetist wrote a killer letter to Medicare to get me a really good knee. It has a microprocessor in it. It is intuitive, and yes, it is adjustable. I generally don't mess with the adjustments except when I'm doing some Pilates exercises so my knee won't bend. That has been incredibly useful. Also, I can put it in a kind of freewheel for cycling. Also useful. But what I had never messed with was the resistance, that is, how "difficult" it is for the knee to bend...