A Leg to Stand On

not walk, but at least stand, and that's a start.

I started back at physical therapy today and my therapist seemed pretty pleased at how well I stood and balanced on my prosthesis.

I'm pretty pleased as well. Our assigment is to wear the leg an hour at a time, three times a day, practicing standing and balancing each time. Right now I am standing about a minute at a time, doing that three or four times. The goal is to stand longer each time, and get used to shifting my weight while I stand. This week it's an hour wearing it. Next week two hours. And so on until I am wearing it all day.

All this lying around since my shoulder surgery has taken a toll on my quads. I need to work on getting them stronger. I need to work on my glutes as well. Since muscle memory is a wonderful thing my hope is they will regain strength fairly quickly.

It will likely be about five weeks before I can start working on walking. While I can't wait to get going, the last thing I want to do is screw up my shoulder and rotator cuff again.

I am still doing well transferring from bed to wheelchair to sofa to whatever. Jerry can once again leave the house with no worry, though I can't say I am ready for him to be away overnight. He still has to do most everything around the house. The combination of one usable arm and leg keeps me from being able to dress myself or get meals. Before he goes out he makes sure I have what I need.

My guess is, within days I will get pretty bored with only standing, but it truly is a means to an end. It will help get me stronger and get me more used to wearing the prosthesis.

I'm feeling optimistic today. It won't be long now.

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