MORE WALKING WITHOUT THE CANE!
Well, well, well I'm almost at 8 years recovering. It seem like a long, long road but on the other hand people are saying to me, "Has it been that long?" Yes it has and I feel every year of it but I thank my God he wasn't ready for me back then and I'm still here.
It's good to feel better about yourself and your ability to recover. Sure it's slow but it's steady and I feel so blessed to still be here. One time I told myself I would walk again soon when I was still in the hospital. Well, I remained in that hospital 5 months. By that time I told myself that I would never walk again without help like a cane. I came home in a chair unable to walk when I saw others leaving the hospital walking.
That was hard to take for me so at that point I guess I gave up learning how to walk unassisted. This blog is now about me learning to walk finally unassisted. Some of you may know I been trying for awhile now. I'm making big strides inside the house and outside too! It's not pretty to look at yet but taking my sweet old time I make it to where I'm going without falling. I'm in a different mind set telling myself I can do it and it's working for me. I feel it can and will work for any stroke survivor when "YOU ARE READY."
Now when I think back to 2006 when I was a people greeter at Walmart I probably could have started walking then. I remember parking my scooter and started walking to the room for my interview when the lady said Oh, you can use your scooter. I turned around and got my scooter. I kept using it for my three years I spent there. I remember getting off it and exercising on the bars where the shopping carts are kept. I parked the scooter daily and greeted the customer standing using my quad cane.
It's been two years now since I was there and I'm just now learning to walk. Man, I lost real years I could have been walking by now. I'm convinced the longer you stay on the quad cane or any cane the longer it will take to start walking unassisted. I can only imagine it is the same way with a person using a wheel chair. If you continue to sit there day after day you will not convince yourself to try standing then taking steps.
I learned to take steps from sitting in my chair while I was still in the hospital. That's probably why I learned to transfer so easily when I finally came home. I would call for the nurse to use the toilet, they would ask me if I could do the paper work myself? If I said yes someone would come immediately. If I said no then everybody was eating lunch or dinner and no one came. I would get out of bed and into my chair and get to the bathroom alone and get on the commode myself. I did fall off twice but got up myself.
I think I have been blessed to do a lot for myself and now I know I can and I have the will to walk unassisted now. The thing is we have to convince ourselves "We Can Do It." I'm getting better! Now I'm out on the sidewalks going about five or six driveways from my house and back. Some without the cane and some with when I get tired. I probably should stop at that point instead of using the cane but it feels good for support on the walk back to my driveway.
I first spoke about walking the end of last month, I'm making strides you all! I got that big dance to do with my wife at her bank Christmas party next month. I gotta be ready for Freddie to get down! :happydance:
Fred!
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