Daily Archives: October 9, 2012

Crutches

Ever wonder whether it would be fun to have crutches?  Crutches were my bridge to walking upright again.  Hmmm…upright again? Doesn’t that sound like something from Planet of the Apes or ?

Anyway, now I could see an opportunity to walk again. How exciting!  Funny thing, walking doesn’t really enter into it when you start.  There’s the whole hopping thing as you figure out how to balance your body on crutches.  Then there’s the balance thing which can include, among other things, flailing your arms to regain your balance after you lose it.  Ever watched someone when they are trying desperately to remain upright after a balance issue has come up?  The crutches have a life of their own  flying out from under your arms crashing to the floor.  You have the option of slamming into a wall, a door or falling off a stoop of stairs in an effort to save  your dignity and any remaining modesty you might have if you lose your balance. 

So for the first week I practiced getting more stable on the crutches.  The first few times I went out with them I was so shaky and unstable I had little confidence in operating the silly things. Once you get over the armpit ache and the upper arm muscle aches, you learn how to swing yourself more fluidly on crutches (again the swinging from trees thought comes to mind).   Quickly I adapted and moved forward creating options to make my mobility better and better, or at least I thought anyway.  I learned rapidly that some short cuts were not meant for crutches.  For example, getting a crutch stuck under a door is not a good thing.  The first time this happened, I found out that if it’s stuck under the door, you are not going anywhere but out of control and/or down. 

Case in point…I used a crutch to hold the door open thinking I was so smart because it allowed me to enter the doorway without trying to hold the door and move through it with my crutches.  Ha!  I didn’t count on the door catching the bottom of the rubber stopper on the crutch and using it for a door stop.  The next picture was one of pure grace and fluid mobility…in one simple step I flew through the door on my good leg hopping with the remaining crutch as the one stuck under the door fell to the floor with a crash ripped from my arm and left behind.  As I hopped ungracefully into the room, the bystanders watching displayed a mixture of horror and concealed laughter watching the balancing act unfolding.  As I caught my balance and luckily found a wall to stop me, sweating profusely, and exhausted from the disaster unfolding, I looked back at the crutch laying on the floor and thought….”how in the world am I going to get back to that without two crutches?”  The thought crossed my mind that I could hop back to the missing crutch…not a good plan since I was already worn out from trying to get through the door successfully.  Then there was the option of slumping to the floor and give up…not a good plan either.  Finally, I thought maybe if just catch my breath I can come up with a better plan.  Thankfully a bystander assisted and I was again 2 crutched.  Grace, balance, mobility and upright walking.  Not all happening at one time!  One out of four is not so bad….made it through the door at least!
 

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