11 May 2013
Today I woke up early and got up and did my exercises. After that I spent about 10 minutes walking back and forth across the room with my crutches taking the weight of my left leg. I was able to put some weight on it, and I really feel that actually walking is the only real way to be able to walk properly again.
So I am trying to do the proper motion of walking (which is not quite right because my ankle doesn’t bend quite enough) and I felt like by the time I stopped my motion and balance was getting a lot better.
I am really good on the crutches now and Dre can take me to lunch at places that have several obstacles to get over to get into the restaurant and I can now manage it without overbalancing and without worrying about making a mistake. I am much more used to the motion of the crutches and my upper body muscles and surprisingly my abs are getting a good workout every day.
After lunch and after a rest to cool down (today was SO hot outside so we had to come in and blast the air con for a while before either of us was able to do anything) I again praticed walking back and forth across the room, slowly but surely getting my leg used to the motion of walking. This time I managed about 20 minutes and using my crutches for the extra balance and weight bearing is really helping.
It’s strange to me how at the moment it actually feels unnatural to walk, after 32 years of being able to do it pretty much without thinking about it. My ankle doesn’t bend enough to properly walk and it now feels a lot easier to just go on my crutches than to actually use both legs.
I am really enjoying walking with both legs with my crutches though because it makes me feel like I’m making real progress. I have also taken a few more steps without my crutches. Doing this though is a lot less balanced and it feels like it wouldn’t be building the right muscles as well, simply because I can’t get the motion right without the support from the crutches. It feels like if I can build the muscles using the crutches then when I don’t need them anymore I will be walking a lot more normally than if I try to go without them now when I can’t really balance or take my weight properly.
Tonight Dre went to the market and got us some food and after dinner I did even more walking, so I am really positive about how everything is going.
Click here for Day 20 – Finally Drug Free and Feeling Awesome!
Click here to read the story from the beginning – healing from second degree burns while living in a third world country.
Catch up on the past few days:
Day 18 – Celebration!
Day 17 – Walking With Crutches
Day 16 – Rest & Relaxation
Day 15 – A Big Adventure
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