Scooter Chronicles

I now have had my first two sessions of PT almost back to back. I had one yesterday after work. This was the initial one to get a feel of what they are dealing with. Seeing what kind of motion I can obtain, and what I can do on my own. Then this morning was my first real session.

First they had my foot in a machine that acted like a whirlpool of sorts. It was corn husks and hot air, giving the sensation of being in water. With this I just flexed my foot in all four positions, just to stretch it out. Then it was a matter of going through some isometrics to build strength. I will have to do these twice a day.

They also had my foot hooked up to something that looked like an old Walkman, with electrodes coming out of it....

Continue reading »

Marcia and I rented “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and watched it last night. Wow! What an original movie ………. at least to me. I don’t think I have seen anything as original as that since “Being John Malkovich”.

The movie stars Jim Carrey as Joel Barish and Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski, a couple who’s relationship has gone south. Clementine, unknown to Joel, goes through a process were all her memories of him are erased. When Joel finds out, he decides to do the same. The problem is that he realizes subconsiously during the procedure what they had, and now wants to stop the...

Continue reading »

Today was a dreary day. Raining most of the day. Lost of fog in the morning. Not the best conditions for only my second solo flight as a left footed driver. But I came away unscathed.

I have been walking around the last two days without the crutches a bit. Not too much at work. It’s a long way to most things there, and don’t want to get caught in a situation that I might need them right away. But at home, I am pretty much going all the time without them. My ankle is not as sore as it was a week ago when I first got the brace. Small sign of improvement. But that should change tomorrow. First day of physical therapy. Guess I better buy some Advil on the way there. ; )

I drove myself to work today. That is the first time in 13 weeks. Felt great. I had just gotten fed up with not being able to work the hours that I need to because I had to rely on other’s schedules. No offense to those people. Especially my wife Marcia. She has been wonderful through all this.

Last night I finished “Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story” by Stephen R. Donaldson’s. This is the first book of a five book series. And like over some of the previous months with other famous series’, I had bought a used copy of the first book to give it a whirl. There were two reasons; to see if I like the writer’s style, and to see if the series interested me.

Just like the first book of “Earthsea” by Ursula K. LeGuin, it’s much about telling the story or folklore behind someone or a particular moment in time. And also like “Earthsea”, there is very little dialogue between characters....

Continue reading »

After eating dinner, Marcia and I headed over to Pinball Parlour. We had developed a habit of going every Wednesday night. But since my tennis accident we had stopped going.

I was good to get back there after 12 weeks. Like usual I played the “Twilight Zone”. My first game back and I set a record high for me at 206,000,000 points. Of course I had a hard time totally that in the next five games combined. ; ) If I remember correctly my previous high had been 146,000,000.

I then headed over to what had become a new favorite, “The Machine - Bride of PinBot”. OK, so I am weird. ...

Continue reading »

Marcia and I were invited to a special invitation only re-opening of the Franconia Heritage Restaurant. The family that began and still run day-to-day operations of my employer bought the place about a year ago. So they and their associates invited people to attend dinner tonight, and all three meals tomorrow as the kick-off.

Now it’s not a fancy place. Though the inside has been redone rather nicely. But looking over the menu, there was plenty to choose from and the prices were very reasonable. We started with the Crab Puffs, which are battered fried clumps of crab. We only got six of them, but they were only 3 bucks. And they were good. For dinner, I had the Herb Chicken...

Continue reading »

My ankle, foot, achilles …….. whatever you want to call it. I knew it would be, but now I am wondering if six weeks of physical therapy (what was prescribed) is going to be enough. Though I am sure they will tell me to work on it for weeks after.

The new brace is working out alright. It’s pretty comfortable. Just big. Now I have to get over my fear of ditching the crutches. It gives a clearer meaning to the word being used as an analogy. The problem is the pain I am feeling. I have used those muscles in my foot more in the last two days then I have in the last three months. And they are sore. But I knew it would be very painful at first. The worst is yet to come. I start physical therapy on Wednesday.

Today I picked up my brace for the foot. All I can say is if I have to wear this until I recover, I am going to make sure it’s the speediest recovery in history. The brace is bigger and bulkier than my cast. Yes, I did say bigger and bulkier. There is no way I can drive with this damn thing! I am not happy about it.

I have contacted my doctor’s office (closed today) about what they really had in mind. I thought it was going to be something that goes in my shoe. At least that is what I thought they said. So we shall see when they call me back.

Well, the cast is GONE! But there is sadness in it too. The last few weeks I had been given clearance to put all my weight on the bad foot. It has been responding beautifully. Been able to walk with the crutches. Been able to stand and even maneuver a bit without the crutches. But now that I don’t have that stability the cast provided, I have a weak foot that I can not put weight on until I get my brace. My appointment is tomorrow.

It looks feeble and weird. The amount of muscle mass loss in my calf is amazing! My toes are still swollen, yet the rest of my foot is smaller than normal. So it’s like the equivalent of having clown shoes, but it’s just my toes. And don’t get me started on the dry/dead...

Continue reading »