Slowly Walking But Still Mostly in the Chair

It's been about 2 weeks since the Doctor told me to start trying to walk with a cane. I've not overdone it... much. I've been trying to walk a little bit each day, slowly progressing with each attempt. But it's slow... ssslloooowww. Actually I'm the one who's slow, the progress is actually pretty good. But if I were to race a snail it would be neck-and-neck until the snail got a burst of energy and left me in the dust...

Walking with a cane (it's not the cane's fault) is hard and tiring. I now know why it is that toddlers need to take naps. I've gotten about halfway somewhere and thought "I should go back and opt for the chair" only to realize that it'll be just as far to go back as it would be to keep going. So I've kept going.

The best thing about walking (even very slowly walking) is that I'm TALL again. I can see farther and on top of things too. I can reach stuff that I could only dream about reaching from the chair. It's good to be tall.

I have not yet tackled any flights of stairs. I am slowly (very slowly) working up to it. I've taken a couple steps up and down here and there (curbs, thresholds, etc.) but really no more than two or three up and down. That will be interesting.

It's going to take time and I'm supposed to go at my own pace, so I will. I want to be done with the chair so I can rejoin the legged society....

People STILL Suck... Except When They Don't

We've done this before, but it was a while ago and more impolite, unaware, or just plain malicious people have been revealed to me since then. There have also been genuinely nice and helpful folks but the jerkwads are the ones you need to watch out for....

++Other Wheelchair/Handicapped Sticker People++
An incident at a well-known grocery store parking lot made me realize that other wheelchair-bound people can be BLEEPers too. We were patiently waiting to pull into a handicap parking space (all the spots were full but the two old guys who seemed to walk fine just got into their truck and were backing out). We had to wait for them to pull away before we could pull into the space. Well a latecomer with a wheelchair tag zoomed up from the other direction and pulled into the spot even though we were clearly headed to it with the blinker on and a prominent red wheelchair tag hanging from the rearview mirror. They didn't pay any attention to a shout of: "What the- ?" The old lady was later seen in a motorized store cart but she seemed to have no trouble walking into the store...

Which brings us to ANYONE in a motorized store cart. I've noticed this phenomenon even before I was in a wheelchair- those people don't' pay attention to where they're headed. They slowly crawl through the rows in the absolute center to block people from getting around them. They crash into people and carts and displays and anything else they can crash into without so much as a "Oops, sorry." I have thought about using one of these things but I don't want to run the risk of turning into a totally self-centered ahole...

++Door Opening Dude++
This guy coming out a set of big glass double doors someplace saw me roll up as he was coming out. He walked through the door and did that fake "I'm helping" push of the door so it would stay open a second as he walked away. It didn't help at all and he should not be proud of his failed attempt...

++People Who Use Someone Else's Handicapped Sticker Vehicle++
...just so they can park in a handicapped spot while they run some errands! I've seen this more times than I can count. Able-bodied young people parking in a wheelchair space and skipping into the building for a minute or two. Perhaps they're mentally disabled...

++Pregnant Lady++
I was heading out of JoAnn's (looking for some thick felt stuff like the Doctor used for my 'horseshoe') and a very pregnant lady was headed out in front of me. She stopped and held the door open for me to get out. The whole time I'm thinking "Should I tell her that I'll get the door for HER next time? Or would that sound really creepy?" So I went with a simple "thank you." She helped restore my faith in the fact that not everyone is a self-centered BLEEPer-- and she'll probably raise a good kid...

Recovery Update - With Possibly Disturbing Pictures

If you don't want to see 'the stump' click away now!

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Yesterday I saw Dr. Sullivan for (hopefully) the last time. He was very happy with the healing progress. He didn't cut on the bottom of the right foot this time because it's basically closed up. the left big toe area is also mostly closed up- there's still a little slower closing area on the leftmost edge of the toe. He had me stand up- not as easy as it sounds after over a month in the chair. he was impressed with it and told me to try to start walking a little with a cane. So THAT will be interesting...

Dr. Sullivan then got some medical adhesive felt/foam that's about 1/4" thick and cut a little 'u' shape (poorly). He did another one about the same size for later. He glued it to the bottom of the right foot around the callous area to help keep it from reforming or at least keep it from getting as bad as it was. This looks a lot like a little horseshoe (upside down, but still) to me. It is to be left on until it falls off or until I die...

Now for some pics of the almost totally healed up stump. The toes look really red in the pics but that was because Dr. Sullivan had just been squeezing them and I had stood up a moment earlier.

You have been warned about the coming stump shots - last chance to click away...

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Kids...

One interesting thing I've noticed over the past weeks in the chair is that little kids (2-4 and even younger) seem to take to me right away. I've always been kid-friendly and most of them sense it right off except for the most shy, but this has been different. Out of nowhere, while their parents often pretend I'm invisible, these kids wave and talk to me.

The best one was this little guy with big bags under his eyes at the Ivy Tech Library. He had just been to the storytime in the kid area and his Mom carried him with her so she could look for a book. I was near the fiction shelves looking at the graphic novel section to see if there was anything new. I heard him say something like "That man's looking for books." When I turned to look he pointed towards the stairway and said, "She came down the stairs." Sure enough, there was a lady who had just come down the stairs. I agreed with him and then he asked, "Are you looking for books too?" I told him I was, and he nodded then said, "That's my Mommy, she's looking for books." Then his Mom picked him up and asked if he forgot that he was going to be quiet while she looked- he wasn't loud or anything. He apologized and they headed back to the kid area. He waved and said bye so I reciprocated. Poor little guy getting in trouble for talking to the giant in a wheelchair...

Another notable recent kid encounter was at the Tippecanoe Mall. I intensely dislike the Mall. Though it is inside and it has mostly smooth floors. I wanted to use it to get a little exercise the other day (no thanks to my would-be 'helper monkey' who never got back to me) and see how I could deal with all the Mall-people. There were a few little kids who looked and waved while their parents tried to wrangle them or carry them through the flow of people. One little girl was in a big stroller (it may have been one of those 2-kid strollers). Her Mom was slowly pushing the stroller out of a store and I was coming toward them at a respectable pace. She watched me get closer, her bottle tipped up to enjoy the juice or milk or whatever. When I was almost to her she took the bottle from her mouth, waved with the other hand and said "hi." I smiled and returned the "hi" as we passed each other. I heard a squeal of delight from her over my shoulder, I guess made her day...

Encounters like these have helped me get through the many encounters with stupid people. Like the guy whose wheelchair parking tag expired in October last year, but he's still using it. I pointed out to him that it was expired and his reply was "So?" ... A-hole. Or the drunk guy who was ultra-pissed that I asked him to move something so I could get through a doorway. He had obviously placed it there but said he didn't know who put it there and called me "pity party" as he finally moved it (because he was too much of a wuss to throw a punch at a guy in a wheelchair)... A-hole.

I think kids have been more talkative to me because I'm closer to their height in the chair. Instead of towering over them by several times their stature I'm pretty much at their level. I guess they like that. As I've been typing this, a very little girl on her Daddy's lap at another computer has been smiling at me and waving every time I glance up. Kids...

Name and Shame - Plus Recovery Update

Here's the (lack of) left big toe wrapped in band-aids- this is what the doctor did. I'm changing it every day or so, the right foot every couple days because that wound is on the bottom and has LOTS of wrapping. The stitches on the left stump (some call it a stub) were removed this Monday and the doctor said it was looking good. So recovery is on track but accessibility is still not.

Over the past two weeks or so, I've been to several places that you'd think would be accessible (they have the little wheelchair signs) but they're really not. Mostly it's stupid little things that need to be changed or moved a little so that someone in a chair can move around. Let's start the list:

+McDonald's (Tippecanoe Mall)+
The restroom access is less than ideal (a nice way to say it sucks). There's a potted fake tree in the alcove/entryway between the restrooms. The way the doors are configured that area would be better if the tree were smaller or not there so people could maneuver better. The door's automatic closer thing is set so tight that even walking people have a little trouble pushing it open. This is the place where I was struggling with the door for nearly five minutes and people were walking by and looking but they would just keep going. When these problems (and very simple fixes) were reported to the manager on duty she said she'd have to get approval from her supervisor before they could do anything-- that was a couple weeks ago and still no word...

+Menard's+
Their fancy new(er) restrooms have beautiful tiles with two floor drains that are unmarked. Once you start sliding and can't get any traction you realize the trap. One would think that a hardware+ store (with all kinds of tiles and such at their disposal) would be able to do something about slippery tiles in their own restrooms...

+Tippecanoe Public Library - Klondike Branch+
Klondike has excellent main doors with motion sensors and wide aisles between shelves, but the restroom is a bit of a problem. The door was heavy with a tight closer (this was fixed when I was there the other day}. But there's also the matter of this useless little trashcan right by the door in the tiny antechamber when you enter. There's no need for it to be there (there are NO paper towels only air dryers) because there's a lot of room under the sink. Otherwise Klondike is pretty wheelchair friendly...

+Payless (Greenbush)+
I don't know how many times I've gone to the bathroom at the Greenbush Payless over the years, but you'd think I would have noticed the big trashcan hiding behind the door. The trashcan blocks the door from opening more than half way. For most walking people this is not a big deal, just a minor annoyance of a half-open door. For someone in a wheelchair there is no way to get through unless, like me, you've got long enough arms so you can reach the can and move it out of the way from a weird angle. This has finally (after TWO reports to the staff) gotten the attention it deserves and they should soon have a shorter trashcan that fits under the towel dispensers, so this shouldn't be a problem much longer...

+Meijer+
The store itself is very wheelchair friendly. The customers at the pharmacy, on the other hand- they tend to leave empty carts after checking out. And they don't even try to park them stacked together. One goes this way, the other the opposite way with another at an odd angle... It's just another one of those "lack of common courtesy" things that you see everyday even if you're NOT in a chair...

There are more places to name and shame, but I'll save them for later because there are several other places I need to check out. I can say that even though I hate Wal-Mart (bleeps!) they do have some of the nicest most level floors around.