Driving? Maybe Not

I love to drive.

I really love to drive.

I mean I LOVE it! The magical forward motion and the near-anti gravity on a curve or a hill. Driving is one of my few vices.

I haven't driven since maybe early February.

I drove the other day.

Driving is hard.

I drove for maybe 20 minutes total (probably actually less than that) and my legs were unhappy with me.

I was so tired I couldn't wait to become a mere passenger again.

I've been trying to use the cane for walking as much as I can stand during the day. And then I still use it to push myself.

I've been taking small flights of steps when I feel adventurous. Up is easier than down, but both ways are tiring.

Some simple in-town driving (downtown nonetheless!) took as much out of me as a whole day of walking around with the stick.

I still love to drive, though.

The Meijer Epic Journey

I've been to Meijer in the wheelchair a few times. When I used to go to Meijer before the chair I could buzz through the whole grocery section pretty quickly- walking. So I figured I should try it with a cart to lean on and the cane as backup the other day...

I'm not as far along in walking as I thought I was.

It took much longer than I realized and I was very tired and achy at the end. But I barely went down half the aisles! It started out pretty easy with the cart to lean on like a wheeled walker thing (I hate those). But after the Produce area and into the cold meats area I was starting to feel it. My legs and feet started to hurt. A few times I thought I wouldn't make it out alive, but I managed to survive.

A quick trip into a store is one thing-- almost an hour of grocery shopping is a whole different beast. I think I'll stick with the chair for that kind of shopping trip for a while...

Recovery Update And Scooter/Cyclists Suck

I am still slowly relearning how to walk. I've been tending to get ahead of myself and walking too fast (5 steps a minute rather than 3). Then I realize that way lies possible tripping and falling, so I slow down to a more reasonable pace.

I've climbed some short 'flights' of stairs (the most was maybe 4 steps) and went down one looong flight (that was exciting!). Down stairs is much easier than up, but I'm getting closer to bounding up and down steps again (as well as trampling flowerbeds and kicking up dirt).

I've been trying to walk more and more each day. The chair is still seeing use when I'm tired from the whole walking thing or when I want to get somewhere faster than a turtle with a limp. Being tall again is nice, though sinks and shelves that seemed impossibly high up from the chair are far too low from a standing position. Either way the world is not built for one so exceptional as I...

As I'm slowly weaning myself from the chair I've seen more and more offenses against those in wheelchairs (or who need handicapped parking and access). The most annoying and prevalent are those BLEEPs who park their scooter or motorcycle in the blue diagonal lined areas beside handicapped parking spots. Those areas are for people with wheelchairs to have space to get their wheelchairs out of their vehicles! But no- some moron doesn't want his bike to be out in a regular space where someone might scratch it so he parks in the area marked off for the handicapped. I've been tempted to push the offending 'bike' over many times but have adopted the policy of telling the establishment's person-in-charge instead. Some of the manager/dork-in-charge people have looked at me like I'm speaking in calculus or ancient Sumerian. Others are happy to call and report it to the police, but they honestly tell me that the offending bike will likely be gone by the time the cops actually show up (if they show up at all).

If you know anyone with a 'bike' of any sort be sure to remind them NOT to park in-between handicapped spaces. It's just wrong and next time I may decide to push it over 'by accident' because someone needs to be taught a lesson- I mean because I'm still not a good walker yet and in the chair I sometimes lose control of it....